"We're actually going to a canyon. I hear it's pretty grand."--Grand Canyon 2010 (Days 41-46) PART ONE

**This is Part One of Three**

Grand is correct. Looking at the Grand Canyon from the rim, it’s hard to get any sort of perspective on quite how immense the Canyon is-- it’s just a 2-D postcard. After 3 days of hiking, I had a much, much better picture on the scale of the canyon…immense just doesn’t justify it. This trip was probably the hardest hiking I have ever done, but the most rewarding. It was personally challenging on a number of levels, from working in a team of leaders, to dealing with chronic hunger. To sum up our trip, I have a few statistics for you to keep in mind as you read this post; we hiked 25 miles (40 km), lost (and gained) 1 mile in altitude, and walked for 35 hours. (Oh, and I took 600 pictures)

One of my better pictures!

Ah, a familiar sight...

                Our trip started early Wednesday morning. At 4 AM, we left UWC bound for the Grand Canyon. I had previously decided not to go to bed the night before (after all, what else do you do on a 12 hour bus ride?), so I was pretty tired as I climbed aboard the bus. The trip to the Canyon was uneventful. We slept…and slept some more. I don’t think I really woke up until we were about an hour and a half from the canyon. Along the way, we picked up our two guides (Sandra and Marc) who helped us from start to finish.

                We arrived at the canyon around 3 PM. Of course, before we went to our campsite (quite a distance from the rim), we parked the buses and took the obligatory walk to visit the rim. The rim was fantastic to see once more, however, it is so difficult to get a firm grip on the scale of the canyon until you actually hike into it. We actually wound up visiting the rim at the spot where the Bright Angel Trail begins/terminates. It was a real déjà-vu moment to see the trail that I hiked with my family two years ago. (It didn’t look any different…) After everyone took a copious amount of photos, we all headed down to Mather Campground. The last time we were in the Grand Canyon, we actually stayed in a hotel. Needless to say, the campground was a bit more basic, although perfectly reasonable for a one night stay.  The evening was filled with food (a cold, though decent dinner) and a lot of last minute preparation and packing. Over dinner, my team (taking Boucher Trail) decided to leave at 3:30 AM. We settled into bed pretty early as a result, and we were all asleep by 8 PM. (On a side not, it’s one of those strange things in the wilderness—because it becomes so difficult to see at night, we usually go to bed as soon as it gets dark.)

                Thursday morning brought a very early wake-up call. Despite the early hour, as soon as the alarm went off at 3:30, we all got up, packed up our stuff, and loaded it in a bus in under 30 minutes. The speed and efficiency with which we accomplished these tasks surprised even our guides! Before I start talking about our hike, allow me to explain a little bit about our route—Boucher Trail. Boucher Trail is the longest single route to the bottom of the Canyon (The Colorado River). The trail branches off of a more heavily used trail, and stretches off into a very separate area of the Canyon not very heavily populated (by people, at least!). 

Unpacking the bus at 4 AM.

                It was a very short bus ride to the trailhead; we arrived not long after 4. We were all a bit bleary-eyed as we unloaded our packs from the bus. As the bus drove away, we were all alone—only a very long hike beckoned. 

The Beginning (and the End!)

**There are three parts to this post, because it was so long...stay tuned for more!**

To see all of my pictures from this trip, follow this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Harry.Lambert2/UWCAlbum02?authkey=Gv1sRgCLDKzaGfnMjc2AE&feat=directlink