The Grand Canyon

This pages contains pictures from my recent journey to the Grand Canyon, enjoy!
The Grand Canyon is one of the most incredible places on the planet. You drive in, completely unaware of what you're about to see. You enter the National Park, like any other park, and as you drive, you begin to feel as though you're approching something, but you can't put your finger on it. You look from side to side but all you see are trees. The road curves, and as you come around the last bend, to your right is the most incredible hole in the earth that you've ever seen in your life. It's so enourmous, and glorious. As you look out, the absence of rock creates a shape in itself, and you can see the other walls far away and amazement is all that exists. Then you realize that you're driving and have to keep your eyes on the road.
  • Daylight shot of spanning Canyon (gc1.jpg)
    • When I first learned that I was going out west last summer, one of my thoughts was to figure out a way to work in the Grand Canyon. The main purpose of my trip was to work at the NACUFS National Conference in Albuquerque, NM. I work part time as their Web Manager. Well, it worked out perfectly that after Albuquerque, Emily and I would hit the Grand Canyon. We even planned on doing some hiking. We drove from Albuquerque west to Gallup and spent the night and were really beginning our trip as I had just worked in Albuquerque. After spending the night in Gallup we headed west again and turned north in Flagstaff and made our way to the crater above.

    When we arrived, it was exactly as the above paragraph mentioned. We were blown away. I hadn't expected it to be THAT big. We drove past quickly, and I really wanted to check it out, but we were there a day early from our campsite reservation, so we had to go work something out and check in. It all worked, and we set up camp and then prepared for our sunset walk.

  • Sunset on the canyon walls (gc2.jpg)
    • It was a short drive to the trailhead for the rim-walk, after I got lost in the park. And we walked for about a mile on the edge of the canyon at Sunset. The changing colors of the rocks are truley incredible. We stopped at an observatio n point and bought some postcards and took in the incredible mass of nothingness that was in front of us. It was so overwealming that it was scary. After a good night sleep that night, we woke early to secure our place in line at the hiking office. The policy with the Grand Canyon is that if you want to hike you either have to make a reservation, or go a days before each night you want to stay there and be first in line at the hiking office and they coordinate with you how you want to hike. Our goal was to hike completely down the first day and camp at the bottom, then hike 1/2 way up the second day, and the other 1/2 the third day. Well, we were the first ones in line and made our reservation for the next night. We had to come back the next day for the night after that. So we left the office and decided to take a drive around the canyon to catch it from different vantage points.
  • Another beautiful sunset shot (gc3.jpg)
    • This was such a good call on our part. The drive was great, we stopped at every lookout point we could find, and made it all the way to the "corner" of the canyone where they had the big lookout with the tower and everything. That one was a little cheesy and touristy, but what the hell, we were tourists. Little did I know that we wouldn't be doing anything touristy. Most people come to the Grand Canyon and look at it for a day, maybe two, and then leave. But Emily and I, being the adventure seeking youngins we were, wanted more. And we set out to hike the Canyon. After a good night sleep that night we were back at the hiking office first thing in the morning and got our permits for the next night. With gear ready we made drove to where we would come up two days later and took a bus to the trail head. Smart, eh? With a couple of stretches we were off!
  • A breathtaking break during our hike (gc10.jpg)
    • Hiking the Grand Canyon. We had backpacks, a tarp, comforters, water, water, water, no tent, no sleeping bag. I won't go through ever grueling detail of our trek to the bottom world of the canyon, where, by the way, I felt like I was in the Secret Land of Nyhm. We made it. It starts off kinda steep, then flattens out over some incredible outlook points, curves around and around, lots of switchbags, very long, nine hours of hell on earth. The last hour is pretty much all switchbacks going back and forth back and forth so we can cover more elevation in a quicker time. The trails are pretty good, but those damn donkeys suck.
  • The incredible changing colors of the rocks (gc4.jpg)
    • The night beneath was crazy. We got a spot on the river, and as we talked to the ranger, who didn't comfort us in our attempt to avoid wildlife, we managed to get some sleep on the tarp and comforters, with no tent, to protection, just us and the bats. We did sneak over to the Phantom Ranch where the donkey people sleep in log cabins catered and grabbed some lemoade and heard a nice story about the history of the Canyon. The next morning was groggy, but we cleaned up rather quickly and prepared for the next, probably most intense day of the trip. The hike up stars with about a mile walk along the colorado, then slopes up through the rocks. It doesn't really switch back for a while until you come to a huge pass facing east which kills with the sun. Back and forth, up a mountain, asking everyone who passes us how far it is until Indian Gardens, our next checkpoint. We saw our friends on the way passing and waving to the nice family. But basically it was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. We finally arrived at the oasis and had some water, I scoped us out a good campsite, and we camped half way up the canyon, in view of the top, yet stuck for the night, beneath. We got to the campsite which was only about 50 yards off the trail we had taken up and were to continue taking the next day. Then, it rained. It was a good thing our campsite had a picknick table and covering because it was the largest rainstorm I had ever seen in my life. Pouring rain for hours, flushing us and continuing to pummel the canyon. As the rain subsided to a light drizzle, apparently all the water from above had filtered to the point on the train where we were, because down the trail came a river of mud which continued to flow for hours. People who were taking day hikes to our location were stuck at the bottom of the canyon. People were being helicoptered out. Search helicopters flew overhead looking for people trapped on the side of the mountain. Now we were really stuck and very aggrivated. The guide told us that the trail would be closed for the night, but that they would escort us out in the morning. We expected more rain that night so we hung the tarp to where the wind was blowing from on the covering and slept on the picknick table. A deer and a few wolves visited us that night, but we made it through the night alive.
  • A side view offering spectacular sights (gc5.jpg)
    • The next day we awoke early and gathered our things and met at the guide's house a few yards from the edge of the camping area. We were heading us, and everyone was preparing for the long day's journey. I don't really remember everything about this day. It was especially grueling for me and Emily as the fatigue and pressure began setting in. I guess it will have to take an intense moment of my life to bring back the memories in the fullest extent, but I would have to say that it was and incredible day, and a very rewarding group experiencec. Being escorted out didn't help matters much as the guide flew up the trail she had done so many times before. The last day seemed the hardest in retrospect, but all three days were intense. I was foolish to believe I could do it with little pain as it is quite an incredible venture. It was amazing to be able to see the top, yet not be able to be there for hours. The sites were spectacular, and as we reached the top and could see people just strolling around gazing at this amazing site before them, I felt a deeper gratification, and a new found respect. We had hiked the Grand Canyon, from rim to river to rim, and it was incredible and probably the most intense experience of my life to date. My memory can not even congure up images of cliffs and trails that we were existing in for three straight days. Quite an incredible journey, and a memory which I will always cherish.

    -Andrew Gadiel

  • The Canyon at sunset (gc6.jpg)
  • Me at the edge (gc7.jpg)
  • My fellow traveller, Emily (gc8.jpg)
  • Emily and I at the edge (gc9.jpg)
    • That's it! Why don't you send me an E-mail and let me know what you think!

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    Andrew Gadiel
    gadielan@pilot.msu.edu
    since 12/17/96