Hiking in the Desert!

I just got back from an awesome hiking trip in the Grand Canyon!

So, I know you’ve all seen photos of the Grand Canyon. The thing is, there is something about the Grand Canyon that just can’t be appreciated unless you’re there, in person, witnesses it in the flesh! It’s like the canyon jumps out at you in four dimensions when you’re there. It’s pretty surreal.

Anyway, months ago my good friend, Lorea, suggested that we go on a hiking trip in May, before it gets too hot. We found a bunch of cool articles on the web about hiking the Grand Canyon and planned out own trip!

We spent day one hiking into the canyon and then camping along the Colorado River. It was amazing! Along the way there are a ton of people riding donkeys or mules down or up the canyon. As hikers, we felt a big smug about navigating the canyon on our own two feet 🙂

The Colorado River is a powerful river that offers plenty of great swimming spots, especially after a hard day of hiking in hot temperatures! Lorea and I found some great swimming spots, threw on our bathing suits, and let the cool water wash away our aches and pains.

That night, some park rangers held an interpretive walk through the park with ultra violet lights. What could that be for, you ask? Well, as it turns out, the Grand Canyon is filled with SCORPIONS that come out at night!

Turns out that the scorpions have something in their shells which makes them glow under ultra violet light. So, the park rangers took us through the park and shined these lights on the ground – revealing hundreds and hundreds of scurrying scorpions all around us! It was freaky but cool at the same time. Definitely made us very careful not to let any sneaky scorpions into our tent when it came time to hit the hay!

We spent the next day hanging out around the bottom of the Grand Canyon and enjoying some day hikes. There is also a great lodge at the bottom where they serve up plenty of great food. We didn’t bring much in the way of food (mostly lots of pasta and lightweight food), so it was great to enjoy some more fulsome meals!

We then spent day three hiking up out of the Grand Canyon. This was definitely the most challenging part of the hike! As difficult as it was, we were sad to leave. The Grand Canyon is such a magical place and we would have loved to stay longer. Oh well, there’s always next May! 🙂

Have any of you ever spent some time in the Grand Canyon? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂

Sincerely,

Jenni