Grand Canyon, AZ

We got to the Grand Canyon on Monday night and camped in the Kaibab National Forest. On Tuesday, we went mountain biking on the Rainbow Rim Trail. The bike trail follows the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, offering some very nice views along the way. It was a beautiful day and we biked about 12 miles of the trail.

It was pretty exhausting considering we are not avid bikers and the elevation was close to 9,000 feet. When we were done, we relaxed at our campsite at the edge of the North Rim.

The next day, we got up at 5:30 am to hike/climb Mt. Hayden. It is a pretty obscure route, but one of the "easiest" to get to in the Grand Canyon. The climb starts at the highest point in the park, and descends into the canyon to meet a ridge at the end of which stands Mt Hayden.

The route description emphasizes the importance of leather gloves and even leather chaps to battle the thorn bushes on the descent. Of course we went in with neither. After an hour and a half of bushwhacking (there is no discernible trail) and a 100ft static hand line, we pulled the thorns out of our skin and quickly made our way across the Martian-esque ridgeline.

We got to the base of the climb around 10am, and started up the 3 pitches, fighting off wicked prickly bushes and 40mph sustained winds. The summit proved totally worth it, as we got 360 degree views of the canyon.

We spent 20 minutes or so at the top (about all we could stand with the wind), and spent 90 minutes rappelling as Pete almost lost his mind getting the ropes out of those tangly bushes that would not bend, break or give in any way. The wind was blowing so hard at this point, that every time we would throw the ropes down 30ft or so at a time, they would take off and wrap around every bush on the way down. On the hike out, we could feel the canyon reforming around us, as the wind was blowing chunks off the wall all the while.

We crossed the ridge and made our way back up the thorny crap, reluctantly. Surprisingly, it took the same amount of time to ascend as to descend, as there is no quick way through the Devil's twine, GD briar patches,  whatever you want to call it. We came up with a lot more names, not appropriate for publication.

We made it to the top just in time to see the sunset drop around the canyon, a proper ending to a long 11 hour day.

We are now back in Utah, headed for Red Rocks outside of Las Vegas. I don't think a night at the Bellagio is in our hotel budget, unfortunately. Their dinner buffet can't hold a candle to our staple noodle mix and canned chicken anyway.