Grand Canyon

When I was 16 years old, my parents took me and my four siblings on the summer vacation that I like to call the "Whirlwind Tour of the West." Seven of us packed ourselves into the old Chevy Astro van, hitched up the little pop-up camper, and spent two weeks driving across the western US. We stopped at national parks along the way, managed to somehow find a preserved sod house off the highway in Iowa (which also featured an anatomically-correct buffalo sculptured from barbed wire), and ended up at the end of the first week at the Grand Canyon. We did the usual tourist attractions in the South Rim Village, and then one day, we hiked a little way down the Bright Angel Trail into the canyon. And that's when I was hooked. The ranger told us the trail kept going, all the way to the bottom of the canyon, and I just knew I had to get there.

Ten years later, my husband and I bought a tent, sleeping bags and enough freeze-dried food to feed a small army and took up backpacking for the simple reason that I had to camp at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And we did, at the Bright Angel Campground, for two nights. We had such a good time, that we decided to go back on our honeymoon, where we learned a lot of new things about backpacking in the canyon... Especially in regards to water. But enough reminiscing, here's the photos!

 This was the view from our very-briefly-occupied campsite as the sun went down.

After we came back up from our backpack, we took a rest day and walked the Rim Trail, where the bighorn sheep like to eat in the winter. This one wasn't bothered by the camera at all.

More from the Bright Angel Trail on Monday! Happy weekend!