Zach and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary in mid-September. Of course, in the midst of cross country season and the kids' fall activities, our "celebration" was a dinner out together crammed between the plethera of family activities that were on the calendar that week. We waited until after the craziness of cross country season and then took our true celebratory anniversary trip a month later. We left the still-surprisingly-nice weather in Illinois to bask in the surprisingly cool weather in...
Arizona!!
We flew from Bloomington to Phoenix (through Dallas) on some cheap flights that I found on American Airlines. And although part of the cheapness was just bringing carry-on bags, we found out the hard way that you cannot carry on hiking poles...so we ended up having to check a bag with our hiking poles. Hope everyone on the flight felt way safer knowing that our hiking poles were safely tucked away underneath the plane.
On the plus side, our flight from Bloomington to Dallas was not full so we took advantage of some open rows to re-seat ourselves once the flight had taken off.
Our flights were smooth and our dinner at the TGI Fridays in the Dallas airport was surprisingly yummy. We got to our Phoenix hotel in the later evening and settled into our room only to wake up in the morning with this view of State Farm Stadium.
We planned our trip dates and destination around going to see the Bears play the Cardinals. (We had hoped to score some free tickets through the State Farm employee ticket lottery, but no such luck.) With the game being a Sunday afternoon game, we had time to wake up, go for a run together, and enjoy a deliciously scrumptious lunch at the Crooked Pint Ale House in our hotel before the game.
It was nice being able to just walk over to the stadium from our hotel. The stadium was really nice and the view from our seats was really good.
Unfortunately, the Bears were lousy, so there wasn't too much to cheer about.
Although the Bears game was a bit of a downer, it was still fun to experience a live game (since it had been a number of years since we had done that) and enjoy the energy of being in the stadium.
After the game, we walked back to our car and then got on the road for the 4 hour trip to the Grand Canyon. We stopped to eat dinner at Flew the Coop Nashville Hot Chicken Shack in Verde, AZ. It was one of the highlight meals of the trip. So good!!
We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Tusayan, AZ just outside the south rim entrance of the Grand Canyon. We got to the hotel late, packed up our stuff for our hike the next day, and got not-quite-adequate sleep before our alarms rolled us out of bed to get an early start on our day. Although we were too early for the free breakfast at our hotel, I was able to score some bagels and peanut butter from the breakfast staff as they were setting up for the morning. Score!
Our anniversary trip plan started with the idea of going to see the Bears play in Phoenix. When I realized that Sedona is just a few hours from Phoenix, we decided that might be a nice place to spend part of our week. And then, when I realized that the Grand Canyon is only a few hours from Sedona, it seemed appropriate to add a day there as well. As I began researching the Grand Canyon, the idea of completing the strenuous Rim to River to Rim hike intrigued, so we added that to our itinerary.
We got to the South Rim entrance by 5:30 in the morning. We parked at the Bright Angel trailhead and then took the 6:00 a.m. hiker's shuttle from the Bright Angel Lodge to the South Kaibab trailhead. We were lucky to be riding with some other friendly hikers who informed us of a trail closure that would impact our intended hiking route. They shared an alternate route that they planned to do, so we were able to make that last minute adjustment to our plan. I was so glad we had some insider information instead of trying to make a new plan on the fly when we encountered the closed trail 8 miles into our day.
Leaving the rim about 6:30, we hiked down the South Kaibab trail. It was under 20 degrees at the rim when we left, but thankfully we were prepared with many layers. It was beautiful watching the sun rise over the canyon as we began our descent.
The entire hike down to the river was a steady decline with lots of switchbacks and rocky steps. It was about 4,780 feet of descent over the 7.3 miles down to the Phantom Ranch at the bottom.
It was sunny and pleasant for most of the hike, warming up as the sun came up and we got further into the canyon.
It was interesting passing the mule train and seeing the size of the mules (bigger than we anticipated) and how undisturbed they were by the hikers they were passing. I could have done without all the mule dung along the trail though.
By the time we made it down to the river, we had shed several layers and were ready for a drink and a snack.
We stopped at Phantom Ranch to check it out and grab some of their famous lemonade.
We fueled up on lemonade and a bagel with peanut butter, refilled our water, and rested for a bit before beginning the return trek back up to the rim.
Because the Bright Angel trail was closed between Phantom Ranch and Havasupai Gardens, we hiked back up the South Kaibab trail to the Tip Off and then cut across on the Tonto Trail to the Bright Angel Trail. This added 4+ miles to our overall trip.
Although adding time and distance, the Tonto Trail was a nice reprieve from the constant downhill and uphill hiking. It was relatively flat and we saw very few other hikers along the trail...just enough to ensure that we weren't totally lost and alone.
The views were beautiful and the weather was perfect for hiking.
There were many graphic warning signs about the dangers of doing this hike in one day, especially in the heat. (This was our favorite sign!) We were lucky to have the weather we did. It was a strenuous hike even in the coolness of November when the temperature never surpassed the mid-60's. I can't imagine trying to do this in the summer.
Once we hit Bright Angel Trail, it was a constant uphill climb to reach the top. We had purchased hiking poles for the trip on a recommendation from a friend, and we were really glad we had them for the climb. The constant elevation gain was a grind.
We had started our hike right around sunrise and finished right before the sunset. It took us about 10 hours, and we estimated about 20 miles of hiking. (Our watches' GPS wasn't super accurate and the addition of the Tonto Trail made it hard to know for sure exactly how far we actually hiked.)
However, this graphic from Zach's app was a pretty accurate depiction of how the hike felt.
By the time we reached the Bright Angel Trailhead, we were tired, cold, hungry, and thankful to have reached the end.
Once we got back to our car, we were famished. (Although we were generally prepared for the hike, we neglected to pack a variety of snacks and were definitely ready for something other than energy Stroopwafels and energy chews.) We stopped at the first restaurant we could find (called 'We Cook Pizza and Pasta') and polished off an entire pizza. It was true. They did cook pizza and pasta. It wasn't anything special, but met our needs in the moment for warmth and real food.
What an amazing day! Although it was hard and long and strenuous, it was also one of the most epic day hikes we have ever done. I'm so glad we had the right day, the right weather, and the right time to make this happen. It was a great start to our week of enjoying Arizona and its beauty.
