Last Minute Shenanigans

I recently took about a five day trip through Utah and Arizona, which was definitely one of the most last minute, spontaneous trips of my life. It started out as “Hey, why don’t we do something after Feast,” and ended up as a crazy four day trip through the Narrows in Zion and through the valley of the Grand Canyon. We put about as much thought into this trip as high school boys put into what they’re going to wear to gym class. It was while I was on my way to Phoenix for the winter that a friend of mine, Austin, called me somewhere along the way and said he had bought a one-way flight to Phoenix. Woot! So I finished the remnant of my 22 hour trip from KC to Phoenix, got a tight seven hours, woke up, and picked up Austin from the Sky Harbour airport the next day.

The weekend lacked any major excitement outside of longboarding around downtown Phoenix, playing Mario Kart 8 and watching plenty of The Office. We went to a local church on Sunday and left for Zion right after. The next four days were a blast. Our lack of planning landed us with plenty of great stories, as well as a couple dodgy sleeping situations. Our first night, after not finding a camping spot before sundown and being warned out of sleeping too close to the road, landed us in a cemetery parking lot in our car (not sketchy). The next morning, we hiked one of my favorite spots ever: the Narrows in Zion National Park. It was roughly probably mid 60s outside which made the water super cold. Luckily, we each had our Merrell’s on, although not providing any warmth for our feet, gave us plenty of support to hike in. After about two hours in, climbing some sweet rocks, exploring about half of the narrows, we turned around with numb feet and cold, hungry bodies.

That night, we drove to the Kaibab trailhead at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, spent another night in the car and started our hike early the next morning at 4:30. The next day was glorious. With the Merrell’s, full packs, and fresh legs, we departed on the 23.9 mile journey to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The hike through the Grand Canyon valley is incredible. Seeing the Grand Canyon from one of its rims is one thing, but being completely diminished by the vastness of the rocks rising 6,000 feet above you is inspiring. Hiking through that landscape for 12 hours gives you perspective, makes you realize how small some of your problems are, and definitely gives you insight into how big our God is. I even got offered a job halfway through at Phantom Ranch (shoutout to Alfredo)!

We summited at the South Rim at about 4:30, an exact 12 hours from starting at the Kaibab trailhead in the North. After summiting, being completely beaten up, realizing we had no way back to the North Rim, as well as no place to stay for the night, we were forced to improvise. This led to a fun two days of sleeping on a park bench, two couches in one of the lodges, constantly searching for the cheapest food, and attempting hitchhiking for an hour and a half. If you prepare as well as we do, and your body isn’t in shape, hiking almost 24 miles straight in one day will render your body pretty useless for a couple days after. As a result, I was pretty wrecked, which made walking pretty hard for about 48 hours and cut our hitchhiking stint short (an endeavor you should all delve in at some point). After getting almost out of the park, we got a ride back to the lodge, slept one more night, and caught the Trans-Canyon Shuttle back to our car the next day. After that trip, seeing our car again was the most glorious, rewarding sight after having felt basically homeless for two days.

All in all, it was a quick, yet rewarding and fun trip. The hikes were beautiful. Hiking in some of the most beautiful spots in the world is inspiring. The scenery is beautiful and it doubles as a great getaway for thinking and daydreaming. As always, it left me thankful, grateful, and wanting more. I tend to start planning my next trip during my current one. Traveling with Austin was a blast. From theology talks, classic jokes, and hearing entire Spongebob episodes recited, he’s a great hiking partner. 10/10 for sure. Tips for anyone considering hiking the Grand Canyon: Plan well ahead of time, train your body, get a permit and spend at least three days hiking and camping through the Grand Canyon valley, and most importantly, know how you’re getting to back to your car once you summit. A phenomenal trip would be to hike back by doing a rim-to-rim-to-rim hike. That’s great, and you’re nuts for doing it. If you can’t, and you don’t have a ride, your options are hitchhiking or taking the $90, hour shuttle back. But if you don’t, you’re in for a spontaneous couple of days in the Grand Canyon Village (if this happens to you, I would advise getting stuck at the South Rim, not the North Rim, it’s much more populated).