Wow! It seems like forever ago that I set out on the trip of a lifetime! I am having so much fun looking at these pictures even now! Long story short, one of my co-workers (who is also a really good friend) convinced my roommate and I (along with some of our other friends) to sign up for a 10 day backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon!! Maggie's roommate Kristen used to lead trips for the Outdoor program at UAB, and was recruited to lead a trip to the Grand Canyon this summer! I was so thankful that Elaine Mae was born the week before we left because it meant that I could go a little early to Birmingham and see her before I left civilization behind and headed West!!
I went from this:
To this:
Can I just say that this was one of the most amazing trips I have ever been on!!! I was absolutely amazed by the beauty and grandeur of God's creation!!! I think that every person should see the Grand Canyon at some point in life. It is breath taking at every turn!!
I wish that I could go into detail about all of the preparation that led up to this trip. I had many sweet friends who encouraged me and gave me practical help as I prepared for this grand adventure!! If you know me, you know that this trip was a little bit out of my comfort zone!! I had never been backpacking (other than short overnight campouts) in my life, and here I was headed for the Grand Canyon where I would traverse the terrain of the Canyon covering about 40 miles over the course of 5 days inside the Canyon (with a 38 pound backpack on my back!). God's strength made perfect in weakness! :)
We drove across the country in a 15 passenger van! We had loads of fun talking, playing games, reading, listening to Pandora, and watching the scenery as we watched state after state roll by:
Each night along the way, we stopped and camped somewhere new. We usually arrived at the campsite after dark, and set up camp by head lamp! We awakened with the sun and surveyed our surroundings:
Yup, we're definitely in the west:
We stopped for a tour here:
Windy day as the storm approached...a park ranger told us to take cover from the dangerous lightning:
Just before the main entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park we saw some of these amazing creatures crossing the street!
And finally after over 24 hours of driving across the country, we reached the South Rim:
We watched the sun set, and we were all nearly in tears at the beauty! If our loving Heavenly Father could create such beauty, oh how he must care for his children! Every day in the Canyon I felt like I was on a spiritual retreat, finding at every turn even more reason to love a God who is SO strong and BIG, and yet who knows me more intimately than I even know myself!
Me and Maggie:
After a night of camping on the rim with the luxuries of bathroom/shower facilities, we loaded up our packs and took one last group shot before we started our decent into the Canyon:
Here are some of us girls...we look pretty professional don't we!?!
See those winding trails? That's where we were heading!
The Canyon is like a maze! Within the Canyon, there are inner canyons as well.
The Colorado River:
Each morning in the Canyon, we would wake up well before dawn and hike by headlamps until the sun would rise, doing a dance with the shadows along the Canyon walls:
Many times along the way, I felt like I was in a movie set to Lord of the Rings:
This girl is embracing "roughing it"--no showers? no problem!!
Ribbon Falls is a gem hidden in the crevice of one of the inner canyons!
We climbed up to the top of the large rock and had a picnic lunch behind the falls and then decided to venture out onto the rock and actually get in the falls!
More beautiful scenery! I took over 500 pictures on this trip!!
I was proud of myself for overcoming my fear of this ledge! I told my friend to stay off that they would give me a heart attack, and then I just decided to join them!
Coming up out of the Canyon was one of the most intense things I have ever done! It was incredibly steep and consisted of switchback after switchback! We were trucking, though, and make it out in record time the last morning in the Canyon!
I won't ever forget that sense of accomplishment when I made it to the Rim! I think we were all so delirious that we couldn't decide if we should laugh or cry!! Basically, we entered the Canyon from the South Rim, hiked down into the Canyon and stopped 7 miles short of going up to the North Rim (2 of our group members went the extra 7 miles and did a true "rim to rim" trip) before heading back up and out to the South Rim where we started!!
The drive back to Birmingham seemed to take FOREVER!! We stopped along the way at this amazing location:
Once again I was in awe of our Creator God!!
I am so thankful for the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to visit the West and see places I have never seen before!! I won't ever forget it!!!
