Grand Canyon Birthday Hike

For my Birthday my parents treated me to a grand Canyon hike w Phantom Ranch awaiting us at the bottom. We left late at night and got into the park a little before 6. Everything was so beautiful. Cody and family watched my littles.

Our early morning catching up to us. Waiting for the tram

Love those switchbacks

Going down is my least favorite part. It bonks my knees weird

Ohh Ahh Point

I know my Mom has better pictures. But..

Anyway . Wow. The Grand Canyon is still breathtaking. It is wild going down through so many layers of earth. We made it down, is it 7 miles?, pretty quickly and were able to sneak in to our cabins before we were supposed to. (My Dad has been down the Grand Canyon so many times, he knows all the loopholes.) Took a quick nap and then hiked 13 miles round trip to Ribbon Falls. It was really hot and a lot of it was exposed. Thankfully there was a cool creek we kept dipping ourselves in. We had fun w sing a longs and listening to my Dad singing Elton John. I had never been to ribbon falls. and to be honest the 13 mile hike exposed in the middle of the day, after already hiking 7 miles in 113 degrees was intimidating. It was amazing and I am so glad we had the guts to make it. I think that was part of the beauty of it too. It was pretty untouched and I was thinking, "how many people will even ever see this awesome spot?" ...right as my mom and I stumbled upon a couple taking a nap. The falls made it feel like an air conditioner was on. The wind would blow water sprinkles on us. It was brilliant. I got a pretty gnarly blister on the way back though. The lemonade at Phantom Ranch is the best in the world. mmmm. And the beef stew is also the best in the world. mmm. We also met a cute little amish family, we wont bring up what the cute little amish woman said to my mom's age. That night we went scorpion hunting with a ranger. They glow in black lights! It was wild! We saw 7 or 8 of them. It was so fun hanging out w my parents. I just love those 2. Felt like old times. The hike out was pretty ok. My blister the size of my thumb gave me fits a few times but. It was a good hike. Dad, ever the hero hiked out the last mile with my Mom and I's bakpacks! By the time we got out I was sweating lemonade gatorade. Even 2 months after this hike, the mere thought of gatorade makes me feel yucky. but the hike out is such a rush. We hiked 27 miles in pretty much 24 hours! My shoes started falling apart! I felt so good about myself.
Not only was the hike great but I also enjoyed preparing for it too. We hiked Little Mountain a bunch and went on a few bigger hikes to get ready for it. Thanks Mom and Dad for the adventure. It was just what I was hoping for this year. Thanks for doing all the leg work for me. It was an awesome birthday present. love your guts. And thanks to all the babysitters too!