Accomplishment

Kathleen-
I've joined the ABC-along that Vicki is hosting. I loved this when people did it in 2006, so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon this year.

The resolution is helped by my cute new camera, a Christmas present from my father for the hiking of Grand Canyon. Which brings me to my entry for A.

Accomplishment.


Mike and I upon arriving on the rim after hiking the Grand Canyon. The longer (and picture heavy) post is below.

On the morning of New Years Eve, we started out on the South Rim.

The view from the rim looked like this:
A couple hours later, at our lunch stop at Indian Gardens, we were looking up at this (note that its still Fall down here):
After lunch, we were looking down at this: Known as the Devil's Corkscrew.
Five hours after we started, and a vertical mile later, we were on the banks of the Colorado River. I promptly twisted my knee on the sandy section of the trail. At the time, just badly enough to brace it and limp for the rest of the trip.

Being at the river bank meant we still had 2 miles to go to our stop for the night, the incomparable Phantom Ranch. At the bottom of Grand Canyon, it's like a mirage to see a collection of cabins that look like this:



One of the joys of hiking Grand Canyon in the winter is that there's almost nobody around...which is also why there are virtually no pictures of Mike and I together in the Canyon....nobody to take the picture!

We had an amazing steak dinner at Phantom Ranch on New Years Eve, stopped by and chatted with some NPS people who were staying at the Ranger Station, and were in bed by 9pm. I have to say I didn't miss staying up till midnight one bit!

The next morning we got up EARLY for breakfast, packed up, and started to retrace our steps.

Note that its still partially dark when these pictures were taken (also cold!)


We ran into some friendly deer just a few steps down the path.
Recrossed the silver bridge (oops, I didn't tell you about the bridge on the way down. Phantom Ranch is on the North side of the Colorado River, we started on the South. There are 2 bridges, and we crossed the silver bridge, which is used just by hikers. It's a suspension bridge, impossibly long and swaying when you're on it.)
And a few minutes later, turned and looked back as light broke into the Canyon.


Before we left the bottom, pictures of us at the river:

Scenic views from lunch on the way up (what you can't tell is that it was so windy we had to constantly hold on to everything loose, or it would blow away).

A friendly bird that came within a foot of me while I was lying on the bench at our lunch spot.
We still have all that to climb?
1.5 miles to the top (still cold, windy, and I was moving VERY slowly by now).
We hiked up that!
The light was starting to change as it moved towards sunset, and it looked like an impressionist painting:
A kind gentleman took the photo about 150 yards from the top. At this point, I was good to go. Note that it's getting dark again.
Accomplishment! Mom took this pic when we hit the top. Note that it is actually dark at this point. It took 10 hours to climb out, literally dawn to dusk. We probably would have been quite a bit faster were it not for my bum knee and the fact that both Mike and I had colds.
That's accomplishment on both our faces!

And no, I didn't take my knitting! But my next post should have knitting...