Day Three: Bright Angel Trail

Never have I so acutely felt the presence of death than while at the Grand Canyon. This jagged, severe gash in the earth, as steep as could be. Looking over the edge of the South Rim is staring at certain death, and yet it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. So calm, serene. Birds gliding up layer upon layer. Endless miles of craters and caverns and plateaus. I could not help but stare; captivated and lost in its vastness.

Now hiking down into the beast is an entirely different story. Descending switchback upon switchback, you feel the canyon stretching its arms around your shoulders, welcoming you into its company. You feel great and walk through a few of these:

You find a nice cozy piece of shade and take a break:

You walk past some groups of sweaty, panting, tired-looking people and think to yourself Those people must be out of shape and They must be from the camp at the bottom, but think nothing else of it. You mosey along - Evelyn setting the pace and ask some international visitors to take your picture...

You even snap an awkward-looking selfie...

But in the meantime, you have been looking over the edge and realizing exactly how steep that drop is. You know you're not crazy, but the path seems to be narrowing. You stop for a moment and turn around. Hm... You realize you have to hike all the way back UP there, and now you are starting to feel yourself freak out. This seems like the time to head back to camp.

Now, the thing is that Evelyn really only likes to hike downhill if it is a generally smooth trail - no rocks or obstacles in her way - so she had the best ride of the day out of the Grand Canyon: on my shoulders. We booked it back up the trail and agreed to enjoy our remaining time along the Rim.

Next time, we are headed all the way down!