In the ‘Zona Again, Part 2

And now for my post about the second part of my trip to Arizona earlier this month. And as promised, this post will be much more photo-heavy! So I mentioned in Part 1 that what Alex & I had planned or thought would happen before the trip often didn’t turn out quite that way. Our original plan before we flew down there was to rent a car (probably at the airport) on the afternoon of Thursday the 15th after my talk at the AMS Conference so that we could go up to the Grand Canyon. But plans changed, and for the better! While we were staying at their place the weekend before the conference, my cousin Melissa & her husband Jeremy graciously volunteered to let Alex & me borrow their Ford Explorer for our drive to northern Arizona!! We were both amazed at and grateful for their generosity.
Being we didn’t have a rental car during the conference though, we took the light rail back to our motel in Tempe, and Melissa drove out there to to come pick us up (and all our stuff, which we’d left at the front desk all day). While we were waiting for Melissa, I did what any good son would do: call my mom and mention how I had on shorts and sandals, was sitting on some lush green grass, with my back against a palm tree, in the shade so that I could take a break from being in the sun. Meanwhile, I knew very well that it was well below zero and they had a fresh addition to the snowpack in northwestern Wisconsin. 😉 Anyway, after getting back to Avondale and getting the Explorer loaded up, it was close to 5:30 before we actually started heading north, so most of our drive up was in the dark. We stopped in Flagstaff for some supper and to pick up some food to have for lunch the next day on the trail, so it was close to 10pm before we got to our hotel in Tusayan, a couple miles south of the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. I think I got paid back for my phone call to my mom telling her how warm it was in Phoenix though, because while the temp was near 75 in Phoenix (elevation ~1100 ft), it was a good 50 degrees colder in Flagstaff and Tusayan (elevation ~7000 ft). There was also plenty of snow on the ground from a bit south of Flagstaff all the way up to the Grand Canyon. Alex & I definitely didn’t linger outside up there any longer than we had to!
On Friday the 16th we had set our alarms early enough so that we could get up to the rim for sunrise. When our alarms went off, we decided to give up on the sunrise and sleep for another couple hours. Side effect of yet again staying up really late and talking, I guess. 🙂 By the time we parked at Mather Point up at the rim, it was getting on toward 10am, I think, and temps were in the low-mid 30s. Especially with the breeze up at the rim, it was nice and cool for the start of a long hike!
We started out at Mather Point:

Then we walked west along the Rim Trail to Yavapai Point:

We continued our hike west, coming next upon Grandeur Point:

Then it was onto our last stretch of the Rim Trail before we came to Grand Canyon Village:

A panoramic view from the Lookout Studio in Grand Canyon Village, looking down Bright Angel Canyon:

A little after 11:30am, it was time to strike out down Bright Angel Trail!

We were mindful of the advisories to allot one-third of our time for the hike down, and two-thirds for the way back up. Not wanting to get caught on the snowy and icy trail below the rim after sunset, we kept our eye on the clock and continued to hike down about 2.25-2.5 miles from the rim. Because of how snowy and icy the trail was, it was hard-going and pretty tiring to walk down:

This was our view when we stopped for lunch a little before 1:30pm, roughly 1600 feet of elevation below the rim:

We really wanted to make it to Three-Mile Resthouse, but if it would indeed take twice as long to hike back up as it took us to hike down, then we really didn’t want to risk going however much further (half-mile? three-quarters of a mile?) it was to the resthouse. So we reluctantly gave up before our goal and started the trek back up the trail:

Much to our surprise, it took us the same amount of time to hike back up as it did to hike down. So as it turns out we almost certainly could’ve continued hiking down to Three-Mile Resthouse, but oh well. That gave us time to rest and relax a bit as we walked back toward our vehicle along the Rim Trail, and that we didn’t have to book it to get to a good viewing spot for sunset.

After we got back to Mather Point, we drove over to the carpark at Yavapai Point, and took in sunset just to the west of there:

We have a couple of amusing stories from sunset as well. First, take a close look at the right side of the photo at left, and you’ll see a guy standing alone on a rock. I just happened to be looking over that direction, when the guy leapt to that rock from the balance-beam-like rock outcrop near it. I was in total shock to see someone so stupid as to attempt that jump, because that’s no small distance, but his landing area was pretty small, as you can see. If the guy would’ve landed off-balance, he would’ve fallen to his death. Moron… In any case, this picture captures him in the three minutes or so that he spent pondering how on earth to get back. And sure enough, he leapt back to the platform rock, clinging to the front edge of it, before managing to climb up. I was just relieved that he made it back, despite his idiocy. He could’ve died had either leap not gone quite right…

The other antics at sunset were perpetrated by Alex & me (Alex was definitely the instigator though, haha). Below the main platform at the vista, there was another ledge that was easy to get down to, and Alex figured out that he could climb up another part of the rock, poking his head above the ledge from seemingly out of nowhere, which startled quite a few people. It was great! (And totally safe, I promise.) No doubt he snuck his way into a few pictures that way, haha. And so of course I tried it too, and though we tried to stage it that I was really struggling to hold on for dear life, I had a tough time keeping a straight face. 🙂 Then Alex went back to do it again, and we became sort of a tourist destination unto ourselves, amongst the people passing by to take sunset photos at the point!

All told, we hiked over 10 miles that day! It was close to 3 miles from the Mather Point carpark to the Bright Angel Trailhead, then we hiked a round trip of 4-4.5 miles on that trail, then we walked the ~3 miles back to Mather Point, then did a little extra hiking going to the Visitor Center and back, and to the place where we watched the sunset. We were pretty exhausted, but it was so worth it! I’ve always wanted to go hiking below the rim of the Grand Canyon a bit, and I was able to go with my best friend! By the end we were actually very glad that we didn’t get up for sunrise, because that would’ve undoubtedly added an extra hour or two of hiking at the front end of our day, on two fewer hours of sleep. Once again, our original plans were tweaked and likely turned out much better! We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner back in Tusayan, at the Yippee-Ei-O! Steakhouse (wings, steak & ribs (which came with a baked potato, corn on the cob and salad), wine, chocolate mousse cake…). Judging from the bill and from how enormously full we were, I’d say we definitely treated ourselves! We slept pretty soundly that night too, as you might imagine. It just might’ve been the most enormous “food coma” that either of us have ever had!
On Saturday the 17th we drove back down to the Phoenix area, and it was a much prettier drive on the way down than on the way up, partly because it was in the daylight, and partly because we also took the scenic route down through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. We didn’t stop anywhere because of time, but it was still neat to see all those cool rock formations and everything. Alex & I had decided that we’d try and see if we could get a taxi from Melissa & Jeremy’s over to Mesa, and then one in the morning from Mesa to the airport, hoping that that would be cheaper than renting a car for a day. Well, let’s just say that while well-intentioned, that was not our most brilliant idea of the trip. We called a couple taxi companies when we got to Avondale, and they said the cost would likely be up near $70 (meaning Mesa to the airport would probably be around $30). Gulp. Suddenly renting a car from the airport for $58 didn’t seem so expensive. After a little while Jeremy suggested that we try to rent a car from an office near Avondale and see if we could return it to the airport. Our first try was Enterprise, but their Avondale branch had already closed for the afternoon. National’s nearest wasn’t all that close, but then fortunately Avis had a location still open just 3 miles away! We were able to get over there and rent a car for just $44, with the ability to return it to the airport in the morning. I wonder why we didn’t think of that earlier, because that would’ve been wayyy easier. It would’ve also meant we could’ve made it over to Mesa closer to the 4pm or earlier that we’d said we’d be there, rather than 5pm. But hey, it all worked out!
We had dinner that night with my dad’s cousin Judy & Roger and their family, including my great aunt Mae (101 years old!), my second cousins Linda, Scott and David (and his wife Arlinda). It was so wonderful to see all of them again and talk with them for awhile. I wish we could’ve had a bit more time with them, more than just an evening, but that’s how the week worked out with our trip to the Grand Canyon and everything. Alex played a song or two on the piano, and I was able to play “Magnetic Rag” from memory for Judy & Mae, the only song I could remember (I didn’t have any music down there with me). I was really glad to get to see Mae again especially, since she was kind of like a grandma to me for a few years after my Grandma Lee died, because she spent so much time up in Minnesota from then until my Grandpa Lee (her brother) died a few years later. And with Mae growing increasingly frail, I knew that this was likely going to be the last time I’ll see her, so saying goodnight to her was a bit sad for me. But she loves the Lord deeply, so I know that I’ll see her again eventually. Anyway, even though we had an early 7am flight in the morning (and Linda had a slightly later flight herself), Alex & I stayed up talking with Roger, Judy & Linda until close to midnight. Their hospitality was absolutely incredible, and not just because Roger & Judy got up and had an enormous breakfast ready for us at 4:30am to send us off! Judy was so worried about us being hungry, even after all that, that she sent along some oranges from one of the trees in their backyard (and they were pretty tasty!). I’ve sure been blessed with some wonderful relatives. 🙂
Our flight landed pretty late in Detroit for some reason (boo Detroit), which meant that Alex had to go straight to his Chicago connection, without stopping for anything. They even had to open the doors back up for him, because the plane was about to depart (his luggage caught a later flight though). I also had a little bit of an adventure with my connection to State College as well, because a few of us weren’t allowed to board for several minutes. The reason? For weight considerations, the gate agent needed approval for the rest of us to get on the plane, but her superiors weren’t answering the phone for several minutes, meaning she couldn’t get approval to let us on. Sigh. Then when we finally were allowed to board (after scheduled departure), we had to sit at the gate for another 10-15 minutes. The reason? The pilot told us that he’d been “calling and calling” to try to get one of those carts that pushes planes away from the gate over there, but they were also not answering their phone or something like that. I’ve never had either of those two problems before in my life. These have gotta be at least reasons #3 and 4 on this trip that Detroit sucks! At any rate, I eventually made it back to State College safely, and Tim picked me up. I also lucked out and missed the worst of the cold snap while I was in warm, sunny Arizona. 🙂 Apparently my car battery did not survive the cold week though, as a door was open just enough to trigger the dome lights (which are intermittent anyway), which drained the battery completely. What a nice ‘welcome back’…
It was a joy to spend so much time with Alex down in Arizona! It was cool that he was able to meet some more of my extended family down there too, and really fit in. And we were both touched by the amazing hospitality of Melissa & Jeremy and Marci & Marc in Avondale, and of Roger & Judy and Linda in Mesa. I wished the week didn’t have to end, and we loved pretty much every minute of it. Honestly, neither of us could really think of a “least favorite” part of the whole trip in Arizona. It’d be so sweet if we could travel to some other cool places together in the future too, like Australia! 😀 But for now it’s back to work in our respective semesters, and just praying and waiting for word about Alex’s grad school application to Penn State. Hopefully the wait is worth it!