All I could do was stand gazing at the endless canyon in awe and as I was looking down into the Canyon, a friend of mine commented " You know you can get to the bottom and people hike down"
The spark was ignited.... The urge to head down the Canyon.
I made many visits after that to the Canyon but never headed down.
My pursuit of experiencing the depths of the Canyon was set into motion during a casual lunch talk with my cricket team.
One of my friend brought up this idea of we hiking down the Canyon and this brought a smile to my tired face.... I jumped on the idea and very soon we were planning for the trip
Camping down the Canyon needed preparations well ahead of time and it was something we all agreed would be too dificult to coordinate with our varied work schedules
So we decided to take the other route out " A day hike " - Rim to River and back.
This was humanely possible, but this adventure bordered the bravery and insanity.
The choice was ours.... And this message on the national parks website stood boldly mocking at us.
"Over 250 people are rescued from the canyon each year. The difference between a great adventure in Grand Canyon and a trip to the hospital (or worse) is up to YOU. DO NOT attempt to hike from the rim to the river and back in one day, especially during the months of May to Sep"
We decided to take the beast of a challenge head-on, we decided to do it on Oct 1 2005 ( Until Sep, getting permits werent easy)
Now came the preparation and the team...10 of us signed up for it and only one among us(Prashanth) had done it before.
Living in Arizona for a while surely made me appreciate the fact that temperatures inside the canyon would surely be atleast 10-20 degrees higher than the temp at the rim and to survive in these temperatures and extreme dehydration, we needed to be supremly fit.
We trained for a couple of months by climbing the hills around during weekends. We learnt to conserve energy and the art of hiking smarter
The big difference between this hike and most other hikes is that here you are going downhill first and you are climbing up when you have most of your energy reserves expended.
This was always going to be a test
The D-Day.
We had to start the trek very early in the morning to ensure a return on the same day ( technically before 12:00 midnight :)) so we decided to start the previous night and stay at a hotel close to the GC overnight
That night, before I hit the bed, I checked all my gear and sunk into the cozy bed... The next day in my life would be one of the most memorable one...
The ordeal begins
It all started at 6:30 am at the trail head. I was still a little sleepy and the caffine in me was trying hard to battle out the weary eyes. Eventually the caffine won and I was in the best of my spirits
On my first steps on the trail, the Indianism in me was awakened, I touched the trail , felt the dry mud in my hand and said a small prayer and let the mud drop off, watching it slowly mix with the ground. I looked up and the sun was shining brightly ever....
"Welcome to the land of the Sun"
The strategy was simple , we divided ourslef into three groups, 4 in the front, 4 at the rear and two in the middle. Myself and Sarma ( a supreme athlete who was regularly doing half marathon's) were the lucky lettuce in the sandwich
We took the Kaibab trail on the way down, the beauty of this trail is that it is one of the shortest trails to go down to the canyon bottom, about 6.2 miles, but it is also a steep descent so pretty harsh on your knees.
As this is a dowhill trail and you are doing this in the early part of the day , you tend to neglect the thought of hydrating yourself timely, this can spell disaster.
I was aware of this and I sipped from my camelpack( water container backpack) every few mins, my partner Sharma was almost sprinting down and I was always playing the catchup game.
Another friend of mine Aman was happily clicking pics of the Canyon with his SLR, very little did he realise how wrong was his choice of packing a bulky SLR for a treachorous hike like this.
All along the trail, there is very little water available and very little cool spots to rest. So it was extremly important for us to keep the water reserves , until we reached the bottom. All along me and Sharma talked, chatted and generally our spirits were very high. We also spotted some Iguana's and some squirell's
Enroute many mules carrying loads of travellers passed us. It is amazing how these mules manage to maintain their footholds on these sharp declines. I Guess they were created to do so...
The strain on the ankles and knees started to show up after an hour into the trek, I could feel my knees begging me to stop abusing them :), but alas I had no choice...
The first signs of any man made creations is a bridge which you can see from halfway into the trail..Getting to this bridge is another hour's trek from the first time you spot it
By the time we got to the bridge, I was covered with sweat and dust....Sweat and dust in 90F and minimally hyderated is a great motivator to give up the ordeal
But the hiker in me...was always going to be the winner, we just moved on....
By 11:30 we were at the bridge, a couple of poses for the camera and another 30 minutes, we were at the bottom..
Half the ordeal was over.... the tougher half was yet to come.....
The sand on the banks were very hot, there was very little shade around... I got off my footwear...gulped few sips of water..... All I wanted to do was get my clothes off and take a dip in the water...
I headed towards the water and planted my foot into the water and.......whooooaaa....the water was bone chilling cold..
This is what I call " Canyon's way of getting back to us for exploiting it"..... A hot day... A tired Hiker.... Weary legs looking for salvation in the cool water...... So close yet so far.....
All I could afford was to get a handful of water and gingerly washing my face with it.....
The heat of the day , the tiredness and the cold water started a mild headache.... First signs of how tough the next half day was to be..
We spent an hour at the water front, had a burger for a meal, chatted with few rafters who were rafting the canyon and started our ascent back......
We would be following the Bright Angel trail back up. This trail follows the river for the initial part and then starts the ascent..Most part of the trail during the second half of the day, you will be walking in the shadows . This is why most prefer to take the bright angel trail back
This trail is about 11 miles from where we had rested.
The short break had a large role in keeping me going for the first hour or so, also the roaring river on the right side was a treat to watch...once we got off the river and moved inside the canyon, the emptiness of the canyon started to take over my strength.
Every 100 meter we needed a break and the uphill climb didnt help the cause in any way.
By now our team was into three distinct parts..... The first group had gained atleast 15 minutes and were ahead and the group behind us was atleast 20 minutes behind us....
After a while, me and Sharma werent talking much, but just trying to make up as much as ground as possible....
The moment I dreaded the most came....Sharma was slowly dehydrating himself, his body showed no signs of desire to gulp more water..and very soon Sharma had one of those deadly cramps....The Cramps were so bad that he was crying out loudly and had difficulties breathing.
I put him in a shade and then gave him some water and some salts... It took almost 30 minutes for him to recover and be in a position to walk again.. All the while, I didnt see a single soul around, no hiker passed me..
I was all alone in the deep Canyon with a friend who was struggling to keep himself from passing out
I felt very helpless against the forces of nature.... A lesson learnt ..Never overestimate your strength against the nature.
Nature always win's
Half the distance to the top is the Indian Garden's. This is a place where water and good amount of shade is available.
I wanted to get there as quickly as possible as my water supply was running out very fast.
The last mile walk to the Indian Gardens was one of the most desperate hike's. I was told that you can be assured that you are nearing Indian Garden's if you see a large space of Greenry enroute.
Every time I spotted a few trees I thought, just across the stretch was the Indian Garden's and every time I was disappointed. The disappointment didnt last long and I did happen to make it to Indian Garden.
A Cliche surely it is.....
The moment I reached the cool shady clearing I just crashed on the wooden bench there.... Exhaustion was clearly getting the better of me now... After a while , I filled in my water bag and drank lot of water...Drinking excess water can also be very dangerous in these conditions
Hiking in the Canyon one can lose one or two quarts (liters) of water per hour and heatstoke, Diaoreaa can hit you in no time.
The urge to constantly drink water gets on to so much, that if you dont curb your desire you can drink too much of water thus lowering your sodium in the blood due to constant sweating you can get into a situation called as Hyponatermia which can be fatal.
Another sypmtom to watch out is Hypothermia : A life-threatening emergency where the body cannot keep itself warm, due to exhaustion and exposure to cold, wet, windy weather.
The group which had started ahead of us was at the Indian garden's and that is when we were informed us that two of our friends in that group were unwell and very tired. One of them had extreme nausea and the other had passed out couple of times
This was very scary knowing that we still had atleast another 6 miles to climb up.
we started the climb again and very soon, we could see the sun dip at the horizon... Trust me... a sunset in the canyon is one of the best visuals any human eye can see
It surely lifted us.. the beautiful sun set, the changing colors of the Canyon, the chirping birds water bottle filled :). A moment to relish
All good things dont last long...neither did this moment..Just behind this came the dark night and the eerieness of the canyon.
This time of the day is very crucial for a hiker..The temp dips rapidly and your body has to adjust to this drastic change... The temp can come down from 90 to 45 in less than two hours time
To compound your woes the cool winds start to hit you. My niggling headache was now slowly getting worser.
It was just me and Sharma and the dark Canyon .
In the darkness you have to be extremly careful on the trail and ensure that you stay close to the trail. One wrong step and you could be history. In some places the drops are more than 500 Ft deep. The torch light is your best friend in these situations. The countless number of loose rocks on the path dont help either. Managing to walk without stumbling on a rock in that total darkness was a huge challenge
After about two hours of trek we could see the light of the bright angel lodge. I cant tell you how happy I was. We thought we were so close to the top now..
After a while the light completly disappeared and we couldnt see a thing, I was so crestfallen... the trail had taken us deeper into the Canyon..
Sharma was so exhausted he could not walk anymore and every 5 steps we had to rest. I had to constantly egg him on ...At one point we thought we have moved off-trail. If that was the case, we knew our chances of making to the top that night was very slim... and we also had to live the night fearing the nocturnal residents of the Canyon
Every step we took was a challenge for the human mind...a battle between the mind and the body, the desire and desparation.
At about 10:30 PM, we sighted the Bright Angel light again and our joy knew no bounds.
We wanted to rush towards it, but our bodies were not our ally.
The last mile took us more than an hour and by the time we got out of the trail it was 11:00 PM
The 16+ hour Ordeal was over.... Looking back at the Canyon.... All I could see was a sea of darkness. This was my moment of Glory.... I flashed my torch light inside the canyon and shouted out.... I knew the Canyon was a mamoth for me to win over, but atleast I had stood its test.
This was my moment and I was living it.. I hugged Sharma and we smiled looking at each other.
We rested breifly near the fireplace in the lodge and we actually drove back the same night to Phoenix, All of us took turns to drive.
My thighs and legs were constantly shivering and for the next two days they were vey sore....
I have visited the canyon many times after that and every time I look at it.... My love towards it grows even more..
You just cant stop loving the Canyon....
Another new desire has seeded in me... The desire to do the rim-to-rim in a day ( North Rim to South Rim)....
I am awaiting the day when I am backpacking into the Canyon to relive that moment again
Cheers
Girish
1 comment:
Fascinating & very well written.
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