To Conquer or to be Conquered

48 miles was the planned hike – from the South Rim descend into the Canyon, ascend the North Rim, then start hiking back down into the Canyon for the final journey up to the South Rim where you first began.

48 miles round-trip

21,000 feet elevation change

That was the plan…

9:30 p.m., Sunday night with a full moon.  The bright moonlight softened the features of the Canyon into a glowing landscape.  Deer went about on their nightly rituals while a little mouse sat watching them at the base of a prickly pear cactus.  

5:30 a.m., Monday morning. Reaching Ribbon Falls, 16 miles into the trip, the decision to turn back was made.  Seth’s knee was being troublesome. 16 miles to hike back with the possibility of the knee getting worse. By this time sleepiness had set in and their enthusiasm in completing their goal had waned.  

Dawn breaking at the Canyon…

The morning is just beginning but this hiker’s had enough.

Plant life that we haven’t seen around our area.  Utah Agave.

Crossing the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon…

Swimming in this water is not something to be risked.  It only takes a couple of minutes for hypothermia to set in.

When rest is needed, anyplace, or in the case of the Grand Canyon, any stone will do…

“The landscape everywhere, away from the river, is of rock–cliffs of rock, tables of rock, plateaus of rock, terraces of rock, crags of rock–ten thousand strangely carved forms. . . ”

– John Wesley Powell

 But form and color do not exhaust all the divine qualities of the Grand Canyon. It is the land of music.  – John Wesley Powell

The Cyclopean forms which result from the sculpture of tempests through ages too long for man to compute, are wrought into endless details, to describe which would be a task equal in magnitude to that of describing the stars of the heavens… – John Wesley Powell

…the colors of the heavens are rivaled by the colors of the rocks. – John Wesley Powell

149 years after John Wesley Powell first explored the Grand Canyon, this intrepid hiker attempts to navigate the Canyon on foot but has had to turn back due to a knee.  

Climbing the steps with the aid of a walking stick.

Swinging his leg around to avoid bending the knee, this young man has decided to conquer the Canyon another time.

At last, feeling elated, weary and exhausted from having gone without sleep for almost 40 hours and hiking 32 miles, they climb out of the Canyon.

Not to be discouraged by the fact that they didn’t reach their goal, these young whippersnappers have not declared defeat but look forward to a possible next attempt.