Moving here feels like one of the best decisions of my life. I love it here, It turned me into an active outdoors man and introduced me to many great people. Now that I've left the sheltered confines of orchard park, that stunted my intellectual growth by keeping me so bubbled i feel i can do anything. I can be anyone.
Living at the Grand Canyon, i see a magnitude of nature that i never saw living in Buffalo for 18 years. 600 pound Elk come up to my window and it's no big deal. I see raccoons, butterflies even coyotes daily. Hiking into the canyon, i go from pine forests to barren desert. From 70 degree weather to 100 degree weather in a matter of miles.
One experience i had, the most trans formative and awe inspiring thing that has ever happened to me was a hike. My first hike ever into the canyon, and the most risky one can take. Rim to river and back. The hike is about 18 miles round trip and descends 5000 feet into the canyon, as well as ascending 5000 feet. Now, I don't know how much you know about New York topography but the highest "mountain" is only about 4000 feet. A mountain climb a lot of New Yorkers find challenging and the funny thing about canyon hiking is when you descend and you're already tired... you still have to ascend.
Anyway, My friend and I started late in the afternoon at about 1pm and made our descent down the Bright Angel Trail (the trail your supposed to ascend if you go rim to river and back). After an hour we got down to a place called Indian Garden, Which is a little oasis that houses ranger stations and campgrounds on a plateau about 4.5 miles from the trailhead. This was supposed to be my turn around, but i was feeling good so decided to keep pressing on after we ate a hearty trail lunch of chips and jerky, as well as talking to a nice bearded gentleman who makes his living guiding trips into the canyon- only leaving the remote canyon a few days out of the month.
After we left, we made it to the river about an hour and a half later, traversing through the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen.
15 minutes later at 5pm, we reached Phantom Ranch, a popular location owned by Xanterra which houses mule riders who come down into the canyon as well as a canteen and restaurant for weary travelers. By now i was a little bit tired, it was about a hundred degrees in the canyon and i was a little whipped from walking the 9.5 miles it took to get there. Knowing that we only had a few precious hours of daily light and no reliable light source we gathered some food and electrolytes from the employee bunk house and went on our way.
We began walking the mile long river trail at 5:45 pm and made it to the South Kaibab trail at about 6. The South Kaibab is shorter than the Bright Angel, being only at a length of 7.1 miles but is much more steeper and exposed. On the Bright Angel, there is plenty of shelter from the elements because it flows on the sides and in between side canyons. South Kaibab, one is almost always on a cliff face.
Only a few minutes into the hike i was feeling sharp burns in my legs and shortness of breath. It was then i realized the hell i was about to endure.
After just a few miles and a short hour and a half the sun went down. With the sun being down, my morale was as low as it's ever been. I've heard stories of people dying in the canyon of exhaustion and hypothermia and i felt i was nearing that point. Every switch back i had to sit down, my whole body was aching my heart was beating out of my chest and it was cooling down. Within a few hours i was utterly spent. My whole body began aching, my breathing became irregular and rapid and i began getting cold. I knew i had to keep pressing on. I had no choice. It was either keep walking and make it home or stay on the trail and whither away through the night. It was the first time I've ever truly been afraid for my life.
My friend Mason kept telling me around every corner "These are the final switchbacks" "This is the final plateau" and i believed him- until we got to a sign after what felt like days of walking that we still had 3.5 miles left. We were just half way! It was at this point i broke down. Truly broke down like I've never broken down before. I was pissed. I was pissed at him for bringing me down here without any hiking experience, i was pissed at the canyon for being so ruthless and i was pissed at myself for not having better judgement. But as we both knew, there was no choice but to keep going.
Now i was in zombie mode, i was so utterly spent i couldn't even think. All i knew how to do was to keep moving. If anyone remembers my little cameo on 20/20 where i said "I felt like a zombie" well here you go, that is the most accurate way to describe how i was feeling.
My legs began buckling and muscles began pulling. It hurt so bad i stopped and screamed. But i had to be very cautious of where i sat down because of the rattlesnakes, scorpions and other creepy crawlies that call this canyon home. As we were walking, i felt a sharp sharp pain in my heel. Thinking there was some sort of bug in my shoe i sat down and ripped it off as well as my sweat drenched socks. After looking i realized it was a blister, a blister that engulfed half of my heel. Putting back on the shoe i walked with a limp because the blister hurt so bad.
Now i needed shelter, i needed rest. I was so scared in this isolated canyon. I needed to talk to someone who knew what to do, someone who could help me. Then i got my wish- kind of. Walking slower than molasses, i saw headlamps far off in the distance, I screamed and asked them if they were rangers, my voice echoing off the lonely canyon walls and trailing off into the abyss. They answered back something inaudible. "HELP" i thought. After about a half an hour we finally met them. It was two kids from Chicago. They were about 20 years old and on a road trip across the western United States. Although they weren't rangers, they were people. I felt a million times better being with people. They let me use their headlamp and told me the rim wasn't far off. Still, it was about an hour and a half of grueling walking to the top. To home. Walking and talking took my mind off the pain and exhaustion.
Eventually we came to the final switchbacks. We could see the rim, and the lights. My "Stairway To Heaven" as Mason called it. As i was resting for the final push, the Chicago boys went up so they could meet us at the rim with their car, which was parked half a mile away from the trail head. Walking, i knew the end was in sight. Trees were now growing off the sides- a difference from most of the desert trail, where only small shrubs and plants grow. Then i could see it! The final switchback! I walked as fast as anyone could walk. When i reached the top i was greeted with open arms to a parking lot. A parking lot! The most beautiful parking lot I've ever seen! I was back in the reaches of beautiful. beautiful civilization.
Although then the hike was the worst thing to ever happen to me now it seems like the best thing to ever happen to me. It showed me that i had alot in me, alot more than i thought. That morning i never thought I'd be able to do what i did. 18 miles of some of the most difficult terrain in the world. It also showed me the power of the wilderness. Down there, you are nothing. Nature can take you and swallow you without even thinking about it. If anything, it will be pleased with your demise by giving your decomposing carcass to the buzzards and helping the ecosystem. Because of the hike, i lost a toe nail and my feet became hamburger meat. But that hasn't stopped me. Now i love hiking and have big trips planned for the future. I learned the canyon just needs to break you in before you walk over It's beautiful trails with ease.
"God forgives, the canyon doesn't".
