I tried to sleep at the trailhead after parking at 3 am, but all I could think of was whether or not there were mountain lions in the Grand Canyon. Sitting in my car, waiting in the darkness, I remembered that best practice was to never hike alone. I remembered that if you chose to hike alone, then you should let people know when you expect to return, but my people were down in the bottom of the canyon without cell phone service. My thoughts spiraled… this was a bad idea.
Despite these fears, I laced up my hiking boots and hoisted my pack onto my back. I wasn’t going to let these last-minute doubts ruin all the planning and dreaming that had gone into this moment. Walking into the Grand Canyon from the rim it was pitch black except for the tiny beam of light coming from my headlamp. The silence was broken by my shoes crunching rocks, my breath quick. With each step the darkness slowly lifted and soon enough I turned a corner to see the Earth drop away into the depths of the canyon, while the sun grazed the walls rising around me. I continued to hike, following the trail that hugs the canyon wall while slowly descending deeper, and I felt like someone in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”; a miniature version of myself picked up and placed on a topographical replica of something imagined.
After hiking for several hours, I began to wonder when I would run into Leah. According to our newest plan (hatched over the spotty satellite phone connection), she would start hiking on Hermit Trail from Granite Camp at 4 am. We would hopefully pass each other on the trail, she climbing out, me climbing in, but I left the keys at the car. Just in case.
The moment I saw Leah approach me was the moment I was first able to breathe deeply, and a weight lifted off my shoulders. Maybe this crazy thing was going to work out all along. We exchanged a hug, some snacks and I checked in about the first part of the trip while Leah checked in about my exam the day before. We snapped a selfie and departed in our own separate ways.
The next big hurdle was meeting the rest of the group at the beach before Hermit Rapids. I arrived around 9:15 and sat down to wait; stripping my shoes off and dipping my toes into the cold, clear Colorado River for the first time. It was hard to relax (I wasn’t quite on river time yet), so I paced, applied sunscreen and checked to see exactly how squished the cupcakes were that I brought with me for Garrett’s upcoming birthday. They were only **slightly** squished. Around 9:45, I spotted a single raft at the bend in the river. Then two, three … four. Okay, now I could relax and it was going to be an FA day.
