The Grand Canyon Experience
We are spoiled to live in the United States where the camping, hiking and back packing experiences are endless and considered to be the best in the world. In the East, Acadia National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains. In the South East, the Everglades National Park, to the South, Big Bend National Park, to the North, Boundary Waters, to the Southwest, Grand Canyon, to the west Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park and list goes on and on…
One of John Baisden's most unforgettable past destinations was the South Rim of the Grand Canyon located in Northern Arizona. It is his opinion that one has not lived until they have visited the Grand Canyon. The expanse of the Grand Canyon is like no other. John's favorite time to visit the Grand Canyon is during December. By December the crowds have diminished, the weather is tolerable and the scenery is changing.
The upper rim of the canyon in December is normally cold and covered in snow while the bottom of the canyon is dry and warm. The climate is that of
desert where water is limited. For most hikers the hiking is strenuous as the trails are either up or down, no in betweens. The starting elevation is around 7,000 feet which presents an additional problem for near sea level hikers. There are no in between thinkers when it comes to someone’s experience in the Grand Canyon, it’s either the greatest thing since “sliced bread” or “I’ll never do this again."
On one of my Grand Canyon backpacking trips we started our decent with full backpacks, weighing in at 60 lbs., at around 11:00 am. We were one of the last groups of the day to descend from Yaki point. Destined for the Colorado River and a 4 day stay at Phantom Ranch Campground at the bottom of what would seem like the end of the world. In front of us lay 7 miles of never ending descent from the South Rim on the Kaibab trail near Yaki point. The decent is exactly that, a 7 mile rough, tough downhill hike. In my book downhill is always tougher than an uphill climb as we use a different set of muscles on a downhill climb. Those muscles, as I found out, are not used very often in our normal lives. You really notice the difference the next morning. This is a trip that is forever etched in my mind as a tough but great adventure. Now the rest of the story!
I was not alone on this grand adventure as I had taken my oldest son and four struggling teens, one from Florida, one from Minnesota, one from Louisiana and one from Utah. This would become a life changing experience for us all. Half way down the trail 2 teens, carrying their gear strapped to their backs with rope, passed by me and as they did they slightly bumped my backpack and threw me off my stride. I felt a slight pull in my knee but thought nothing about it until I began to lose ground and the pain became almost unbearable.
The group had wisely stopped at an overview and waited 10 minutes until I caught up. At that point I felt I couldn’t go any farther and told the group to descend without me. After all, I had the gear, the shelter, water and food that I would need to survive. As I watched the group descend without me, I felt alone. I guess the same way these struggling teens must have felt after years of making negative choices. Choosing to live outside their families rather than within.
At that point, I determined that nothing was going to keep me from reaching the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Earlier in the day, I had stopped by the Grand Canyon gift store and bought 2 hiking poles. I had never carried hiking poles before but for some reason it seemed like an opportune time to begin using them. That set of hiking poles became vital to my descent. From the overlook I could clearly see a network of trails traversing below me and determined that with my hiking poles I could hike one set of traverses in 30 minutes. I reached the end of the first set of traverses and looked at my watch and was excited to see that it only took me 15 minutes which gave me enough desire to keep on moving. I treated the rest of the hike with the same dissection, going from point A to B, until I was across from the Phantom Ranch campground.
I dropped my backpack off at the ranger station as I honestly could not have carried it any further. It had been a painful 3 miles to the bottom of the canyon. I arrived across from the Phantom Ranch camp ground about 2 hours after dark and my group who by now were well settled into their camps saw my light on the other side of the river and assumed it was me. They yelled out my name and came running to the rescue and it was a rescue. Our excitement at seeing each other was mutual. They all went back to the trail head picked up my pack and carried it to my campsite. I had tears in my eyes after reuniting with the group. For the first time, I could understand what it felt like to be a parent and see your child go out of reach and yet having that strong desire to reach out, at any cost to be reunited. When we were united it was a joyous reunion one that is etched into my memory bank and yet I see that same affect on parents when children are reunited with them after being at Turning Winds Academic Institute for awhile.
This was not the great adventure as I still had four more days in the canyon. When I woke up the next morning, I could hardly stand on my feet and it was obvious that I was not going to do any hiking for the next several days. After a few days, I was able to walk, with pain and I definitely had some strong negative thoughts about my ability to hike out of the canyon. I went to the ranger station and asked them what it would cost to be evacuated out of the canyon. Helicopter was $1,500.00, horse was $750.00 and to have a mule carry my backpack out was $35.00 a pound ($2,100.00), figure that one out. None of those things were going to happen so…it was left to me to get out of this magnificent canyon.
The way up and out was the Indian Garden trail, which in reality was a 2 day hike. Once I put my backpack on and started hiking uphill my knee began to hurt less, even to the point where I felt somewhat normal. Along the trail, one of our girls in the group pulled off to the side of the trail and began to vomit. After a fifteen minute rest she got back up and moved forward. Our group stayed the night at Indian Garden’s camp ground. Ahead of us lay a daunting task for myself with a wounded knee and for Adrian who had flu like symptoms.
I woke early the next morning to see how Adrian was feeling and to my surprise she had woken up early and was all packed for the hike out along with the other kids. She was not concerned with herself, rather she was concerned about me. She asked, John will you be able to hike today? My comment to her was, if you can hike then so can I! I don’t know how many switchbacks there were on that part of the trail but it is a strenuous, three hours' worth of hiking to get back to the top of the rim.
Once our group began hiking, Adrian would get to a switchback ahead of me and yell back to me, “John you can do it.” She did this over and over again. Well, I made it, we all made it. As I thought about my hike out, I thought of the many parents who are stuck in a similar relationship with their children who are not making great choices. As parents, we lead the way for our children, yelling out to them, “come on, you can do it."
Just as Adrian was there for me to inspire me through a difficult hike out of the Grand Canyon, parents too are there every step of the way to guide their children through the trials of this life. We must be the strength, encourager, helper, and voice of reason and hope for those that have given up or who are struggling to make it to that next switchback in life. Simply a kind, unwavering and loving voice saying, “you can do it”goes a long way.
