We conquered the Grand Canyon

Thursday 10th April, Jason & I met up with some close friends and their parents for some fun in the sun. We got all packed up and headed to Arizona and... THE GRAND CANYON! We stayed over night in a little hotel a few hours from the actual canyon and started our hike in on Friday morning. We were camping at 'Indian Gardens' for 2 nights and so had to carry everything with us in backpacks. Me, being pregnant managed to get away with not carrying as much as everyone else! Lucky me!

This is our group in the carpark once we had got ready and dished out the food and last bits and pieces. I'm taking the photo!

Left to Right: Tom, Sue, Jason, Marc & Emily. (Tom & Sue are Emily's parents.)

We are all ready to hit the canyon! Suncream on, Backpacks tight, Walking shoes at the ready!

Jason and I at the top of the canyon looking happy and enthusiastic... that didn't last too long! The views from the top were amazing.

This is where we had to hike... all the way to the bottom!

Our whole group right before we set off on our adventure. All smiles now... not for long!

This is the pathway we were hiking. It went through a hole in the mountain.

Here's the hole! They had to carve it because there was no other way around.

Although the sun was shining, the wind was blowing and it was actually quite cold. There was ice, snow and icicles at the top. I'm not sure if you can see them in this picture, but they are there, right in the middle if you look hard enough!

This is us all at the 1st rest stop 1/3 of th way down... still smiling! The reason we are all looking a little worried is because there was a shear drop right behind us!

This is me... all smiles... and tummy! As you can see 'peanut' as we are all calling the baby, is growing wuickly! My tummy is already getting bigger.

Do you see the faint white squiggle right through the middle of the green field in the middle of the picture...? We hiked that!! Our camp site was just before that pathway. Once we got to camp, we set up tents and took a breather. Then we hiked to 'Platou Point', that white pathway! Its a big rock that basically is in the middle of nowhere that over looks the Colorado River.

Jason and I on our evening hike to 'Platou Point'.

The hike to 'Platou Point' was through the middle of nowhere. There was only desert type stuff around us, cactus, lizards, deer! It was fun. It took us about an hour to hike there.

This is the view from 'Platou Point' of the Colorado River directly below us. We were going to hike down there tomorrow once we had let our feet and calf muscles recover a bit.
Jason leaning on the railings at 'Platou Point' making his pregnant wife extremely nervous!

These are the deer that we saw walking back to the campsite.

Do you see the bright green trees? Thats our campsite. Now, do you see the top of the Grand Canyon? Thats where we had to hike out to on Sunday morning.

We saw this little fella as we hiked down to the very bottom of the Canyon. We hiked down to the Colorado River.

This is the pathway we had to take to get to the bottom of the canyon. Who's idea was this anyway?!

This is the Colorado River... yeah! We made it! Jason and I chilled and had a sleep on the beach while Emily and Marc hiked a little further to a bridge that took you to the other side of the river. I was happy to stay on the beach for an hour or so and just sleep! However, I was rudely woken by a huge big raven trying to get my backpack that had our lunch in it!

Jason went exploring while I was sleeping and found a cool little waterfall. We all enjoyed putting our hot and sweaty feet in the cool running water.

Preparing for the hike out... not so happy! We got up early and packed up all our stuff and had some breakfast and started our hike out. we were told to allow double the time to get out that it took us to get in. It took us 4 1/2 hours to get in... so by my calculations... that 9 hours to get out! 9 hours! Crap! So, we got started. Jason had 90% of my stuff because he didn't want to hike out with a heavy pack because of the baby. His pack was about 65lbs.

And so the hike begins... not too far to the top!!

As... yes, it's over! It took us 4 hours and 20 mins to get out! We got out quicker than we got in! We were so happy that it was over! Tired... Sweaty... Dirty... Hungry... Thirsty... but the sense of accomplishment was great! A fun time had by all!