The Grand Canyon

I have been putting off this post about the Grand Canyon because I have been waiting on the picture of the start of the hike. Every year we get a picture of the group before we start the hike but I haven't received it yet so I am just going to post. So no big group picture of the start of the hike. This year we had a ton of people hiking with us. I don't even know all of their names. We had two full vans and a couple of other cars. Plus another group that went rim to rim to rim. It was crazy.

 It was a hard hike for me because I had just gotten home from my girls cruise. I struggled. But I made it out. Next year I will plan better and go on the cruise after the hike.

 

Here is a good part of our group on Friday night at the North Rim of the Canyon.

 

 Me and my cousins Mike and Kelli at Ribbon Falls. I really do love Ribbon Falls. It is beautiful.  Kelli had shirts made up for us that said rim to rim 2012. It was fun to see all of the red shirts. In fact I kept seeing another woman with a red shirt who was not a part of our group and I was annoyed that she was wearing a red shirt. How dare she. 

 Me, my dad and Matt at Phantom Ranch. I did not stay with my dad this year, so this was the only time I saw him on the trail. In fact my dad got sick and really dehydrated so he had to spend the night at Indian Gardens with Matt and Jeremy and be helicoptered out. He has since recovered and now says he will be the driver from now on. He says his days of hiking the Canyon are over. If I would have know that I would have stayed with him. It's fun to hike with my dad.

 Me crossing the Colorado River. It's tradition to take this picture, no matter how sweaty and gross you look.

The finish line with Barrett, Jodi, Kelli, Pam, Nathan, Steve and myself. I took a lot longer than I wanted to. Next year I will do better and not take a cruise before. We had a great time and I can't wait for 2013.