Day 20, 21, 22 The Grand Canyon Adventure....

Before venturing down into the Grand Canyon, we learned about the Colorado River. There are a number of big projects to store water, including Lake Mead, which is the largest, and Lake Powell, which has been described as "a big fat river". Both reservoirs never reach full capacity, even with heavy precipitation. Baja California and Sonora are supposed to get 1.5 maf of water, but they don't usually get it. There are also environmental issues that contribute to water quality including mining and agriculture. The salinity was so high from fertilizers that they had to build a desalinization plant near mexico to remove some of the salts. Once they put in the plant, they realized that it wasn't that bad anymore. The USGS believes that this is due to a change in geology. Arial deposition and mining are the biggest problem now. There is a uranium mine right next to the river and it is being cleaned up as a Superfund site.
So we got our supplies ready for the Grand Canyon; I bought a hat and we bought some food that didn't need to be prepared like tuna etc. We got ready and tried to go to sleep early the night before. We woke up around 430am and drove to the gate where we could leave the vans. We put on our favorite van jams to get ourselves pumped up. When we got there, we had a quick discussion about how this hike is "not mandatory".... meanwhile none of us knew what we were about to be in for!!!
We started our journey down the canyon, and it was so beautiful during the sunrise. I was really excited to get down there even though I had no clue how long it was going to take and how hard it would be. We reached a small shelter and spring called Santa Maria Springs, and there was a couple resting there. The man was extremely dehydrated and not in good shape at all. Patrick stayed behind to help him. We continued on and shortly thereafter, Katie J slipped and fell. She said she thought she broke her wrist. She was so calm and collected about it that we almost didn't believe her! We decided that she should go back up and get medical attention, so Lucia and Cati went with her back to the top. She was such a trooper; I was so proud of her for hiking out 7 miles with a broken wrist (arm).

Hiking down into the canyon

Check out the moon!

Our campsite

So we continued down the canyon, now as a group of 10. We had spent a lot of time with the dehydrated man and Katie's fall, and it was starting to get hot. Towards the bottom we were all having trouble continuing hiking. Every chance there was a sliver of shade we stopped to sit under it. It was extremely difficult, but finally we made it to our campsite. It was right next to a little stream at the bottom and there was a steep rock face hiding our bags from the stream. This will be important later. We filtered some water and hung out for a bit, then we did a mini hike to go see the Colorado River- the reason for the trip! We got down there and the water was so cold and refreshing. I was awestruck by the size of the river and how fast it was moving. It's amazing to me that a river like that could flow through a desert. I was very impressed and glad to finally see it. We relaxed there for the day, and around 630 we left and walked back to the campsite. Along the way, Cody wasn't feeling well (he fell asleep in the sun). Tait, Billy, and Susan stayed behind with him and they told the rest of us to go ahead because it was going to get dark soon and we didn't have enough flashlights for everyone.
This is when things really started to fall apart. Tait told us to follow the river and it would lead us to our campsite. So we hiked for a while, and we didn't end up seeing it so we kept hiking thinking we were about to run into it any minute. It turns out we passed it because we didn't see our stuff hidden behind the cliff face. We just kept going because we knew it was along the river and we thought we couldn't miss it. After a while, we had a feeling we might be lost. But we just kept thinking, "this must be the long way" and "it's probably right around this bend...". It started to get dark, and we realized that we were in trouble. We were hiking over extreme terrain- huge boulders and waterfalls. Our adrenaline was pumping, and we kept moving. Finally, it was so dark that we had to stop. We didn't have any flashlights and we didn't want to get hurt because then we would really be in trouble. We stopped on top of a huge boulder that had a relatively flat top with some dirt and a tree. We tried our best not to panic. I was so proud of Liz because usually she is the one who gets freaked out. However, she only got upset for a few minutes and then Jess was able to calm her down and she was fine. I was actually freaked out more than anyone because I was sunburned and dehydrated and we had almost no water.
We realized that we would be spending the night when nobody found us by about 12:30 am. We tried to start a fire but we were unsuccessful (thankfully because we would've burnt down the whole canyon!). We tried to just relax and we talked about possible scenarios. We were feeling really bad for Tait and Billy because we knew how worried they would be and that they were probably going through a lot to try to find us. We knew we were okay, but they didn't. We were also worried about Katie J and how they got out of the canyon with her injury. After a while, I was so tired that I didn't have the energy to panic anymore. I was finally able to relax. I looked up at the stars and the sky was so clear, I've never seen so many stars. I sat there, mesmerized, and really thought about a lot of things in my life. It was an important moment for me.
We were worried because we didn't know when we'd be found, but we knew we would be okay in the end. We remained calm, worked as a team, and took care of each other. It was a beautiful thing. It was an amazing life experience that none of us will ever forget. It really taught me a lot about people and myself. I was so proud of us for handling the situation the way we did. We made the right decision to stay where we were and not hike in the dark.
I slept in the dirt with my boot as a pillow. It was extremely humbling to say the least. I think I must have slept on some kind of prickly bush because I had stickers all over me when I woke up. Rob and Jess stayed up talking and watched over us to make sure nothing bit us while we were sleeping. Rob had a scorpion on him and he killed it with a rock. Unfortunately I missed it because I was asleep. I had a dream that there was a burger joint in the middle of the canyon. I thought, "We're saved!! AND burgers!!!" Then I woke up and realized that we were still there and there was no burgers.
We woke up as soon as the sun started to rise at 4am. We decided to slowly and carefully start to hike back towards the way we came. I was so tired and thirsty I could barely function. I thought we might have to stop and wait to be found. Suddenly, Billy and Tait appeared out of the bushes!!! I've never been so happy to see someone in my whole life. They brought us some water and a cliff bar (peanut butter, of course). We took our time and got back to camp safely. Tait decided that we had to stay in the canyon another night because we were all exhausted. Tait and Billy had been looking for us all night and they hardly slept.They were hiking in the dark and rolled their ankles. They went through a lot for us and we were so grateful to have them down there with us. We were so happy to be reunited, and everyone was relieved that we were okay. It was such an intense experience to get seperated like that and then reunite. That day, we followed the shade around the canyon and just tried to rest. We filtered water all day and tried to conserve food because we weren't planning on staying for two days so we didn't have much. Thankfully, Tait and Billy brought extra food. That night, we all took turns filtering our water for the hike out. Billy and I stayed up for a couple hours filtering extra water. We slept by the stream on our sleeping pads and sleeping bags- it was awesome. The next morning, we woke up at 4 am and got ready for the long journey out of the canyon. It was a bit rough at first, especially because we were sore, but once we got moving it was better. However, Rob ended up getting sick because he was dehydrated. It slowed us down quite a bit, and we ended up hiking in the heat. Once we reached Santa Monica Springs, we took a break. We saw a helicopter and I joked around about how that was our ride. Soon I realized that the helicopter was actually for us! A ranger appeared and she asked us if we were all okay. She signaled the helicopter to land; it was an epic moment.

"Shade hopping" in the cayon on day 2

Our "shower" haha

They brought us food and water, which we really needed because we only had one granola bar left between ten people. I don't know what we were thinking, but there's no way we would have made it! We had no idea how treacherous that last two miles was going to be. Those switchbacks in the sun were brutal. It took us almost two hours. BUT WE MADE IT! It was such an amazing feeling to reach the top. What an accomplishment. I was actually considering not going because of my herniated disk in my back. I'm glad I went, though, even though it was rough. I'm glad I was able to have those experiences because it has really shaped me as a person. I will never be the same after that.
I was really glad to see Katie J was okay, even though she broke her arm. She was such a trooper, and so was Liz. I was so proud of everyone. Tait did a great job keeping everyone calm and safe, and Billy also really went out of his way to make sure everyone had what they needed. What a great team and an amazing experience I'll never forget.