Living Outside: Road Trip

On the final day of our trip, we made the decision to venture into the canyon and try to get as far as we could down the Bright Angel Trail. We had a deadline to get into Las Vegas before dark (around 8pm) so unfortunately our time was limited. We set out around 10 am with the turn around time of noon I believe. We knew it would take significantly longer to get out then to go down, so we were trying to be conservative with our estimate. We also knew that even though the canyon rim was around 40 degree's when we left, the high for the day was the low 60's while forecasts for phantom ranch were in the low 80's. Boo ya! so, it was going to be a warm hike as well. However, the first mile or so of switchbacks lays in the shade, and still had a significant amount of snow and ice build-up on it, so it was a little difficult to get down and we took our time. As we progressed down the canyon, we were constantly reminded to "look up" at the beauty that surrounded us. The day grew hotter, and we were both happy that we had brought a bit of layers and water... and of course cookies. Finally around noon we made it to 3 mile hut, which is 3 miles down the canyon trail. It took us longer then we had expected, but since we were at our turn around time, we had to go back. We took pictures, ate cookies and drank more water before turning around and heading back. We got to the trailhead at 2pm. Still a mystery how we got up as fast as we went down... but now we know for next time.

It was sad to leave the Grand Canyon, as we both wished we had more time and the knowledge we now had on future trip ideas. Just another reason to go back. We picked Wyatt up at the Grand Canyon dog kennel, where he had made quite a few new and good friends and then off to Vegas we went.

For both of us, it was our first time to Vegas. I'm 31 and my dad is 68. I'm just going to simply say that neither of us felt compelled to stay, and we were both eager to leave the strip by midnight and go back to the hotel and go to bed. Death Valley was our goal for the next day.

Upon leaving the Grand Canyon, we stopped at a car wash. Wyatt's first car wash experience