June 16th “It’s the altitude…”

June 16th “It’s the altitude…”

Today was a perfect day for hiking in GC. I’m not sure what the temperature was but it was sunny and with blue skies and a lovely breeze. We first stopped at a lookout called Yaki point. It has a great view of the canyon. There are always a lot of foreign people visiting the “west” because it is what t is. I enjoy hearing all of the different languages and we always try to figure out where they are from. Every time we hear Spanish, Aaron asks me what they said (I’m not that good at it, unless I’m talking with an infant). I can’t help but to think about God’s beautiful creation and praise Him for this little canyon He made and to hear these other tongues speak the beauty of this place. I love being in nature and worshipping Him through enjoying it and knowing without a doubt that this was made by His hand.
In GC, there is so much to see if you are physically able to hike. A lot of people take little walks which are nice but we wanted to see more. Aaron had done some intense hikes with his friend Justin Morgan (this is the same Justin Morgan who is training for the Iron Man!) and wanted to revisit some that they had done. Thank goodness God knows better! One hike called “Dripping Springs” which was very difficult (but worth it, apparently) was closed off along with a few others for construction (for the road, not the trail). The other trail was too far away and so we settled on “Bright Angel.” We went down this very steep trail about mile. We saw a lot of people riding mules along this trail. Let me tell you how smart THOSE people were! This trail coming back up almost killed me! First of all, it was VERY steep. Second of all, it’s the altitude that gets to us. Me especially. I refuse to say that it is because I am not in shape that I can’t walk up steep trails. But alas we made it to the top and decided to be done for the day. It was a good warm-up hike for us. We wanted to get back to a place called “Hopi Point” for the sunset, so we ate dinner really quick and showered to get back in time. We missed the really good lighting for pictures, but we did see a fantastic sunset. On our way back to the car, we heard a bunch of Dutch people talking and pointing at the ditch next to us. Inside, grazing as if no one was taking pictures of them, were two elk. That was very cool and sort of weird because it was the busiest place in the village. It was a good end to our day.