Allison turns 30 in the Grand Canyon - badassery ensues

 My buddy Allison, pictured above, just turned 30 years old this past weekend.  I know, so widdle.  At some point she expressed interest in doing the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim as her gift to herself, and naturally I thought it would be a great idea and facilitated this exercise in self-punishment.  Nobutreally the Grand Canyon is a beautiful place but ultimately, in my view, a double crossing is just plain hard. 

 We followed the South Kaibab trail down, which offers exceptional open views, the North Kaibab trail up the other side and the Bright Angel trail back up the south rim.  I like this route and it offers some variety.  My two Garmins recorded different distances and I'm still not clear on total distance but it was somewhere between 45 and 50 miles.  The Grand Canyon is a tricky son-of-a-gun since going down is so easy and pleasant (and fast) but ascending is so slow-going and challenging.  This is particularly true when the temperatures are a little warmer, as they were this past weekend (as compared with Thanksgiving and January, the two times of year I've been there).  This reality (that it's really hard) set in like a baseball bat over the head for Allison as we neared the end of our climb out of canyon on the north rim.

 As we neared the end of our ascent, Allison informed me that "this is the worst thing I've ever done" and "I hate the Grand Canyon."  She told me that she had promised she wouldn't even think it or ask but that she wondered whether there was a shuttle on the north rim that could transport us back to the south rim.  It turned out that there was, but we would have to sleep on the rim and wait until the next morning.  This was not an option as we had nowhere to stay.  So, we sat and I watched as Allison processed the predicament she was in -- namely the reality of having to do the thing she least wanted to do in the whole wide world: descend back into the canyon and double back.  I could completely relate to how she was feeling, so it was a little heartbreaking to witness.  That said, I knew she'd recover and be fine and that she could do it.  She just needed to let her mental game cycle through until she was back from the depths of despair.

 And then, suddenly, she popped up and said "LET'S GO."  Yeah!  After that she didn't complain a peep and kept a solid hiking pace the entire remainder of the day/night.  We watched the sun fade and the light turn "slanty" (to borrow my friend Emily's phrase) until there was no light whatsoever and only a million stars.  Once darkness enveloped our surroundings the scorpions, tarantualas and rattlesnakes came out of their hidey holes which made for some interesting wildlife sightings.

 Carefully avoiding what appears to be an epic attack squirrel problem, we eventually climbed our way out of the south rim.  Despite the long rest on the north rim and essentially hiking the entire thing, we still finished within a few hours of our target finish time but missed the pizza pub and had Combos, chips and beer for dinner before passing out at our hotel.

I think Allison brought in her 30s impressively and showed herself that she is fully capable of doing the seemingly un-doable and digging deep to push on.  There are times we can't imagine anything worse than what lies ahead, yet by taking one step at a time we find ourselves on the other side, a little weary but stronger.