This is going to be a super quick blog post as its almost 9pm and I will be getting up at 4am tomorrow morning to start our trek into Paria Canyon. It’s been a great start to the trip so far – the journey here was uneventful, flying first from Chicago into Phoenix, then transferring to a teeny tiny plane on Contour Airlines for the short hop to Page, Arizona. As you might expect, we flew over some spectacular landscapes – including, of course, the Grand Canyon itself. It’s been a while since I was in this part of the world, so I’d forgotten how incredible the views are here. This morning, I was reminded of how insanely stunning it is as a number of our group decided to get up early and go and watch the sun rise over Horseshoe Bend – one of the iconic destinations here in Page – and one that features on probably every single tourist poster or pamphlet of the area! It was only a short drive from our Air BnB and we got there around 6.20am, ready for sunrise at around 6.40am. There were quite a few other folk there already, but we all had plenty of space to spread out and find a spot where we could watch the rocks in the distance change into a brilliant red color, as the sun came up higher over the horizon behind us. It was a great way to start our trip – plus no-one fell over the edge, so that was a bonus (I’m really hoping to break my streak of trips in which not everyone finishes – maybe this is the one!).
There are 8 of us in our group in total (including Amanda, our trip host) and this evening we were joined by our guides, Pika and Ronnie – two very cool ladies who took us through a detailed orientation to make sure we are prepared for the next 5 days out in the canyon. This included going through our packs and gear with a fine toothcomb to make sure we had everything that was essential – and absolutely nothing else! The goal was for your pack to weigh no more than 40lbs, fully loaded, including 5l of water plus your food, snacks, and camp gear and food. Its amazing how quickly you can get up to this limit – I thought I would be well under it – but no! My first weigh in with the pack was 42lb!! So I had to go back through my pack and chuck out even more stuff – the Kindle, my earbuds, Thermorest pad, were all casualties of the pruning. I even had to discard half of my roll of TP!! Of course a LOT of that weight is water and food – and we won’t always need to carry the full 5l of water each day (and I think its also a bit of a test to see how we all fare with the weight, so they can gauge our overall hiking fitness). Of course, the weight allowance also includes the infamous WAG bag – which is now a big white plastic container (with granules at the bottom to absorb any smells) – into which you place the black bag that you’ve done your business in. I’m sure I will post more details in a later post so that minimal description will have to suffice for now!
Anyway, that’s it for now as I need to get some good sleep ahead of tomorrow. Our first day is going to be one of the hardest – we have 11 miles to cover and the days are getting quite short, hence the early start. There are a LOT of accomplished hikers in this group, so somehow I don’t think I’ll be the ninja in the front on this trip – but that’s totally fine by me. Hiking through water wearing neoprene socks and trail running shoes while carrying my own poop is already going to be enough for me to navigate, so as long as I manage each day without my feet getting totally wrecked, I’ll be chalking that one up as a win! Alas, you will have to wait until at least Sunday for my next post as my computer is being left behind, so wish me luck til then!!
