Oak Creek Canyon

Friday- Oak Creek Canyon

In 2007 I went to Arizona and discovered what has become my favorite place... Oak Creek Canyon.  Here we are then:

 

 

When Sarah and I were planning our trip to Arizona, I knew that Oak Creek Canyon had to be one of our destinations.  Unlike the Grand Canyon, the hike is very flat since you are already at the bottom of the canyon.  It runs along the creek and at times you even get to hike into the water. So fun!  Not only is it fun, but it is absolutely beautiful.

So, when we left the Grand Canyon we headed towards Oak Creek Canyon stopping in Flagstaff for some Chipotle.  Oak Creek Canyon is near Sedona.  Our original plan was to find a place in Sedona to camp and then get up in the morning and do a long Oak Creek Canyon hike.  However, it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and apparently everyone wanted to spend their long weekend camping.  The campgrounds did not accept reservations so it was first come, first serve.  Apparently the campgrounds were full starting Wednesday night.  So, no camping for us.  

Instead, we spent the afternoon hiking Oak Creek Canyon.  Although we did not get to spend as much time as originally planned, I loved every minute.  It really is my favorite.  Sarah liked it too, but I'm pretty sure the Grand Canyon was her favorite... more hard core.

Sarah and I ended up hiking by ourselves most of the time as Michael decided to go slow and take pictures, and Julie stayed back at the trailhead due to her dislocated shoulder, which she dislocated right before the trip.  Bummer, right. But we were so glad it did not prevent her from coming!

After our Grand Canyon adventure the day before, I must say it was nice to look up and know that I didn't have to actually climb up.

 

 Sarah and I had tons of fun on our hike and playing in the water.  The only mishap was when I stepped in a huge ant bed... but we survived.

 

 

 

 

And this is where we turned around....

 As we made our way back towards the trailhead, look who we found...

 

I'm ready to go back!

 

After our hike we once again tried to find somewhere to stay with no success.  We stopped and ate dinner in Sedona at Cowboy Club.  Sarah and I split an antelope burger.  After dinner, we headed towards Phoenix.

Hello... my name is Fred.

 The old saying goes, "What goes up, must come down."  In our case, "What goes down, must come up." Once hiking 5 miles down into the canyon to Roaring Springs, it was time to start our ascent to the top of the canyon.

Now I'm not even going to pretend that I am in as good of shape as Michael and Sarah.  Michael is a track and cross country runner and Sarah is just in really good shape.  I am not -not in shape- but I'm not at their level.  So, I must say that I agree with the guy on the mule we encountered on our way down, "5 miles down, 20 miles up." 

I spent most of my time with this view (one of our friends we met with a big pack is in the picture too):

 Okay, maybe more like this view (If you look close enough you can in fact see them, and yes that is my finger in the corner because at this point I didn't care enough to pay attention).

Sarah and Michael at times would get so far ahead I couldn't see them.  They would stop every once in awhile to wait on me claiming they wanted to make sure I hadn't fallen off the edge.  I claim they needed a break.

To me, this was an incredibly challenging hike.  Up. Hill. All. The. Way.  I had to stop every now and again to catch my breath.  Michael and Sarah waited for me at the Supai Tunnel.  Remember the picture from the previous post? The second time we encountered this tunnel, I had long shed my leggings and added a hat.

It was at this point that we encountered a park ranger.  I immediately asked, "how much longer?" and she responded "1.7 miles.  You've done the hard part."

So I think to myself.... 1.7 miles.  I got this.  I got it alright but it was THE longest 1.7 miles of my life.  At this point there is a lot more foot traffic because a lot of people just go down to the tunnel and back up.  I told Sarah and Michael not to worry about me anymore since there were people around and to just meet me at the top.

That plan was going just fine until I caught up with Michael and Sarah because they got stuck behind these guys:

note: at this point taking pictures was the last thing on my mind so thank you source

You can only pass the mules at certain points deemed safe and they had not yet reached one of these safe points.  I learned a lot about a pack of mules.  1.  They smell. 2. They stop every little bit to snack on grass.

It was at these snacks where I earned my nickname.  The very last mule in the group was always the slowest one to get started once the mules started going after a snack.  The guy riding him had to make quite an effort to get him to move and keep up with the group.  He would say, "Come on Fred!" over and over again.  By the time we were finally able to pass the mules, we, along with the other people that got caught behind them too, knew who Fred was and that he was the slow one in the group.

As we passed them, I was deemed the Fred of my group.

Once we passed the mules, Sarah and Michael took off.  I ended up walking with a nice family from New York.  They informed me that I may be the Fred of my group but was the fearless leader of their group (I think they were just as worn out as I was at that point!)

Every person we saw coming down into the canyon I would ask "how much farther."  We passed one group of people who had to be in their late 60s or early 70s.  I heard one lady saying how it was such a pleasant hike down but bet it was more difficult on the way up.  I told her as I passed, "Look at me. I think I'm proof it is difficult!"

FINALLY I reached the end of the trail.  When I saw it was the end, I sprinted.  Sarah and Michael were already at the finish and Michael had left to go get the car.

My New York friend took this shot for us.  We did it!

Sarah and I both agreed that it was the most difficult hike we had ever been on.  Her response, "But I'm ready for more difficult ones."  She is ready to hike the 13.6 miles down to Phantom Ranch.  I'm not so sure about that!

It was challenging but I am SO glad that I did it!  I feel like going to the Grand Canyon and just looking at it is one thing, but going and experiencing it takes it to a whole new level.  Going down into the Canyon really made me realize how massive it really is.  It is truly amazing and shows the mightiness and creativity of God.

I would do it again... I would just bring a 3 liter Camelbak instead of a 2 liter.  I ran out of water with about 1 mile to go.

After our epic hike, we were greeted by my mother-in-law who had spent the day enjoying the sites of the canyon, reading, and dealing with squirrels who wanted to hang out in the Silver Bullet.  She has hiked all the way down to the canyon and back up in one day.  Makes my 5 miles down and up look at little shabby! We set up our campsite and ate yummy burgers.




We then drove to Point Imperial

Which was beautiful

But windy and very cold.

We next hit up the lodge for a visit to Brighty

And look at a few other views of the canyon.

My trip to the Grand Canyon was definitely something I will never forget.  I am so thankful I had the opportunity to see something I had always heard so much about.  Plus, I am so glad I got to make the trip with such fun people.

By the way- the next morning we ran into one of my New York friends at the general store.  She said, "Hey Fred!"

5 miles down, 20 miles up

Thursday- Grand Canyon North Rim

After a good nights rest in our cabin we had to pack everything up and transport it to our campsite where we spent our second night.  Once that was taken care of, it was time for our hike on the Kaibab Trail.

JP, his Dad, and brother Matt had hiked this before and told us we needed to go to the waterfalls.  So, to the waterfalls it was!  We didn't know how far it would be, but we were ready for whatever was to come our way.

Before setting out on our hike, we said hello to the mules, who we would again encounter on our hike.

About a mile down into the canyon we did run into a group on mules.  As we were passing them, we asked the leader how far it was down the waterfalls.  His response,  "5 miles down, 20 miles back up"

The hike down went by really quickly.  It was SO beautiful.  Looking down from the top and seeing the trail we would soon be hiking was really cool.  I don't feel like the camera does it justice!  We had a great time chatting with each other and viewing the sites.

We ran into several people on the trail.  A lot of these people were apparently doing overnight hikes as they had huge packs.  One guy had 3-4 days worth of food.  My 2L CamelBak, on the other hand, was quiet small in comparison.  Everyone of these people with large packs commented on mine saying how small it was and that they hoped I wasn't staying the night!  I told them there was no way I could carry a pack their size!

About 2 hours into the hike we finally saw the first signs of the waterfall!  It was amazing!  We stopped to eat lunch before finding Roaring Springs.

Unfortunately we were not really able to find the bottom of it.  We went to Roaring Springs, which was cool, but we were expecting a big pool at the bottom of the waterfall.  We later found out from a Park Ranger that there is no pool at the bottom of the waterfall because the waterfall goes underground. 

Here we are at Roaring Springs.  It was an incredibly muddy trek to reach this destination but we were glad we reached our goal point.

Once we experienced Roaring Springs, it was time to head back up the canyon.  Trust me the guy on the mule wasn't lying.  Stay tuned for our hike back up... and learn how I earned my nickname for the trip.

It is Grande....

Tuesday
Our journey out West began early the morning of Tuesday May 24.  Our flight from Birmingham to Phoenix left at 7:15ish so we arrived at the Birmingham airport around 6:30. (Only having to get there 45 minutes before the flight is definitely a benefit of a smaller airport!). Sarah had stayed the night with us Monday night so she would not have to leave Decatur super early.

Our flight went well but the 3 hour time difference through our stomachs off.  When we were getting off the plane one of our fellow passengers stated, "I'm hungry for lunch but I think it is only breakfast time here."  Sarah and I couldn't agree more!  My brother-in-law Michael picked us up from the airport and then headed to work.  We spent the day with my mother-in-law Julie getting things ready for our trip and doing important things like eating at In N Out.  Our most interesting event of the day was renting a mini-van for the trip.  It was much more complicated than we imagined and became quite humorous.

Wednesday
We packed the mini-van which we affectionately came to call The Silver Bullet. 




It is important to note that Michael was the only one both physically able and allowed by Enterprise to drive The Silver Bullet.


We started our 7 hour journey with Flagstaff as our lunch break.  Notice the mountain that you can see as you approach Flagstaff.  This is Mount Humphrey's, the tallest point in Arizona.  Yes that is snow.  Yes there is snow in Arizona.  In fact, Michael had been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon the week before he went with us.  His first trip was full of snow!  Thankfully that was not the case for our trip!


 Once we ate our Wendy's lunch we knew the Grand Canyon was our next stop.  90% of people choose to go to the South Rim.  We chose to take the road less traveled and go to the North Rim.

 
 The views on the way to the North Rim are beautiful!  You don't see anything like this in Alabama!




 

We even got to see a motorcycle group when we stopped for Michael to buy his girlfriend a birthday gift from the Indian ladies.



Once we finally reached the North Rim it was time for my first in person view of the Grand Canyon.  It truly is beautiful and almost doesn't seem real.  It really shows how great and mighty our God is!


 








After taking in our first views of the Grand Canyon, it was time to get settled in our cabin.  The North Rim only has one non-camping place to stay... The Grand Canyon Lodge.  These cabins you are advised to book 6 months- 1 year in advance.  2-3 weeks before our trip I started planning our trip.  I thought we were going to have to go to the South Rim (much to JP's disappointment, and he wasn't even going!) because there were still campsites available.  But then, I discovered that there was one night at the Lodge on the North Rim.  Not only that, but the cabin was the exact size that we needed.  You better believe I booked that cabin fast!  However, there was no where to stay the second night.  But, the next day I looked and a campsite had become available for the second night.


 Now it is important to note that Michael is a photographer.  Not just a casual I like to take pictures photographer, but a hard core, this is my job photographer.  He works for one of the top wedding photographer in Phoenix, but his passion is landscapes/nature.  So being at the Grand Canyon there are tons of beautiful places to take pictures... especially at sunset.  Michael had one specific point he wanted to go to for sunset.  Only problem, sunset was 15 minutes away and we were 20 miles away on a curvy, 35mph road.  The silver bullet delivered and we arrived just in time.  Michael sprinted to the spot and said he arrived with only 1 minute to spare.


FYI his shot is way better than mine. 100 times better for sure.




Overall it was a great first day at the Grand Canyon.  That night we made sure to get plenty of rest to prepare us for the next day... the day of our Grand Canyon hike.