Today was the big day to see if we were in any kind of shape to hike the Grand Canyon by practicing on The Loop Trail. It is 4.2 miles long, with an elevation gain of about 2,300 feet. This would be about 1/2 of what we will travel on the Grand Canyon hike.
We didn't get as early a start as we should have. The temperature today was in the lower 90's with barely a breeze blowing. The first three miles of the hike took us up and through an area burned by a forest fire in 2003 so there was very little shade but lots of wild flowers and new trees. The last mile was through forest littered with snow drifts. We saw four deer cross our path, in fact, one walked down the path right to us! The view across the valley is spectacular. At one point we heard what sounded like a clap of thunder, but there was not a cloud in the sky. It had to have been an avalanche across the way.
We had a nice picnic at the Granite Park Chalet, one of two chalets in the park for hikers. The chalet has 12 rooms with 2-6 single bunks per room. You have to cook your own food and pack in your water, bring your own sleeping bags, and carry out all your trash. They have no running water, so if you want a bath, there is a creek 1/4 mile away. We considered extending our hike by about 3.2 miles to traverse the side of a mountain so we could view a glacier. It was a good thing we did NOT do that! The hike up took about 3 hours and going down about 2 hours. We sweat so much that we didn't have to pee and John drank all 3 liters of his water.
I don't think we are quite ready yet for the Grand Canyon! Groan! I can't move!
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