I have always wanted to hike the Grand Canyon.
My brothers have gone rim to rim several times, but they were with YM activities so as a young girl I wasn't able to go along. My brother Brian arranged for us to go rim to rim with the Page Stake YM's group. Brian flew from Texas to Phx on Thurs and stayed the night with us. The next day I got home from work the same time my boys got out of school, and Brian, me, and the kids all drove to Williams, AZ where we met my Mom and my Grandma Pratt. My Mom had taken my 92yr old grandmother to see the south rim of the Grand Canyon earlier that day. We stayed in a couple of adjoining hotel rooms and spent a nice evening together. The next morning Brian and I got up at 4am and left to drive to the South rim. My kids, Mom, and Grandma all slept in. They loaded up the kids and drove to Page later that morning. It was very kind of my Parents to offer to watch my kids so I could go on this hike. The south rim is about an hour from Williams. We started hiking shortly before 6am -and didn't get to the other rim till 10pm. My fit-bit said we did a total of 30-miles. At Phantom's ranch in the middle we swapped our car keys with a Bishop from Page -we would drive each others vehicles back to Page that night.
I'm so glad we took the detour to see Ribbon Falls. It was so beautiful, like a little Garden of Eden in the middle of the canyon. My knees were starting to bother me at this point so I wasn't sure if I should do any more excursions, but this was well worth it!
The last 5 miles it was cold and dark and the wind cut right through my sweater. My hands got too numb to hold my walking sticks. My knees hurt to bend them so I would swing one leg out to the side and then the other like a rusted tin-man. It was a miserable shuffle, too cold to stop, but physically unable to speed things up and get the heck out of there. I had a continual prayer running through my head for strength, endurance, and help. The last mile I just clung to Brian's arm and he hauled me along. It felt sooo good to finally climb in the car and be out of the wind!
I am grateful to my brother for his support and patience with me, and for motivating me to accomplish one of my dreams. I am also very aware of and grateful for my Heavenly Father's help -I think I may have had angels bearing me up at the end (my brother being one of them). I know my Heavenly Father knew how much I wanted to do this and blessed me so that everything would work out. I hope to be in good enough shape to do this hike with my boys when they are teenagers, and Grayce too if she would like!
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