Tuesday morning started with a trip to South Mountain (sadly not Camelback :P) with the lovely Lisa and always smiling Craig as our guides for the morning. Maury, our wonderful driver scaled the mountain in our fabulous tour bus like a pro. Thanks Maury for keeping us at ease - they were some sheer drops on those bends.
After our many photo opportunities we headed off to meet Bruce and Tina at 360 Adventures (www.360-adventures.com) for an afternoon of FUN! Bruce and Tina offer team building as part of their operations, and we were very fortunate to be hosted at their own private residence where we had an opportunity to mingle with the dogs, cats, chickens and donkey, all before we participated in the 'Salsa Challenge'. We were split into 2 groups of 4 (my group was Sal, Caroline, Lisa and I) where we were required to create a salsa recipe, make the salsa, create a logo and a 30 second commercial promoting our product. Both teams made each other roar with laughter because we were all a bit cheeky, but due to good judgement, we WON! Woot!
To help with the salsa challenge, Bruce made some very tasty margaritas which I think helped get us over the line. Chef extraordinaire Bruce cooked up a feast of Fajitas, beans and Mexican rice for lunch, with our own home made salsas to top the fajitas off nicely. If ever you are in Arizona and seeking some adventure, I suggest you look up 360 adventures. Thanks Lisa, Tina, Bruce and Craig for a fantastic day!
On Wednesday we hit the road to Camp Verde where we were met by Lee and Elsa, Caroline's hosts for the next two nights, who then drove us up to the Grand Canyon. Another sad farewell was had as we sad goodbye to the very hospitable and always smiling Maury. Thanks Maury - you really are a true gentleman.
The drive to the Grand Canyon took most of the day and we arrived at the Canyon mid afternoon. My new host 'mum' Clarinda took me for a brief walking tour around the Southern Rim of the canyon, where the hotels are before John picked us back up. To my absolute delight and complete unexpected surprise, Clarinda was able to organise an impromptu chopper flight for me of the Grand Canyon. It was an absolute highlight of the trip and I strongly suggest doing it if you are ever at the Canyon. It doesn't even begin to show the sheer magnitude of the Canyon, but it's a good start. There was still plenty of snow on the North Rim which was pretty to see from the air.
After coming back down to earth, it was a quiet night in, in preparation for today's adventure - HIKING THE GRAND CANYON!!!!!
The team met at 8.30 this morning to start our hike into the Canyon on the Kaibab Trail. The hike in was relatively easy, but it was extremely steep and there were lots of stairs and loose ground. At one point I lost my footing and landed hard on the side of my foot, spraining my ankle quite severely and ripping a decent chunk off the top of my finger. Thanks to John's walking poles saving me from a much greater fall, I can be grateful that I didn't break my ankle. Thanks Elaine for patching me up. I soldiered on regardless, as we were 3/4 of the way down the trail...but coming back up was going to be interesting.
No words can describe how awe struck I was today. The Grand Canyon is without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Every part of the Canyon is so different, and as the day and the light changes, so does the Canyon. It was great to have Clarinda and Elaine on the hike with us, as they were both so knowledgeable about the Canyon and everything in it, so there was plenty of information to take in.
The hike back up to the starting point was slow and steady (for me anyway). Peter was kind enough to stay with me and take the slow walk back up the trail. I tell you what, those girls are a fit bunch - they were up the top in no time. Just as the top of the trail was in sight, we had to move out of the way of the Mules which were coming back up the trail from the base of the Canyon. It was great to see them in action, and they were absolutely beautiful Mules - for some reason I expected them to be a bit unfortunate looking, but that wasn't the case.
After the hike we met up with Lee and Elsa for some lunch and then took a wander down to the Watch Tower. Unfortunately due to my ankle I didn't climb to the top, but the others did, so I will have to rely on them for photos.
I am not sitting at home, with my ankle iced and in the air, looking at my photos from today and trying to take in today. It was an amazing experience and very grounding (literally haha). The last day and a half have provided me with two wonderful memories that I will never forget. Thanks Clarinda for giving me the opportunity to make these memories - I am forever indebted to you.
Enough of the ramblings...now for the pictures...
Grand Canyon from the sky
Very excited!
Sal at the Grand Canyon
Sal and I at 'ooh-ahh' (sp?) Point
Kirsty at Cedar Ridge - our turnaround point.
Me partaking in my first ever piece of Beef Jerky - interesting...a little like overcooked kangaroo, but tastier!
The team at Cedar Ridge, paying homage to Kingman :p
The mules doing their thing
More mules
Another excellent blog, Sarah. I felt like I was there. Great pics, too, as always. Alan.
ReplyDeleteThanks Al. It really was an amazing day. It's hard to believe our whirlwind adventure is almost coming to an end. Definitely not looking forward to saying farewells at LAX :(
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