Since "W" Missed me so much...

[Mako19]

that he was calling me out by name and wondering if I moved away just because I had not posted about Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball team 5 whole games into the season, here is a recap of what I have been up to the last week.

4 day 3 night backpacking trip to Grand Canyon.
Took Bright Angel Trail from South Rim 9 miles and 4500' down to CO River. Camped two nights and hiked to Ribbon Falls on day two.

Day three hiked hlafway out (distance wise, only 1500' elevation change) and camped at Indian Gardens.

Day four was brutal as hiked out the rest of the way with 3000' of elevation change in only 4 miles.

4 days, 33 miles of backpacking, 11,000' of total elevation change and an accomplishment that NO ONE will ever take away from me! The most physically demanding AND rewarding accomplishment of my outdoor adventure history to date.

Being unplugged and getting back to the basics is something everyone should do every once in a while.

Truely a life changing experience.

Saw Big Horn Sheep, Elk, Muel Deer, and even repped my Salty Cajun shirt (when I wasn't wearing my Ragin' Cajun Gear).
Here are some pictures.

This is a trip that a little internet troll would never have the geaux-nads to do.

[Mako19]

More pics of Day 1 while we were hiking down to Phantom Ranch on the CO River.

[ckinchen]

Very nice......great pics

[Mako19]

Big Horn Sheep and more hiking down to CO River...

[Mako19]

Saw some beautiful waterfalls and even explored a few caves along the way down.

Finally made it down to river....
I was amazed at the volume and speed of this river.

[Smalls]

Man, that is awesome! Would love to do something like that one day. Did you do any kind of prep before you went? Physically I mean.

[mriguy]

That's very cool, nice pics. What a wonderful experience

[Mako19]

Made camp at Phantom Ranch.

Tents and sleeping bags that we humped down in our backpacks along with all food and gear.

None of that cabin camping crap.

I weighed my backpack before the trip and it weighed 27 lbs which was heavier than I was shooting for but there are some things I can't compromise on......Like the Jack Daniels I sipped on with dinner each night.


I will admit that we did cheat a little and drink a cold Grand Canyon beer at Phantom Ranch...but we didn't eat there. Cooked all meals on the little burner you see in picture.

[Mako19]

Day 2 was a "rest" day.
We left camp set up and took a 6 mile (one way) day hike with 1000' of elevation change to Ribbon Falls.

Since we didn't have to bring out packs, just water and water purifier (you will see my ubddy purifing water from the stream in one pic) it was an easy and fun hike.

Ate lunch at Ribbon Falls which was beautiful!

I'm trying to keep the pictures in order from day to day but finding it difficult. I hope you get the idea from my explanations.

[alphaman]

Awesome

[BayBolt23]

That's good stuff right there!!

[Mako19]

The morning of Day 3 meant it was time to start hiking out.
My legs were already pissed off as could be at me (soar) because I didn't do near the training that I should have done.

But what were my option? I think picture 1 here describes them pretty well.

We hiked 6 miles out, which is halfway distance-wise but only 1500' of the 4500' of elevation we needed to reach the rim.

[bab52]

Pretty bad a$$

[Bluechip]

That's cool.....looks like great memories with great friends.

[Mako19]

After setting up camp on Day 3 at Indian Gardens we hiked about 1.5 miles to Plateau Point. This is a plateau that gives you a near 360 degree view of the Grand Canyon from about 2000' from above the CO river.

That means that you have the canyon and river to look down on and more canyon above you. Truely a specia place one earth.

Sitting atop this plataue as the sun went down was a life changing experience for me. The view is so spectacular that no one was talking, just trying to take in as much as possible before the sun's ray's disappeared. I was able to do some serious reflecting on what I have done with my life up to this point and what I need to do with theremaining time that God allows me to be here.

I mention God every time I mention Pleau Point because I don't care what religion you are or how hard headed you are about not believing in a God. If you sit there atop that rocka dn look aroun you are FORCED to believe that GOD knew exactly what he was doing when he created each and everything on this great Planet!

Truely and emotional and spiritial experience.

We were able to see the stars on the hike back to camp with ZERO light pollution which was amazing. Saw the Milky Way Galaxy better than I had ever in my life.

Also, got cut off by 4 Muel deer. They crossed the trail right between me and my buddies. One was a nice 4 x 4 but it was kind of dark so I only got a pic of his silouette.

[Mako19]

So after the last 3 days of fun it was time to "pay the Piper."
The day had come to hike my big *** out of this canyon back to the rim.
That meant 4 miles with 3000' of elevation change with a pack that was around 22 lbs now since I had ate most of the food I brought.

I woke up, loaded up on Ibuprophen to try to quiet down my legs which were screaming at me and just put one foot in front of the other.

The South Rim is approximately 6,500' so once we got closer the air was getting thinner and this big Louisiana boy was not used to that ****!

I just kept taking breaks when necessary which was also good times to stop and take in the beautiful views.

We hit the trail that morning at 8:30 and reached the rim aroun 2 p.m. Myself and two others were about 20 minutes behind the other two in the group who were obviously in better shape than me. But, I didn't mind. Why rush? Once I got back to the rim the experience was all but over.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Day 4:

[Mako19]

More pics from Day 4 Hike to rim...

[latex]

Nice pictures!!

[Mako19]

Stepping off of the trail when I got to the rim was very emotional. I'm not sure if it was because I was mentally and physically exhausted or bacause I was just realizing what we had accomplished, but I had a hard time keeping my emotions in check as I congratulated the other members of my group.

We then went to the bar and enjoyed a celebratory beer to cap off a trip of a lifetime!

At that point I knew I was officially back to reality (the worst part of vacation).

Everyone turned back on their cell phones and started recieving voice mails, texts, and hone calls from people who thought that their issues were the most important thing in the world at that point. Little do they know that there are things right there in our back yard that make all of these "huge" problems seem so small and insignificant.

It was a great week to unplug and Ievent though it seems wierd, I am 100% confident that this trip will allow me to improve as a husband, father, and professional going forward.

[Mako19]

Originally Posted by Smalls

Man, that is awesome! Would love to do something like that one day. Did you do any kind of prep before you went? Physically I mean.

A little but not nearly enough.
It didn't ruin my trip though.

Because we broke the climb out into 2 days I was able to take my time and take breaks when necessary.