Only 1% of Grand Canyon National Park visitors go down into the canyon at all – and we were so excited to be part of that 1% ! We also learned the average time a visitor at the park spends looking at the canyon is 15 minutes <insert shocked face!>. We spent 15 minutes looking at the canyon in our first 15 minutes being there!

On Good Friday we took our first hike down. We decided on Bright Angel Trail with the goal of reaching the bathrooms and water station which are at the 1.5 mile mark.

We enjoyed the tunnels…

…and I think I only said “Please be careful. Watch where you’re going!” 100 times in the first 10 minutes.

The girls loved elephant tree:

B loved the peanut butter looking walls. We had to keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t try to start licking them all.

RR loved the animals! From the hard working and impressive mules…

..to the “ahh life is good” squirrel…

…to this guy who should be hired by Disney. What a model:

Of course all of us enjoy the views the best:

And me – I just am thrilled every time we hike. Truly it’s my favorite new thing that came with this adventure. I absolutely love being outside, the sunshine (thank you Lord!), the conversations we have while walking, and how amazing the burn in the lungs and legs feel. I just LOVE it!

And we finally learned how to get AB to love hikes! We just have to start at the top and go down first. Then, on the way back up she’s so excited we are headed back that she doesn’t try to get us to stop going further up. Haha she knows that up is the way to the finish! Ha

“Kaibab” – what the natives called the Grand Canyon means mountain upside down. We love hiking Kaibab style! 🙂

For our 2nd hike into the canyon we chose South Kaibab Trail.

This trail was crazy! The switchbacks on the mountainside and then the steepness the rest of the way with so much sand was tricky. Here’s the view looking up to the switchbacks on the first part of the trail:

Will you please pray for B? He is feeling some tweaks in his knee that are hindering his ability to hike as much and as fast as he would want. We want that healed and strengthened completely!

No Disney-like pretend danger here. It’s just steps away from straight down.

B and the girls had a great time together enjoying the great view and then Ohh Ahh Point!

We heard the squirrels were thugs around here. B was enjoying this guy over his shoulder:

Until he showed this thug life:

They tried to get a picture of me and RR down below on Cedar Ridge but I can’t tell if that’s us haha:

RR and I made it the 1.5 mile mark down there – Cedar Ridge. We had a happy time going down and great conversation.

We loved seeing the bright angel shale closer up!

And we especially enjoyed the rest in the sun with the mules.

Going back up was hard!

Lost mine has nothing on this. It was steep!

RR doesn’t do slow and steady. Everybody was amazed at him running up. He runs then rests, runs and rests. People kept commenting on the tortoise and hare that we were. In this story, the hare won big time. I was more the big bad wolf than a tortoise to be honest. I huffed and puffed big time and was so grateful to get to ohh and ahh point where B and girls were!

My legs and body felt great but lungs and heart were working hard.

After Ohh Ahh it was way more fun and I could actually keep up with RR! Sort of.

I’m glad that B can hang around with AB and enjoy the time together but I wish it wasn’t because his knee is feeling weak.

Aren’t the switchbacks crazy? RR ahead and AB and B coming up toward me:

We made it! It did feel like an accomplishment 🙂

I seriously LOVE hiking and would do it every day if I could. The kids couldn’t do that yet 🙂 but we’re working toward it! I have found my new fave hobby for sure though.

The mules are SO friendly and sweet. We loved them

Oh and by the way !!!! Apparently these animals I showed pics of previously are ELK without antlers and NOT mule deer !!!!

We’ve seen them quite a few times now! This one was very immature. He was all, “na na na na na you thought we were deer” :

With how rude some people are to the animals…. I couldn’t blame him for being a bit Hornery 🙂 (get it hehe you’re welcome MomMom)

We enjoyed ice cream after South Kaibab! And fought off some more squirrels:

By the way – pizza at Maswick Lodge in the park was so good!!!

We also earned our Grand Canyon Junior Ranger Badge!

We had such an amazing weekend and we are so thankful!

Thank you all for the encouragement and love. We have grand-parental units visiting tomorrow and we are beyond anxious and excited!