Postscript, September 2008
Well, since this trip memoir was written, I have married Natasha (May 2001) and had two beautiful kids, Daniel (2003) and Lauren (2004). I would definitely love to take my family on a Grand Canyon hike someday. With us having kids very soon after getting married, we have not yet traveled as much as I would like. However, we will definitely do more of that as the kids get older. I don’t want my kids to have to wait until their mid 20s to be able to see some of the great stuff I’ve seen.
It was an interesting experience taking Natasha to the Grand Canyon for the first time. When we were dating (about 9 months before we got married), we took a 2-week vacation to Arizona and Colorado in the summer of 2000. We went first to Durango and the Ouray area, then went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Because my first experience in the Canyon was so moving for me personally, and because I’d seen other folks have such emotional reactions to seeing the Canyon for the first time, I had really hyped up the Grand Canyon to Natasha, and sort of expected her to have a similar emotional experience. One thing I hadn’t considered, though, was that we were coming to the Canyon after already seeing the spectacular mountains of Ouray and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, two places which in some ways are more impressive than the Grand Canyon. Maybe if you want someone to be blown away by the Grand Canyon, you shouldn’t show them Ouray first – Ouray is just freakishly beautiful.
OK, so, no, she didn’t freak out, say “oh my god”, or start crying. I think I over-hyped it a bit and expected it to be as powerful to her as it was to me the first time. But she does agree that the view from that North Rim lodge balcony is one of the best places on Earth to have a margarita! (Also in the running might be the view from the Princeville hotel bar and restaurant in Kauai where we had our honeymoon).
The only really bad part of this trip was ruining those 3-4 rolls of film by double-exposing it at the Grand Canyon and at Emigrant Wilderness. I really think there were several professional quality shots on there. I really have not had much opportunity to travel to places that beautiful to do some photography since then, and it may be a while before I get a chance to photograph places that awesome again. I’d really like a do-over on those rolls.
A few other lessons learned from this trip. If I do go back and do the rim-to-rim hike with my family, I probably would not go along with the philosophy of getting up at 4-5am so that your main hiking is complete by, say 10am. I understand the point of beating the heat, but getting up that early--especially when sleeping in a tent on the ground--is brutal. Getting enough sleep and having a relaxing breakfast to fuel up for the tough hiking might be worth trading off for hiking in a little hotter weather (finishing by, say, noon or 1pm instead of by 1030 or 11am). I know Natasha and my daughter Lauren are NOT morning persons, so I think they’d probably agree with me there. Probably the best bet is to plan the hike in the Spring or Fall when temperatures are cooler.
A headlamp would have really come in handy to be able to find things in the dark yet have both hands free. And I should definitely try to pack lighter. I love the pictures I took, but that tripod was HEAVY. Maybe I can afford some ultra light carbon fiber tripod for the next trip!
Since writing this memoir, Steve and Kim have adopted two kids, Taylor ( a girl) and Ryan (boy). Also, Robert and Linda had their first child a couple of years ago, Katherine Giles Canaan (it could be debated that Katie was their 2nd child – with their first child being their golden retriever, Trooper!) Now that we all have kids, I really look forward to maybe going on a great hiking trip sometime with both of their families, along with mine.
The adventure continues…
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