Grand Canyon Weekend

It was fun. It was worth it. But I don’t think I’ll ever do it again. At least not the way I did it this time.

The story starts at 3pm in Los Angeles after I got off working a 7.30 to 2.30 restaurant shift. My GPS said it would take me about 7 hours to drive to the AirBnb I had booked, however it took so long to get out of LA because of traffic it ended up taking me a total of 9 hours driving. I don’t know if you’ve ever driven extremely tired, but it’s terrifying. At hour 6 I was feeling delusional. It was dark, there were so many semi’s on the road going 80 mph. I felt so small at trapped in my vehicle, but I had no choice but to keep going. The only other option was to pull over and fall asleep in my car however it was negative temperatures outside and I am a 22 year old in my car by myself. I don’t think I need to emphasize the danger there. I have truly learned my lesson in driving while exhausted and I won’t ever do it again. My brain felt like mashed potatoes and my eyes felt like rocks. There’s no other way to describe the feeling.

Getting off the freeway was so reliving, but I still had 45 minutes to get to the AirBnb I had booked. I drive a 2009 Nissan Versa. Considering I live in LA there’s no need for snow tires. My mom told me recently that I’ve “forgotten that winter exists” because I’ve spent the last 2 years living in Hawaii before I moved to LA. I’m driving down this road, and all of a sudden I have to slam on my breaks because there is a group of elk in the middle of the road. I’m so grateful I didn’t hit them. There were about 10 of them, it would’ve been catastrophic. When the GPS tells me I’m 2 miles away, I needed to turn right. It’s then that I realize I have to take my less than reliable car down a very frozen, very uneven and bumpy dirt road. I was driving eight mph. I truly couldn’t have gone faster. Thankfully check-in went smoothly and I was able to fall asleep immediately, but that was definitely in the top 5 of my most scary experiences.

The next morning, I left my place at around 8, it was only a 25 minute drive to the park which was super convenient. I went to the visitor’s center to get some maps and headed to Mather Point before starting to hike the rim trail. It was more of a walk than a hike. I couldn’t believe how cold it was, and I realized why most people come to the Grand Canyon in the spring, summer, and fall. In the afternoon, I drove around a little more and saw Grand Viewpoint, Desert View point, and did a little bit of the Hermit Trail. There are two things that will get me to turn around on a hike, safety concerns, and wildlife if I am alone. If I’m by myself on a trail and I see coyotes, elk, or anything alive with teeth, I will turn around so fast to avoid it. On the Hermit Trail, I saw several animals together, I don’t know what they were but they looked like a mix of elk, horses, and reindeer.

I decided to just sit on a bench for a while, journal, and really take it all in. I had been to the Grand Canyon before, in April of 2016 with my family. It was the last family trip we ever did with the 5 of us and we won’t ever do another one just the 5 of us again. For this reason, the Grand Canyon holds a special place in my heart. Even though that trip was full of fighting and conflict, it was the last place I remember my whole family being together with just us. As I sat there in the freezing cold I became overwhelmed with gratitude for how much my life has changed and for how much I have changed since then.

I then made my way over to Hopi Viewpoint for sunset. It was gorgeous, but I had to sit in my car to thaw a little before driving because my legs were numb. Literally numb from standing in the wind for so long. It was a good day though, it made the horrible drive worth it!

The next morning I decided to head back to Mather’s point for sunrise. It was so beautiful but truly even colder than the previous evening’s sunset. I headed back down towards Desert View and went inside the lookout house. It was a nice reprieve from the harsh winds outside. The views were incredible and the park rangers inside were so nice to talk to! So knowledgeable and just really friendly people. Once I was done there I didn’t really know where to go or what to do. If it’s too cold and icy to hike, there’s not much to do in the Grand Canyon other than look at it. I decided to drive up about 2 hours north and go to Horseshoe Bend. Unfortunately I went at a time where the water was in the shadow, but it was so beautiful nonetheless. Driving back was rough, my back and eyes hurt so much from the massive drive I had done just two days prior. Once I was back in the park, I decided that a little hiking didn’t hurt anybody. I decided to head down the Bright Angel Trail a little bit. I had done a small portion of this trail with my mom and sisters back in 2016. I remember being so terrified thinking I was going to fall off. I remember being scared that the path was so narrow, and looking at the path now, I can’t believe how wide it is compared to other hikes I’ve done. Not that you should, but you could easily walk two by two on this trail, the odds of falling off just by walking are so low. I’ve done trails that you have to put one foot in front of the other because the path is only as wide as your foot.

I guess I just had sort of a ‘full circle’ moment. So proud of how much hiking I’ve done, and how much I’ve gotten over my anxiety and fear of heights. Something that I say to myself all the time is that it’s okay to be scared. You just have to do things scared then. That’s how you get over fear. After hiking back up, I drove to Mohave Point for sunset, froze my ass off again, and drove back to my AirBnb to pack up my car and get everything ready for the morning.

I’m going to be so for real right now, I have no idea where I watched the sunrise from on my third day. It was sort of near Mather’s Point, but it wasn’t there. I don’t really remember, but I walked along the Rim Trail for another little while. It was so cold, but so peaceful. I drove down that road one more time, stopping off at every viewpoint I could.

I decided since I had already driven all the way out to Arizona, I may as well see a little more of the state while I was at it. I drove down to SEdona and saw some of the most beautiful rock formations I’ve ever seen. I did a hike called the Ridge Trail, it was perfect. Such a beautiful loop and hardly anyone else on the trail. Sedona is such a pretty town too, driving through I kept hearing the TikTok sound in my head, “should I… move here?” I love LA too much right now to live anywhere else, but truly it was so breathtakingly beautiful, it felt like dream. I saw so many more elk and other wildlife (from the safety of my car). I knew that I had a huge long drive back to LA though, even longer because of the Sedona excursion, so I decided to hit the road while I was still very fresh and awake. I realize I’m more of a morning driver, driving into the night is awful. Even though the journey was rough, the destination was worth it. I hadn’t been to the Grand Canyon in a while and it was a really nice break from reality in Los Angeles. I think the next time I go back, I’ll make it summertime and try to plan it out a little better, maybe get some permits to go into the canyon and camp at the bottom…