The Grand Canyon: The End
So after a number of rests along the way (and possibly some minor cursing), we made it to the top about 4pm... 2.5 hours too early for our dinner reservations. I told Steve that if we went back to the hotel first, I'd never make it back out for dinner at 6:30. So we went to El Tovar to see if they could accommodate us sooner. Luckily, it wasn't a problem. But while we were waiting in line to get in, everything hit me. All the pain settling in my hips, that awful nausea feeling settling in my stomach and I was not sure I was even going to make it to dinner. BUT after some yummy chicken and pasta and a lovely chocolate cake, I was ALLLLLLLLLLL better. If you don't already know, I'm very food centric. How else do you think people get me to volunteer for shit?!
In all, it wound up being a hair over 21 miles, a little under 6k elevation gain and 10.5 hours total.
And you know what? Steve won the lottery to reserve a spot at the Phantom Ranch next year for two nights!!! So we'll be heading back and checking out more of the Grand Canyon next year!!!