We have a Grand Canyon hike coming up in mid-October. This is the one that I spent 52 minutes redialing on the phone before I got a human voice to take my reservation back in October 2012. This hike is so popular and the lodging so scarce at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Canyon that you’ve got to make reservations at least a year in advance. So, we’ve been waiting for this hike for a year now.
Are we ready for this hike? Are you kidding? We’ve been walking in West Des Moines, our campground and in Ankeny, IA. Do any of these resemble what we’re going to do in the Grand Canyon? Not a chance. All of thes are too smooth, too short and too flat. Nothing like the Grand Canyon. But, at least we’ve been walking our usual 3 - 4 miles a day. Today we tried something different. Our campground was actually carved out of a field about 15 years ago and today is surrounded by corn fields on 2 sides, a creek at the bottom of a very small deep creek bed and several hay fields where the cattle graze. Whereas we usually walk the flat roads in the campground, today we decided to walk along the fence line surrounding the campground.
Hey, look, the fence is open, the cattle have been moved into a pasture closer to the barn and we can walk around their old pasture too. Why not? I’d rather make a big circle than 2 small ones.
Walking the fence line was uneven, with tufts of grass and weeks, rocks and cracks in the ground from the drought Iowa is in. It’s also got some small hills on it which start level with the campground but then go down to the creek in several places. Not a great training hike but at least it’s got some promise. The next day we tied on our hiking boots and took off to explore. Uneven terrain, some hills where we’ve got to switchback and a real bonus: cowpies in the pasture - to get us used to stepping over the little presents that the mules leave on the Bright Angel trail down to the bottom of the canyon. What more could we want?
We noticed that after we curved through the pastures, we came to an open fence and, lo and behold, there was a path through the corn field, where they had cut down 2 rows of corn so a vehicle could get through. At the end of this path is the campground office. We can hear this new path calling our names.
At the end of the path we found ourselves in the farmyard and the cattle ensconsed in their new pasture.
We waved at the cows, turned the corner around the hay shed and into the office to pick up our mail.
The walk back was equally exciting.
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