My alarm went off at 5:00 and I rummaged around trying to find my watch. Successful turning it off, I went off again at 5:02. It was time to get up. I looked over and poked Bedazzled. Even though the temperature was supposed to drop to 37 degrees, the inside of our two person tent was surprisingly warm. We packed up and carried our backpacks to the car. It felt a little weird not to just get up and start hiking, like when we were thru-hiking, but we couldn’t leave the car at our campsite.

I sleepily turned the ignition and stifled a yawn as I backed up and put the car in drive. A few minutes later, we were parked at the Backcountry Information Center, where we would leave the car for the next couple nights. We waited at the shuttle stop in dark with three other hikers. The hiker express bus wasn’t too popular this morning.

After a short ride, we disembarked and began walking toward the trailhead. A silver fox slunk across our path. His fur a seeming reflection of the cloudy sky overhead. I had hoped for a beautiful sunrise, but Mother Nature had other plans. Perhaps I had used up my allotment of beautiful sunrises for the year?

As we came up a short rise, suddenly the ground parted before us and a vast expanse opened before our eyes. Layers of earth were laid bare in a geological layer cake and white and red sandstone stood out starkly in the predawn light. As our eyes danced across the landscape dotted with juniper and pinyon pines, ravens soared on thermals before our eyes. Prisoners to the wind, they followed its capacious whims descending, rising, and descending again.

No one forgets the first time they see the Grand Canyon, and even though it is my third, I still get goosebumps. So vast and varied, you could spend a lifetime exploring it and never know all its secrets.

As we took our first steps down the South Kaibab trail, it felt good. Good to be walking again, good to be doing what we had become so accustomed to, and good to be doing it together.

There is something about the first step of a journey. It holds so much promise and uncertainty. It sets in motion a chain of events that can all be linked back to that very step. Who knew that my first step on the Pacific Crest Trail would somehow lead me here. Not ten days after finishing our hike of the PCT, Bedazzled and I are back at it again. Sure the trail is different, but the feeling is the same. We are about to embark on a journey and our first step holds the promise and uncertainty of an adventure that’s end hasn’t been written yet.

We began switchbacking from the top of the South Rim and were soon winding our way down an almost vertical wall of rock. The trail was wider than the PCT and instead of an even grade, there were steps built into the trail. Our shoes were soon the color of rust from all the dust, but we didn’t mind. It felt good being dirty again. The daily showers and vacuumed floors of the past few post-PCT days didn’t feel natural. Bedazzled and I weren’t completely comfortable in our surroundings. They felt too…..man-made. We missed the gentle lines and textures of nature. The smells and sounds of the wilderness.

We passed Ooh Ah Point and continued down passing alongside O’Neal Butte as we descended to the Tonto Plateau. Inside the canyon now, we could see glimpses of the Colorado River below.

More steps and layers of rock later, we saw the Black Bridge come into view. It spanned a green and fast flowing Colorado River.

Down on Boat Beach, a float trip was docked on shore.

From behind came a young day hiker, as he passed he saw my hat and asked if we had thru-hiked the PCT. “We have,” I said using the past-tense for the first time. He had hiked it in 2015 and was planning to hike the Continental Divide Trail in 2018 and maybe the Appalachian Trail in 2019. After that he was going to head over to Europe and hike some of their trails. “What about you?” he asked. “I’m not sure,” I said. “Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it,” he smiled. “Well maybe the Continental Divide Trail, but I am thinking about the Kungsladen in Sweden too,” I smiled back. He went on ahead. His plan was to hike to the Colorado River and back.

Bedazzled and I carried on and stopped often to admire the view. It is difficult to break the mindset that we don’t have to keep moving all day. The PCT programmed us to keep going, to not stop moving. We actually forgot that we only had 7 miles to walk today. We slowed down and took our time. A mule train passed us heading up to the rim. Soon, we reached the Colorado River and crossed the Black Bridge, which seemed so tiny from up above. “The river is bigger than I thought,” remarked Bedazzled as she looked over her shoulder at the canyon walls. “This is all its work,” I said as I motioned around us.

We walked along the river and took the trail to Bright Angel Creek and campground. I looked at my watch as we dropped our packs in a tent site. It was 10:45 AM. We looked at each other and said, “What do we do now?” So accustomed to walking all day, we weren’t really sure. Finally, we decided to go back to Boat Beach and dip our feet in the mighty Colorado. When the sun got to be too much, we went back to camp and napped until 3:30. After that, we talked for a bit then went back to the river to watch the sunset. There is something about the Grand Canyon that you can only understand by coming here and spending time in the inner canyon. I can’t explain it, but everyone should feel it.

We walked back to camp and started to cook dinner. Bedazzled was having trouble opening the seasoning packet for her couscous, and I recommended she use her teeth. Next thing I knew, there was an explosion and a cloud of white powder in the air. Bedazzeled’s chin and sleeves were covered with seasoning. Somethings will never change.