Grand Canyon Trek
15 October 2009
On 10th September 2009, I set off for what proved to be the most wonderful, amazing and, at times terrifying experience of my life! I had signed up a year earlier to do a sponsored trek for St. Luke’s Hospice and after a year of fund raising and training hard, my destination was the Grand Canyon in the U.S.A.
I had heard about the Grand Canyon , probably everybody has but seeing it was something else! What a place: 277 miles long, 5 – 7 miles wide in some parts and up to a mile deep. Just mind boggling! We were based in a camp two miles from Supia Native American village in the Havasupai Tribal Reservation, deep in the heart of one of the Colorado river’s tributary valleys. The only way in or out of this valley is on foot or horseback. It is so remote that the mail is collected by pony!
The landscape is amazing, formed millions of years ago by glaciation and river erosion. The heat was like nothing I had ever experienced before and very draining at times. Dips in the river and in water falls were a welcome way of cooling down. One particular waterfall – mooney falls, named after the prospector who found it , could only be accessed via a 100ft climb down a step cliff. Once down though, the valley opened out lush green and the rock pools were beautiful.
After five days spent exploring this wonderful place, it was time to leave. Walking out on the last day and climbing the steep switch-backs I had ridden down just a week before on horseback, I felt such a mixture of emotions; awe at the grandeur of the place, pride that I had done it and elation for such a wonderful adventure whilst supporting St. Luke’s Hospice at the same time.
It was an experience I will never forget!
Mrs Garnier
Higher Learning Teaching Assistant – Aim Higher