6)  Humbug !!


Well, it looks as if The Grinch may have seized the day today.

BUT, to prevent that from happening I am going to submit an act of exceptional giving I witnessed one year while hiking the Grand Canyon.



The Bright Angel



February 27, 2006

The park brochure says that the canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, with an average depth of one mile. There are 15 major trails which provide access to the canyon and we chose to take the 7.1 mile long Kaibab Trail, which would lead us down the 4,500 foot elevation drop to the Phantom Ranch where we would stay the night. The brochure says “A unique resort providing all facilities for a comfortable stay at the bottom of the Grand Canyon”. Our plan was to stay overnight at the Phantom Ranch and then hike out of the canyon the next day using the 9.5 mile long Bright Angel Trail.

We left the Phantom Ranch at 6:04 A.M. this morning, and have finally reached the half-way point at Indian Garden campgrounds. We were now ready for a twenty minute break, taking time to rest and eat our lunch. The 20 minutes goes all too fast and it’s once again time to hit the trail. This morning’s trek from Phantom Ranch to Indian Garden has taken us 3 ½ hours to travel 5 miles, with an elevation gain of 1476 feet. We now have 4 ½ miles remaining with an elevation gain of 2948 feet before we reach the top of the South Rim, our final destination. The trail has a slight incline for ¾ miles until we reach the side of the canyon and then it’s up, up, up, in a series of switchbacks that take us to the top.

By this time my knees are aching from yesterday’s descent into the canyon, and my legs are aching from today’s climb out. I have blisters on both feet and my every muscle is stressed from this climb. You know you’re tired when you can see your about to step in a pile of mule poop and don’t even try to avoid it.

We have been passed by three mule teams already this morning; some are carrying supplies down or back from the Phantom Ranch, while others are burden down with tourists who have come to see the beauty of the canyon but opt to go by mule rather than by foot. We are also beginning to encounter more hikers on the trail. Some stayed the night down at the Phantom Ranch and are now beginning to overtake us, while others had come down from the top of the South Rim just this morning. We had covered about two of the switchbacks when we met up with a group of three young men resting alongside the trail. I briefly talked with them and learned that they had come down the day before, stayed the night at Indian Gardens, and was now on the return trip back up.

A couple more switchbacks up and the trail began to parallel a high rock wall, stained with black, green and white streaks caused by years of winds and rain. It was a beautiful sight so I stopped to take a picture. When I finished taking the picture I looked down the trail and noticed the three young men walking towards us. But two of them were now carrying the third. I quickly asked them if he was hurt and could we be of any help? “No” they exclaimed, “he just can’t walk very well”. A further conversation revealed that their friend was disabled and for the most part confined to a wheel chair.

It had been the boy’s lifelong dream to hike the Grand Canyon, but being confined to a wheel chair it had been nothing more than a dream. Then his three friends decided that they could help to make it more than just a dream, they figured that they could actually make it happen. They planned out the hike, received a hiking permit from the park service, packed their gear, set him in his wheel chair, and started on the journey of a lifetime. Down the canyon they went, over the bumpy Bright Angel trail, one carrying the pack and the other two trying to keep the wheel chair upright as it jostled down the trail. They kept this up for about a mile until the trail became so rough that they had to discard the wheel chair and carry him down the rest of the way in their arms. One boy took the pack ahead for about three-hundred yards, while the other two carried the boy for a hundred yards, rested, went another hundred yards, rested, and then caught up with the pack bearer. One would then trade off carrying the pack while the other helped carry the boy, who must have weighed at least 130 pounds. Carry, rest, carry rest, a hundred yards at a time until they had covered the remaining 3 ½ miles of the trail. They stayed the night at the Indian Garden campground and now they were struggling their way up the canyon trail to the top.

I was so taken with this act of service that I could barely speak. When I gained enough composure to stammer something out I asked if we could be of any help. “No thanks, we can make it” they said. I did offer them some of my water, my box of raisins, even my Oreo cookies, all of which they gratefully accepted. Seeing that they were OK, albeit tired, we wished them the best of luck and continued up the trail on our own journey. We still had to traverse an innumerable number of switchbacks to cover the remaining 3 ½ miles and 3000 foot elevation gain, but our steps were a little lighter, and our spirits a lot higher.

That day hiking out of the Grand Canyon, we had witnessed something even more beautiful than the splendor and grandeur of the canyon itself, even with its 277 miles of length, 18 miles of width, and one mile of depth. We witnessed the awesome beauty of one of Gods greatest creations. We saw three young men saying “Thank you God for all you have given us, now how can we repay you”?

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
" (Matt. 25:40.)

Day 4