The Grand Detour

The Grand Detour

Hiking up the shear cliffs of Zion National Park, I heard one sentence that captivated all of the emotions that I have been feeling for weeks.

“There are very few times in life when you look at something that exceeds your field of vision.”

The timing, the landscape, and the words could not have been more perfect. That one sentence summed up all the amazing sights and experiences that I have had thus far. Each town, park, mountain, canyon, and cliff - inexpressible entities that exceed expand beyond my field of vision in every respect.

We stood there, staring at motionless land trying to comprehend its beauty. We contemplating its construction and marveled in its massiveness. For me though, the elegance and complexity that surrounded us told a different story. It represented the memories of the past two months, and all the events which have brightened even the darkest of days. It reminded me that each day brings something new, something beautiful, and something which I will remember forever.

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Day 61 (Whooo two months!)

Left Panguitch
Rode 60 miles to Kanab
Made great time
Slept in a noisy campground
No sweat

Miles Covered: 60

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Day 62

And so began the epically hilly 130 mile detour to the Grand Canyon.

From Kanab I rode six miles downhill to Ferdonia...this was a very misleading start to the day.

From Ferdonia, I traveled 44 miles straight uphill, ascending over 4,400 feet. I climbed onto the Kaibib Plateau...and then continued going up. I finally reached the visitors center at the foot of a 45 mile dead-end road leading to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. This is how my conversation went with the ranger on duty:

Me: “That’s a heck of a climb up here”
Ranger Girl: “Haha I drove past you this morning coming up here. Nice work”
Me: “So it’s all flat to the rim, right?”
Ranger Girl: (With a look on her face of impending doom) “Sort of, you’ll have to climb 1,000 more feet though”
Me: “WHAT!?!”

Disgruntled but determined, I began part two of the ride. Down a massive dead-end road, continuing uphill, I finally reached 9,000 feet. Oh, and I was going straight south the entire day...did I ever mention winds prevail out of the south? Because they do.

If the Grand Canyon wasn’t so freaking beautiful, I might have actually regretted going down there. But you win Grand Canyon. Well Played.

Anyway, I found myself in the midst of no less than 1,000,000,000 tourists, all of whom told me in sheer astonishment that they saw me riding in. I took a short, leisurely hike out to the Bright Angel lookout point, where I saw this:

And then my mind was blown.

I also met these guys, one of whom is named Nick, who apparently graduated Ithaca College with me. Small world, eh?

Oh, and I also met all these people:

This is where my trip gets awesome.

So of course I wasn’t about to bike all 130 miles out of the Grand Canyon to get back on my route (although it would have been all downhill), but I also didn’t know how exactly to finagle a ride either. Luckily, it sort of came to me. Ray and Colin started up a conversation with me about how they saw me biking as they drove in. When I said I was going to Zion next, and they said they were going to Zion next, I naturally asked:

“How big is your car?”

Turns out they were leading a trip of nine other people and were driving a huge van with two extra seats and pulling a huge trailer. They invited me back to their camp to check it out, which turned into me eating a delicious dinner with them, which turned into me camping with them, which turned into this (that's my bike and trailer packed away):

Did I mention they’re all awesome people?

They did wake me up crazy early for a 1.5 mile jaunt back to the lookout point to watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon though...well, I guess it was worth it.

(Yes, those are random people)...

Not long after that we were on the road, headed towards Zion National Park.

Miles Covered: 85

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Day 63:

We were settled in Zion around 3:00, and immediately Ray, Colin, a girl named Kelsey and I headed out for the Angels Landing hike. This is the signature hike of Zion, and for very good reason.

After climbing about 1,800 feet, traversing a path along two sheer cliffs, using chains as the only means to prevent our bodies from falling into an infinite abyss, and convincing Colin that he wasn’t going to die, we reached the top.

My then mind was officially blown (or so I thought).

The view was absolutely amazing, and having three awesome people to share it with made it all even better. These pictures will do it absolutely no justice, but take a gander at the beauty:

That night was full of delicious food, an awesome game of night hide-and-seek (up a mountain side), and some great conversation. I also had an incredible night’s sleep. It was a good day.

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Day 64:

The following morning was pretty relaxing. Colin, Kelsey and I went into the town of Springdale to get some food while Ray hiked Angels with the rest of the group. When we got back though, we met Ray for the Observation Point trail hike.

Mark my words - something impossibly awesome will have to happen to me during the remainder of this trip for this hike to be topped.

It was about 2,500 feet of climbing over four miles. The last half mile was a hike along the top of the ridge to a lookout point positioned straight down the entire canyon. I could have stayed up there for hours, motionless, and never gotten bored.

This was the hike during which Colin said his words of wisdom, and the hike which OFFICIALLY blew my mind.

I wish I could share with you the incredible views and amazing experience, but these pictures will have to do:

We could also see the Angels Landing ridge from the top of the canyon:

And the top of the canyon was like a forest. It was crazy:

Once we got back to camp we made a quick dinner and headed out to the river to cool off. That night we went into Springdale again for some ice cream, then started to get ready for the impeding departure.

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Day 64:

I was woken up around 4:30 to the unfortunate sound of 11 people breaking camp. After saying our goodbyes, I was left alone to focus on the road head. These 11 people were my friends for over three days. In over two months, I’ve never been friends with anyone for that long. On top of that, they were incredible company and made my Grand Canyon and Zion experience a million times better than what it could have been.

As a side note, here are all the things I loved about the crew from WUF (West Florida University):
1. Epic hiking
2. Sprinting switchbacks with no regard (uphill and downhill)
3. Introducing me to infinite BBQ sauce combinations
4. Not hating me for feeding the squirrels
5. Sleeping fearless next to tarantulas
6. Farting on “foreigners”
7. Struggling to ride the rush hour bus full of foreigners
8. Hammock camping
9. Tracking down the robot space shoes
10. Giving me an honorary degree (please?)
11. Letting me take over the trailer
12. Treating me like family
...and a million other things

I should also note that their next stop was Moab. Ironic, huh?

But thank you Ray, Colin, Kelsey, Stratton, Amy, Kelly, Lisa, Jessica, Laura, Scott, and Madan - you all are incredible people. Enjoy the rest of the trip, and thank you all for everything!

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Day 65:

Back to biking. Not too much to report - biked 70 miles into Cedar City, climbing 3,000 feet along the way. Now I’m staying in a BEAUTIFUL house on the top of a mountain...thank you warmshowers (first time I ever used the site). Can you say steak dinner? Yes please.

I’m slowly making my way towards Nevada...the most dreaded part of the trip. Wish me luck.

Miles Covered: 70