The Grand Canyon

By Steven

 My family had never been to the Grand Canyon before, so during the first night of our rafting trip, we camped in what seemed like a good enough spot underneath some trees by the side of the river. It was cool enough and the trees provided some shelter and privacy, but as soon as it was time to sleep we realized the severity of our mistake.  What we didn’t know was that recently, an invasive species of beetle had been released in the area, and were killing all of the native trees.  There were millions and millions of these things, but even more numerous than the beetles were their larva.  Hundreds of the larva lived in each tree, and they would fall off of the trees to make huge piles on the ground an inch tall.  So as we lay on our cots we could feel the slimy worm like larva falling onto us.  There was nothing we could do.  All the other spots had been taken, and brushing off the larva was useless because they were so numerous.  They would fall as quickly as you could remove them. The only choice was to cover your head with your sheet, and try to fall asleep as you felt the steady drop of larva.  Thankfully I survived the night and by the end of the second day, we had moved to a place in the canyon where the beetles had not yet spread.

 Rafting in the Colorado was unlike anything I had previously experienced. The water was less than forty degrees, and the air was over a hundred.  I was constantly hot or cold.  It made for an odd experience because I was always uncomfortable; it was a land of extremes.  For the most part the rafting was a lot of fun, the rapids were huge, and the scenery was cool.  The people we were taking the trip with were lots of fun too.  There was a nice family with two kids, and a friendly guy who brought his girlfriend.  There were also a couple of really grumpy old people that were always angry at someone, and appeared to be upset that there were children on the trip.  The old people always ate there food away from the rest of the people and would get mad if and children got too close to where they were sleeping.  Except for them, everyone was nice.

We were led down the Grand Canyon by four river guides; there were two men, and two women.  There were two rafts and each one was led by two river guides, one of the guys, and one of the girl.  They had all been rafting on the Colorado for their entire lives, so they knew what they were doing.  They would cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us every day, and help us with our stuff.  It was by no means real camping.  Practically everything was done for us.  That didn’t make the reality of our remote location and lack of resources any less obvious. 

            I was in the Grand Canyon standing near, but not in the water, because although it was over one hundred degrees, the searing heat was no match for the piercing sting of the melted glacier water of the Colorado River.  I was on a three day river rafting trip down the Grand Canyon with my a group of strangers, family, and my dad’s friend from college.  It was the third day of our trip, the last day, and we were eating breakfast on the sandy shoreline of the Colorado preparing for the ten mile hike out.  I had been having fun for most of the trip, and had survived the not-so-pleasurable experiences, now I was ready for the final day. 

We boarded the boats to cross the river; once we got there we would hike to the Bright Angle Trail, a steep, ten mile long path that leads out of the Grand Canyon.  It was still dawn as I hastily made my way up the trail at a fast pace.   I was excited to once again be amongst civilization, so instead of pacing myself, I sped up the first half of the trail before noon.  At this point it was beginning to get hot.  For some reason, instead of continuing on, I waited for my sister.  As I waited for my sister, the sun rose higher in the sky.  As the sun rose, temperature climbed, and forty-five minutes later the temperature was no longer in the nineties, it was well into the hundreds.  When my sister finally caught up we continued on together, but the second half of our hike was steeper and hotter.  So as we hiked we got more and more tired.  Three quarters of the way through the hike, we began could barely walk.  We were also really delirious.  We started to sing, and as we climbed our singing got much louder, and much worse until we were just mumbling.

When we finally felt as if we could go no further, we saw the end of the trail.  At the end was a small village.  Although we had made it past the Bright Angle Trail, we were not done yet.  We still had to find our hotel, and every person we asked gave us a different answer.  Finally, a old guy with a huge mustache pointed us in the right direction, and we found our hotel.  It was already the middle of the afternoon, and I enjoyed the air conditioning for the first time in days.  I had finally made it to civilization.  Soon after, our parents caught up and I took a long nap.  At last I had survived the Grand Canyon.