Grand Canyon - Day 10

Monday, October 4th - Day 10 - By Erin

Layover day! Today we were treated to a leisurely morning. It was a beautiful day and breakfast was served at 8am instead of 6am. Breakfast was scromletts – a delicious mix of scrambled eggs, potatoes, and lots of vegetables – with toasted English muffins. After breakfast, sandwich fixings were set out and everyone prepared their own sandwich for lunch.

It was nice to have a relaxing morning because last night was not a relaxing night! We had some fierce thunderstorms blow through camp. It is quite an experience to be in a small tent with rain pounding down and lightening flashes so bright that they can be seen through the thin nylon. The thunderclaps were loud enough to shake the very walls of the canyon!

Dan and I were excited to hike up into Monument Creek, so we joined Michael, David, and Jim who were also planning to hike. It was a fantastic hike up into the canyon with a spectacular section through a narrow slot canyon. We encountered several groups of backpackers on the way. From Monument Creek, we were able to get on a section of the Tonto trail going west. We hoped to hike further up for some views of the river and canyon. Near the top, we spotted a small hill on a ridge and decided that it would make a perfect lunch stop.


From the top, we had spectacular 360 views of the Canyon and the Colorado River far below.

The only problem was the looming thunderstorm to the south. The storm was moving fast and within minutes, we were in the midst of a raging storm complete with thunder, lightning, driving rain, and hail. We quickly hustled ourselves down off the hill and down the ridge as quickly as we could. We had climbed over 1,100 feet from our starting point at camp. We hurried down through hail and rain.
Occasionally, the rain stopped and the sky lightened up a bit which was nice and it let us dry out somewhat! With the rocks wet, their amazing colors really stood out – reds, purples, golds.

By the time we made it back to camp, the rain had mostly stopped and we even saw a patch of blue sky. I was just getting ready to do some laundry in the river when another dark cloud came over the canyon rim. Instead of starting laundry, I scurried around with everyone else to pick up gear and secure things that were left out. Once done, Dan and I grabbed some snacks and sought refuge our tent. It was a relaxing way to spend the afternoon and a good chance to catch up on my journal writing.

There were a couple of lulls in the rain, but this storm did not seem so keen on moving on and turned into a slow, steady downpour in the style of the pacific northwest. It was definitely not what any of us had expected! We postponed dinner a few times hoping that the weather would clear up, but it was not to be. At about 5:30pm, I geared up and went to see what was cooking. Fresh, hot spring rolls were on the grill, so I offered to provide tent to tent delivery service. I think it was a welcome treat for those still in their tents! It continued to rain throughout dinner prep and dinner. We managed to set up two shelters that kept the cooks and the eaters semi-dry. Kudos to the dinner crew for whipping a delicious dinner up in difficult conditions and with such a good attitude!

After dinner, we quickly washed and packed up as much of the kitchen gear as we could. We were concerned that we might get another massive thunderstorm like last night. At the time, it seemed unlikely that we would see more thunderstorms, but the rain was certainly not letting up anytime soon. Historically, this area of Arizona only gets about 1.6 inches of rain in September and 1.1 inches of rain in October. Talk about a rain event – I think we received the entire 1.1 inches in a single day!