The Ad-Venturos Way

"Have you been to the Grand Canyon?" That is often the first question we’re asked when we tell someone we travel the country. It’s like the Grand Canyon is the most important thing to see. In our opinion, it was something we’d see if we had the chance, but not necessarily our top destination.

After 4 years on the road, we got our chance to visit the Grand Canyon while staying in northern Arizona. But If we were going to visit Grand Canyon, we would do it our way - the Ad-Venturos way. The Ad-Venturos way is to find the most remote part of the park where the likelihood of seeing another soul is extremely low.

We accomplished this feat by hiking Soap Canyon down to the Colorado River on the east end of Grand Canyon National Park. The hike started as a modest walk through the sagebrush. Then we reached the lip of the canyon and began to down-climb. This is one of the first hikes we’ve done where you begin with the descent instead of the ascent.

In any case, we meticulously chose the best route to navigate the large boulders without getting hurt. At several points, we had to stop, re-evaluate, and choose a safer option. It was a great challenge hoisting and lowering our bulk this way and that, until we reached our destination.

We were a little surprised to find a nice sandy area by the Colorado River. A herd of mountain sheep awaited our arrival, but gave us little fanfare. We ate lunch and watched a group of paddlers navigate the raging rapids.

Having navigated the route once, our escape was a little faster and less slog-like than some of our other escapes. However, in an effort to prove herself, Mom gave us a scare by taking the vertical route out of the canyon. In her words …

“It wasn’t the Eiger, but it was mine." 

Yes, to Joshua and Daniel, it was nothing.

To everyone else, it was, “Nah.”

To Dad, it was, “Honey, what are you doing?”

But to me, it was something to prove. Something to conquer. Something to fill the great need of my body and mind to overcome something challenging.

Really, though, we had already done enough. We had scrambled down the 6.5 miles of canyon to the Colorado River. We were almost to the end of the 5.5 miles back. How the trail shortened on the way back I cannot say. But I can say that there were enough sketchy pitches to climb, enough adrenaline-inducing maneuvers to tackle, enough exhausting miles to satisfy any Ad-Venturo. But when I saw this last wall I knew I shouldn’t do it—there was another way after all—and I knew I would do it.

And so, I did. My hands searched the rock for holds. I found places for my toes. Little by little I made my way higher until, to my surprise, I was standing on top. I brushed the dust off my hands and started down the trail to the van. Now, I was ready to go home.

She could have walked the switchbacks out of the canyon, but that would not be the Ad-Venturos way. As for the Grand Canyon question, now we can answer with a resounding “Yes, we have been to the Grand Canyon!”

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