(Part 2 of 3)
I'm not certain we expected the walls of the canyon to be towering thousands of feet above us for the majority of the hike. In fact, I know at one point we thought we were in the "narrows" section, and only learned later that no, we were just in a regular area... where it just so happened to be incredible. Every mile of this hike was breathtaking.
Between mile 8-10 we tried to make up ground. Our fast pace lit a fire in our knees and most of us were in desperate need of a break. Having tried to avoid online photos prior to the trip, Im not sure any of us know what to expect when we saw the next landmark was "Big Springs". Either way, it sounded like a good place to take a quick lunch break. We continued for a bit, turning the corner to see this:
We stopped for 20 minutes, eating our pre-made sandwiches, and taking a few photos. Several people in the group used the break to down a few pain killers and tape knees. Before we knew it, we were back in the water.
As I mentioned in Part 1, about 90% of the hike was actually IN the river. In fact, the part rangers insisted we walk in the river as much as possible to try and prevent erosion. Unfortunately that added a tremendous amount of time, curving as we made our way down the canyon. At times we had to take a few moments to discuss the best route because it was DEEP in some pockets.
