We did not recover much after that long hike, at least not the next day – instead we rode 10 miles around the rim so we could see it from different angles, then took the shuttle back (except for Bradley who rode back and met us in the Village).

This might have put Sidney and Riley off of hiking for the rest of the trip, but it was worth it! We didn’t make it down to the Colorado River (they don’t let you do that for day hikes, with very good reason) but we did make it pretty far down. 9.2 miles round trip, with half of that being sometimes very steep uphill. Everyone did great and we are especially proud of the kids who probably had to take 2x as many steps!

It was around here that we considered stopping and turning around – we had already hiked 3 miles and knew we had to do the same amount back up hill. But then someone we met at the rest house told us there was a creek to dip our feet into at the next rest house, only another 1.6 miles down the canyon. So we went for it.

And then there was hail after the game was called for a second time!

After a gloomy, rainy soccer practice.

And Riley is VERY happy.