Focus Friday: Let's Focus on the Grand Canyon

Gary and I had a wonderful time at the Grand Canyon earlier this week.

We got there on Sunday and took a walk along the rim trail. 

Such a beautiful place!

(It was just a little too bright for pictures on Sunday evening)

 On Monday morning we took a shuttle bus to the South Kaibab trail and got ready to begin our descent into the Grand Canyon.

It was cold when we started out, but we were prepared.

 Lizzy, the plastic lizard, hitched a ride on my backpack. Some people in the dorm thought it was cute, but it really made my day when someone finally pointed it out on the trail on Wednesday and thought it was real for a few seconds. 

Sometimes I was almost too tired to lift my foot over these stones along the trail.

We hiked down on Monday (7.4 miles), then took a three-mile (round trip) hike to an overlook after we got settled in at Phantom Ranch.

On Tuesday we hiked to Ribbon Falls - about fourteen miles round trip.

On Wednesday we hiked up the Bright Angel trail (9.9 miles). It was covered with snow toward the rim.

Here we are after we made it all the way up on Wednesday. It was a beautiful trail but the last couple of miles are pretty grueling. Lots of switchbacks to get up to the Canyon rim. It took us eight hours.

We had such a good time! These few pictures cannot do it justice, and I am still a bit exhausted from all the hiking we did. (We also hiked at Arches National Park in Utah on Thursday and then drove through some snow and ice to get to Denver last night)

Now we're enjoying a little time at our daughter Erin's house in Shenandoah, Iowa before we go home tomorrow.

I think that's it for this week. I'll try to have a more coherent post next week showing some of the awesome sights we saw along the trails and some things I learned during our adventure.

We did it! We hiked the Grand Canyon and lived to tell the tale.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race [It wasn't a race out of the Canyon, but we finished!], I have kept the faith [We kept believing we would make it]." (2 Timothy 4:7 NIV)

Have you ever set out on an adventure and you weren't sure what the outcome would be? How can focusing on God help you to keep going and see it through even when it gets difficult?