16.5 / 1.75

My legs ache. I have trouble walking when I stand up. The knee I had ACL surgery on finally makes a complaint 11 years post-surgery. I may fall asleep at the computer. I can't wait to get in the little bitty shower on board our luxury condo on wheels. My face gets a little squemish look when I lift up my arms.......

Lisa & I started at 10 am yesterday and hiked the 7 miles and 4780 feet of descent down the South Kaibab Trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Today, we hiked the 9.5 miles and 4380 feet of ascent up the Bright Angel Trail to the Southern Rim. A total of 16.5 miles and 1.75 miles of elevation change.

This is definitely the most strenuous hiking I have ever done and I am amazed at how well Lisa's attitude and capacity to do some rugged backpacking held up, even on our "honey-moon". She led the way and I was challenged to keep up every moment. Going down required approximately the amount of time the Ranger said to expect. However, going up we finished 1.5 hours earlier than the avg. While it was brutal, the amazing scenery kept your brain wandering about the billions of years of errosion that created the mighty canyon and the people that treked here hundred/thousands of years before us. It seemed that we had always gone further than we expected with every marker we came across which is the opposite of what I usually encounter with that type of hiking. Weather was perfect, about 30 degrees milder at the bottom than at the top and while climbing, the sunshine made you perspire a bit and the shade provided some chill.

One link Lisa found interesting AFTER completing the hike:

http://www.backpacker.com/october_08_americas_10_most_dangerous_hikes_bright_angel_trail_grand_canyon_az/destinations/12620

We've have the images on the camera; they look alot like some of these just plus 1 beautiful woman and 1 tired man:

http://images.google.com/images?q=bright+angel+trail+grand+canyon&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBR_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

PS - the attached pictures suggest what I am dreaming of:
1) Ruby's Malt Milkshake - Lisa & I shared this on our drive down the PCH. We enjoyed it while looking out at the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. See Sunset pic.
2) This is our 30' RV at one of the SoCal KOA campgrounds. I'm dreaming of the lavish queen bed in the back of it right now. Note - this is the only time we have stayed at a standard campground with water, electricity and dump hookups. We are usually looking for something exotic & off the beaten path with a view if there is daylight left or something efficient, safe & free like a wal-mart parking lot if we are showing up after dark and wanting to get a move-on in the a.m.