Guys, there are just so many pictures from our amazing Spring Break trip to the Grand Canyon, I don’t even know where to START. And I figure maybe you just want to see pictures instead of listening to me yammer on about 12 inches of snow and 7 mile desert hikes and Hopi murals. And maybe some of you want to listen to all those stories WITHOUT all the pictures.

For you picture-loving folk, here’s but a sampling of the 200+ pictures I took during our trip (clicking will open then larger – hold down the shift button while you click to open them in a new window):

And for you word-loving folk, here’s our (abridged) vacation story:

We arrived in Flagstaff to SNOW. Tons and tons of snow. Although it was not the sun-drenched Arizona Spring Break of my dreams, it was beautiful. We rented a car and drove the hour or so to Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park (we stayed in the Bright Angel Cabins – highly recommended!) and started hiking right away!

We spent an hour or so strolling along the Rim Trail, checking out a cool interactive geologic time line called the Trail of Time. Very cool. Very nerdy.

Then, we went to bed early because we had been awake and traveling since 4am.

On Day 1, we got coffee, ate breakfast, and packed up for an epic hike! We took a shuttle to Hermit’s Rest and then headed down into the Canyon on the Hermit Trail. We hiked from the trail head, passing through 4 or 5 different rock layers, to Santa Maria Springs (about 2 miles) where we stopped to eat lunch and take pictures of the most scenic pit toilet ever. Then, we backtracked to the Dripping Springs Junction (about 1/2 mile) and hiked out to Dripping Springs (about 1.5 miles). At this point, I completely bonked. We had enjoyed our normal trail lunch (pita, hummus, cheese, cucumber, carrots) but hiking in the GC is hard and I needed some protein or Brian was going to have to carry me out. After inhaling a Cliff Bar, I was in much better spirits and ready to go! The 1.5 miles back to Dripping Springs Junction weren’t too bad, but then we reached the endless switchbacks to get out of the canyon. Yikes. We powered through, both completely draining our Camelbacks and extra water bottles before reaching the top. 7 desert miles, almost 2000 feet in elevation changes, and 5 hours later, we made it out and headed back to our cabin, where we totally crashed until the next morning.

We had originally planned to hike the Grandview Trail on Day 2, but were both so sore from the day before that we decided to drive out to Desert View instead. We stopped to check out the Tusayan Ruins and Museum before finally making it to the Desert View Watchtower. When we made it back to our cabin, we just relaxed and read for a few hours and then went fossil hunting! There are tons of  fossils in the Kaibab Limestone, which makes up the top layer of the Grand Canyon. We mostly found brachiopod and clam fossils. It is so crazy to think that the entire Grand Canyon was once under water! After fossil hunting, we drove out to catch a bit of the sunset.

On Day 3, we woke up super early to watch the sunrise. Then, we treated ourselves to a fancy breakfast at El Tovar (a welcome change after eating peanut butter, bagels, pitas, and apples for three days) before doing a short 2.5 mile hike along the Rim Trail from Mohave Point to the Abyss. Then, it was sadly time to pack up and head home.

Fortunately, when we got back to California, we still had 4 whole days of Spring Break left! We enjoyed sleeping in, reading by the pool, running, and basically just doing nothing. Vacations like these make me look forward to summer so much!

What was the best vacation you have ever taken? I need ideas for future breaks!