Day 4: High Altitude Exists

Yes I Took This Picture
Location: Grand Canyon, AZ

Walking around the Grand Canyon was quite relaxing. An hour and a half of even paved, semi-shaded, mountain desert goodness. So around the trail they have those ridiculous signs saying “drink water, pace yourself, high altitude can make walking strenuous.”

I am the elliptical queen. I have started running. (Yes, shocking, I know. Shut up.) And call me stupid but I didn’t think the Grand Canyon was high altitude. I thought Denver was going to be the place of not-enough-oxygen. A ridiculous assumption. It was clear something was up this morning when I found all my toiletries swollen with air this morning. I was just cockier than usual today I guess. Or maybe this cowboy culture has swept me off my feet.

So, the signs on the trail. I thought they were stupid. I hiked, I hardly drank any water, I was proving my toughness to every family that walked by. Not that they had any idea but I am sure they could see it if they really looked. I was a dehydrated hiking machine.

Two hours later, we get in the car. The moment I sit down altitude hit me like the morning after a long night in college. Those days when your eyes become iron curtains and the fact that you are awake pisses you off so much you feel you have earned the right to be hysterical. I was an altitude zombie with one thing on her mind: red meat.

I never eat the stuff-well, hardly ever. But I mean, I wanted a burger and fast.

So needless to say I survived. I had myself a burger and then Uyen and I both slept for an hour at the hotel before venturing to the Berkeley of Arizona- Flagstaff.

Makes me wonder what my body is going to do in Denver. Or Utah for that matter.

On a side note-I had no idea the Grand Canyon was created by river flow. That the river out there made all those spaces and curves and depressions. You would think that rock would be more than that-that a little old water would be nothing. But over time that rock proved to be no match for the Colorado River.

See kids, that tortoise and the hare story is true.