Scottish poet Bobbie Burns famously said, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” In other (plain English) words…sometimes your plans go to crap. Occasionally this gloomy Scottish view of life has proven to be true. When you are planning a trip into the Grand Canyon at the end of June, plans gang aft agley. There are plenty of opportunities for serious misery and suffering.  June in the Canyon generally brings surface of the sun temps and crowds of misguided tourons roaming the trails…two of my favorite things. But you know what, sometimes…things turn out even better than planned. We’d both read glowing reports of the beautiful pools and waterfalls of Phantom Creek, a small side creek just north of Phantom Ranch. For that adventure, in spite of the drawbacks, summer really was the right time.

So with irrational optimism firmly in place, we set out to fill the extra four spots on our permit.  Co-worker Karen seemed an obvious choice. As far as I knew, Karen never met an outdoor adventure or challenge she didn’t like. A year earlier she had been part of a Diapers and Depends Expedition on the Escalante route and had been on several other Canyon hikes. True to form, she was the first to say yes. Then she said, “There is an intern in our office this summer. She’s really nice and she likes to do stuff like this. Could she come along?” Absolutely! Two down, two to go. Next to sign up was our downstairs neighbor Heather. She hadn’t much (any?) backpacking experience. Perfect – she wouldn’t know any better. Plus she was a great person and a joy to spend time with.  That left one open spot on the permit.

Allow me to digress. Sharon and I were on our way home from a long Colorado weekend. Passing through Kayenta, we saw a touring cyclist standing with a cardboard sign that read “Flagstaff”. Having toured, and knowing that it was a hot, windy, two day ride to Flagstaff, we immediately stopped and offered a ride. With his bike strapped on top of the 4Runner, we proceeded to get to know Sander van (lots of letters) from the Netherlands. He’d spent six weeks on his bicycle touring the southwest. Now he was nursing a sore knee and wanted to get back to Flagstaff where he had started his trip. He was an extremely pleasant young man. At one point we started talking about the Grand Canyon and Sharon gave me the wide eyed questioning look. I nodded. She offered that if he had the time, we had an open spot on our permit to camp in the Canyon a few days hence. And just like that, our permit was filled.

Having the day off, Sharon and Sander left early and spent the day lounging in the shade along Bright Angel Creek. Heather, Karen, Jeannette and I headed to the Canyon after work to make a late afternoon dash down the Kaibab. Very early on it became apparent that this was going to be a special trip. As the girls got to know each other, they shared their insights into men and dating – as if I wasn’t there. The knowledge I gained on the drive would have been valuable info 40 years earlier.  C’est la vie!

Karen, Heather and Jeannette at the south Kaibab. To beat the heat we opted for a late afternoon start.

Our favorite portion of the s. Kaibab at my favorite time of day.

Normally we sleep under the stars in the Canyon. Mice and scorpions at Bright Angel led us to bring tents. It was so hot, 2nd night we decided we’d leave the mice and scorpions alone and trust them to do the same.

What was special was that this group of semi-strangers very quickly melded into a congenial, fun loving unit. After dark that first evening together, we all walked down to the boat beach and laid on the sand. There in the dark, watching shooting stars, listening to the whisper of the water, we took turns telling stories about ourselves and hearing the stories of others. We talked about school, work, adventures, plans and dreams. It was magical. And the real fun hadn’t yet begun!

Day two: A short trip up the north Kaibab brought us to Phantom Creek. We’d walked by this unassuming little side canyon a number of times on our hikes and never really noticed it. We spent the entire day talking, laughing, exploring, splashing, swimming, building butt dams and in general, seizing the carp.

Ready to leave the n. Kaibab …and the shade.

It was blazing hot – as expected – but we were in water all day.

River Trip motto holds true here as well. “If you’re hot – you’re stupid”

Fine looking group

The creek drops from one pour over, waterfall and swimming hole to the next.

Heather, Sander and Jeannette demonstrating proper hydration technique. Sander no doubt was pinching himself to see if he was dreaming, and certainly considered himself the luckiest man on earth.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Butt dam

It was truly one of those perfect days. Time passed without us being aware of its passing. With nowhere to go and all day to get there, we lounged in pools until it seemed time to look around the corner to see what the next pool or waterslide looked like. And so the day passed into evening. Back at camp everyone pondered sleeping options to make the heat slightly less oppressive. For most of us, that meant ditching the tents. The picnic table was prime real estate…the picnic table bench quite less so. Thankfully the mice and scorpions respected our personal space on the ground and left us alone. In any case, we weren’t going to be sleeping long. We, along with half the campground, were up and on the trail long before sunrise to get as far as possible before the Orb of Death made its appearance.

Burns was right…plans often don’t go as planned. Sure, sometimes things can go pear shaped and misery ensues. But just as often, at a time and in a place when you don’t necessarily expect it, with people you may not really know, magic can strike and things can go far better than planned. The thing is – you never know which kind of trip you’re on until you’re in it. One thing’s for certain. If the fear of things going wrong keeps you from getting out and taking chances, its certain you’ll never experience the magic of spending an amazing weekend with special people. Thanks to Sharon, Sander, Karen, Jeannette, and Heather for a memorable time.