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2015 Bucket List Road Trip

Grand Canyon

By Ashleigh Cropper

October 14^th, 2015

What day is this again?! Honestly..I stopped counting. I remember rolling into the Grand Canyon on a Thursday and I can’t recall how many days this trip had been going on. I have had the Grand Canyon on my bucket list for a long time as well. My grandfather who immigrated to the USA went about ten years ago and I remember him saying it was the most amazing place he had seen. Ever since then I have been determined to get down there somehow. I was actually really surprised at how difficult it is to get to the Grand Canyon. We did the south end of the canyon and there are really only 2 ways in or out and both ways are loooooong. We left Page mid afternoon and our plan was to camp in the Grand Canyon. You can roll your eyes now and tell me, “good luck finding a spot there!” It’s true. That place was packed and it was “off” season! I don’t want to see what “on” season is like!

Luckily, we have awesome friends who told us the free places to camp right outside the park that were close, easy, and beautiful. It was a service road for forest fires but hey, it totally worked and we were definitely not the only ones who knew about this road. Our first view of the Grand Canyon is the image below. I was totally shocked when we got out of the car. There are a sea of cliffs father than I could capture. This moment was one of my favorites from the whole trip.

We hiked the South Kaibab Trail into the canyon and got some incredible views. I must say, we hike a lot. And I thought we were in pretty good hiking shape, but man, hiking in that canyon is no joke. The temperature change is quick and extreme. One minute I had my sweater on and the next I was sweating. We went in deep enough into the canyon to be able to see the Colorado River down below. Amazing what a river can do to so many places.

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After the Grand Canyon we put a BIG ol’ check mark on that box and then I made a sorta bad judgement call. I thought Phoenix was “just a few hours away” from the Grand Canyon. Wrong! It is a lot of hours away. Ian has some family down their, including his grandmother who we had not seen in a while. We thought, lets go surprise everyone! Which we did! And in the end, totally worth it. But just be warned from me first, it is a good 15-17 hour drive back from Phoenix to Boulder. The pictures stop here since once we got to Phoenix it was family time.
I have had quite a few questions about this big road trip and doing so many bucket list items. It was at times overwhelming but it was totally worth it. There are places that I feel really happy to say I went to and enjoyed, but will most likely not return. And then there are those that I tell people they have to put on their bucket list. And that is the fun in all of this! So go get out there, do a bucket list item this weekend, even if it is a small one!
* Yes, these are more personal blog posts and yes, I am a professional photographer. To see more work visit Red Aspen Photography on Facebook and follow along on Instagram.