Vacation - Bryce Canyon (overcoming fear)

About a year ago our friends John and Kerri-Ann Holladay (our friends from Calgary, Alberta) expressed a desire to see the Grand Canyon and asked that I plan a trip for us to visit the canyon. I had been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon when I was in my teens but I had never been to the South Rim and I new that with Ginny's fear of heights that this may be my only chance to see the Canyon from the south rim. I also knew that Ginny would most likely not enjoy that vacation if all we did was go to the Grand Canyon, so I decided that we would stop and enjoy other things on our way to and from our ultimate destination. For this trip, we had made reservations at park campgrounds and we had rented a tent trailer.

After months of planning and several months of deep anxiety Ginny, along with John and Kerri-Ann and myself, we were on our way south on a little vacation. (The deep anxiety was all on Ginny's part. She carried enough for all of us.) I had planned the trip so that we could acclimate her to the heights that we would be experiencing.

We first stopped at Bryce Canyon national park. We did not get out of town until around two in the afternoon because of a few problems that needed to be taken care of. Having had a late start we were not able to stop along the way to pick up any geocaches, but we did stop in Red Canyon to take a few pictures. This put us into the Bryce Canyon North Campground at about 7:00 pm, so we set up camp and had dinner, played a game or two and retired for the evening. This most likely did not help with Ginny's anxiety because it meant there was now one more night to worry about facing her fears. Shortly after setting up camp it started to rain. In the end I think it was good that we did not get to go to the canyon rim that evening. This would have just increase the anxiety.

On Tuesday morning we arose to a beautiful day and a small chance of rain, but we were not going to let it stop us from getting into the canyon. We packed a few snacks, water and jackets and headed to Sunrise Point. Ginny walked with fear and keep saying I hope I can make it. She really wanted to and hoped that she would be able to handle this and so did I. The last time we were at Bryce, the boys and I hiked through the canyon while she sat at the top clinging to the railing and all the time we were gone she was getting more and more worked up because she worried I would return minus some of the boys because they had fallen over a cliff. She was more than relieved when we all returned about an hour and a half later. This time, on the edge of the canyon she was not so sure she could do it but we encourage her and so down the trail we went. Within a matter of 15 minutes she had started to overcome most of her anxiety and she was starting to enjoy herself. By the time we were into the hike 30 minutes she was confident that she had overcome the fear she had started with. When we started the hike I gave her the camera. I did this for two reasons. First I did not want to stop to take any pictures when she did not feel comfortable and second, I wanted her to be able to say that most of the pictures were ones that she had taken and in this way emphasize the fact that she had accomplished what she feared she could not, and also to allow her to express her joy in having seen the canyon. We had planned out hike to return to the rim by way of Wall Street. This is a narrow slot canyon among the hoodoo and take one from the canyon floor to the rim and in very short distance. While it is steep you climb out of the canyon on a group of switch backs. This did not seem to bother Ginny, until we were within 50 or 60 feet of the rim. By this time she was starting to feel the anxiety once again, but she was confident enough to return to the top of the canyon. I am so proud of her and she appreciated the beauty of this part of God's world.

We spent the remainder of the day visiting the sites on the canyon rim around the Amphitheater. This included Inspiraton Point, and Bryce Point, but Ginny's nerves did not permit her to enjoy these areas of the park.

Early on Wednesday we packed up camp and headed on our way. We did stop in Red Canyon to find a couple of geocaches and then were on the road to our next camp at Lake Powell.