A couple months ago, we thought it might be a great idea to spend the night at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You typically have to plan 13 months ahead to stay in the hotel lodge at Phantom Ranch, but rugged types can enter a lottery for a campsite four months ahead of their arrival. We’re not campers in general, but we thought it would be worth it to get to sleep in the Grand Canyon. It is a nine mile hike each way, and not recommended to reach the bottom and return to the top without overnight accommodations. It turns out we didn’t get a campsite, so we’ll be staying in lodges on the South Rim and our hiking will be limited to about halfway down the Bright Angel trail and back up (among other hikes). At first I was really disappointed, but after reading a chapter in the book “Ranger Confidential”, by former park ranger Andrea Lankford, I think I’m ok with it. She describes hiking out of the Grand Canyon from bottom to top “not fun” and “an ordeal”. Also, there is a chance of being stung by a scorpion while you hike, or even while you sleep. As cool as it would be to stay at the bottom, I guess I can live without that.

Here are some other fun facts I learned about the Grand Canyon:

• The canyon is 277 miles long, up to 15 miles wide, averages a depth of 4,000 feet and is 6,000 feet at its deepest.
• The first Europeans to see the canyon had so little concept for its size that while looking down from the rim, they estimated the Colorado River to be six feet wide. It is actually about 200 feet across.
• Hiking from the bottom to the north rim, the trail gains so much elevation it passes through five of the seven life zones that exist in North America.
• If a park ranger calls someone a “Code W” it means wimp. It is used to describe whiny hikers who are not having real emergencies.
• The temperature in the canyon frequently exceeds 100 degrees in the summer and the rim experiences below zero temperatures in winter.
• The most poisonous scorpion in the United States, the Bark Scorpion lives in the Grand Canyon. Most rangers stationed at Phantom Ranch have been stung at least once. Some have been known to sleep with lights on or put their bed posts in glass jars to avoid being stung again, that’s how bad it hurts!
• Never ask a park ranger where the best place is to see the sunset. As Andrea Lankford says “The canyon has two rims, each is 277 miles long. Just pick a spot and watch it happen.”