I was in the mood to watch a travel-related movie last night, and a stunning and surprising fact pushed me in the direction of a National Geographic film called “Into The Canyon.” It was said that more people have stepped on the surface of the moon than have hiked the full width of the Grand Canyon. How is that possible?
On a quick side note, the image above is an A.I. generated image of the Grand Canyon, but I’ve photoshopped in one of my own photos of a full moon for the sake of illustrating this concept. I did a search for more info on this moon vs Grand Canyon statement, and came across a teacher website that states: “while 24 astronauts have walked on the moon, only 12 people have successfully completed a continuous hike through the length of the Grand Canyon,” which the film stated as being over 750 miles.
Which brings me to the next point that the film made: 750 miles seems really far, but then again, plenty of people have hiked the Appalachian Trail, which is over 2,000 miles – but this was their point: the Appalachian Trail has a trail, and there’s no trail through the full length (or width?) of the Grand Canyon. The film (see the trailer here) shows how the quest involved going up and down cliffs, over water, through 109 degree heat and 8 degree cold over the course of a year.
The movie definitely inspired me to want to travel, to go on adventures, and to re-visit the Grand Canyon. Granted, I don’t see myself trying to duplicate the epic 750 mile quest that was shown in the movie, but considering that my one visit to the Grand Canyon in 1993 involved me spending an afternoon driving around the rim, I’d really like to get back and go down into the canyon, or something more involved than what I did 30 years ago. There’s a partial reason for why I was there such a short time: I was on a two week vacation, and I had rented a car and started my trip in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then drove up through Colorado, over into Utah, and down to Arizona. My arrival at the Grand Canyon was near the end of this trip, and I had to get back to New Mexico for my return flight to the east coast.
Here’s something crazy to think about in regards to that trip of mine … it was 1993, this was before I had a cellphone, before there was general access to the internet (or at least I wasn’t online), and I wasn’t making reservations using email, finding hotels via Expedia or Google, or anything like that. I didn’t have any formal itinerary other than to make this four state loop. Each day involved simply getting in my rental car, driving in a general direction, stopping to look at anything that interested me, and when I got tired of driving, I’d pull into a town and try to find a hotel near the highway. It’s kind of hard to imagine now the idea of driving for 2 weeks through 4 states without a cell phone or any way to contact anyone if I needed to – other than finding a pay phone, if I chose to do so. I don’t recall that I was in touch with anyone, certainly not on a regular basis during this trip. I was in my early 20s, and maybe I called my parents from the road somewhere, but to the best of my memory, I just explored on my own for 2 weeks and then went home. There’s something about that I find really appealing right now.