We were hiking the Hermit trail in the Grand Canyon. Our group hiked from the top of the canyon at Hermits Rest down to the Colorado River. Our party included eight people, three young and five middle aged folks.

The hike down was smooth for the most part. Our troubles began when we reached the bottom of the canyon and had to walk in open desert for a good two hours. Half of our party needed a break from the heat during this part of the trail, so we rigged a shelter against a boulder and sat for a while. Four of us wanted to keep trekking toward the river, which was another hour or two ahead.

We left half of our party behind and began heading down to Hermit Creek and eventually Hermit Rapids. Our party was supposed to meet us at the rapids and our campsite. We waited for thirty minutes and realized that the sun was about to set. We then meade a quick decision to set back up the trail and find the rest of our party.

As dark approached, our party was nowhere in site, until we heard voices through the fading light. When we met back up with them, we decided it best to find a campsite around Hermit Creek, since the trek back to the river would be too dangerous in the dark. This is where we found major trouble.

All of us had headlamps on, so that was good, but we could not find a clearing in the slot canyon to save our lives. We wandered through the creek bed, scrambled over rocks, and climbed hills for an hour or so looking for a spot. Finally, we found a sand covered slope to stay for the night.

We set out our bags and ate some food before going to bed. That night, all I could think about was this huge rock overhang we were sleeping under, and looking around at all the fallen boulders we were sleeping in between. But, the beautiful black starry sky was a good distraction from the dangers amidst us.

We awoke before sunrise the next day to begin hiking back up to the top before it got too hot. The only problem was, we had no clue where the trail was. Now, you would think in a slot canyon it would not be difficult to rondeveaux with the trail, yet it was no where in site.

We decided to walk through the creek to find the trail, which was marked only with cairns. After getting extremely frustrated, I decided to climb a large hill to the top to see where we were. As I was climbing, I smelled a foul smell and yelled down to the rest that it "smelled like crap" and they shouldn't come my way. After that, I ate my words because just over the ledge was a group of tents, and sleeping campers. OOPS! Well, I found the trail and we snuck past the snoozers and were on our way.

The last incident we had was running into a rattle snake that took refuge on the trail. Scary ending. Good times and a lot of funny stories to look back on.

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