Tag along as author Seth Muller shares highlights from a recent family backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world

IN THE FOOTSTEPS

Thoughts and reflections on backpacking with the family

SETH MULLER

Our full-family backpack trip to Indian Garden, 3,060 elevation feet down into the Grand Canyon, marked the first time my wife Jane and I truly backpacked with our children. Not only camped. Not only hiked. But backpacked. It was like us to make the first time for all of us a deep plunge into one of the largest canyons on earth, up and down steep trails and along unforgiving terrain. We always find magic in the big, brutal, beautiful exposure.

Both our children—Grace and Ezra, 12 and 9 at the time, respectively—not only did well but thrived and celebrated our experience. We were joined by Grace’s friend McKenna and her mom, Dara, for a great group adventure hopefully etched like a petroglyph into their memories.

JANE MULLER The author and his 9-year-old son, Ezra, take in the views from Plateau Point inside the Grand Canyon.

JANE MULLER PHOTOS A desert bighorn lamb crosses the Bright Angel Trail near Mile-and-a-Half Resthouse.

Ezra Muller gives his approval of the views and sights along the Bright Angel Trail. Grace Muller takes a break along the Bright Angel Trail.

Mid-October during the school district’s fall 2020 break struck us as an optimal time on the calendar. Not the harrowing downstrokes of summer with nothing but raging heat and toowarm nights. Though temperatures at the bottom of the canyon approached triple digits, the angle of the sun and cliff shadow offered forgiveness for our travels.

At Indian Garden, we relished the oasis. The pulse and flow of Garden Creek. The boughs of shady cottonwoods. A campground with spigots pressurized with spring water. Fourand-a-half miles down, but with two water sources for the hike. The thick ribbons of shade became our angels. The sentinels of rock held back the relentless sun.

Our trip—like all of the best backpacks into and out of the canyon I had taken before—became a collage of divine moments. A mother desert bighorn sheep crossed the trail with her curious lamb following behind. The rock art left underneath a massive boulder jutting out captured everyone’s imaginations. The makeshift creek that formed from a waterline leak below Mile-and-a-Half Resthouse attracted all manner of birds. A raven took a morning bath in a pool from the water.

We needed to make a 30-minute trek in the midday sun for our last leg of the hike, only to arrive at the Indian Garden and its canopy. A mule-deer fawn Grace and McKenna named Jolene. She took delicate steps toward our campsite, only to squat and urinate near the edge of it. We considered it good luck.

Ezra took to the cool waters of Garden Creek. He worked to dam it with rocks and dug out a small wading pool. The arrival of the mule trains brought a highlight event of the day, and the three kids gathered to take pictures and enjoy the presence of the animals and riders. They also brought a strange juxtaposition with the trail runners, the traditional and historic use of the canyon much different than the growing modern mindset to run the canyon, move fast and make time.

Everything we did went much slower. We took the steady trek out to Plateau Point and let ourselves marvel at what felt like the true center of Grand Canyon. We studied and considered the green of the river. When night fell, we took in the Milky Way and the shooting stars of the peaking Orionid meteor shower. The Big Dipper hung upside down to our eye, handle pointed to the northern horizon. At night, we could also see the parade of headlamps strung along the Bright Angel Trail—showing the way out.

In the morning of our second day, we spotted ribbons of snakes in the lush grass of the day-use area. Ezra built another natural dam and created another pool at a spot of Garden Creek. We took moments to listen to the sound of the creek and the canyon breeze through the cottonwoods, and we could not help but feel at home inside the canyon.

It all culminated into a dramatic sense that this is what we needed for the children, and for our family. In times of pandemic and politic strife, Zoom classes and meetings and too much screen time, we needed to open our eyes and ears and tap into natural moments in one of the greatest natural wonders on earth. Grace and Ezra and McKenna all made it clear. We would return, and soon.