Before the crack of dawn in the thick of winter, the canyon was dark. I looked up to the sky lit up with stars framed by the walls of the canyon above me. I had spent the night at Phantom Ranch hostel in Grand Canyon and was about to hike up 5000 ft with my pack. With no more light that what I could see using the head lamps, I arrived at the silver bridge. The silver bridge connects the Phantom Ranch hostel to the Bright Angel trail allowing the millions of hikers that attempt this trail to save 1.5 miles in total distance to the South Rim. But on this particular morning, I was alone. I had chosen a time of the year where it is easier to avoid crowds.
Arriving at the silver bridge around 5:30 am, I had regretted my decision to hike alone for the second time that morning. The first time was just 10 min ago when I had noticed a few pairs of moving eyes in the distance. I wasn't equipped to handle any wildlife should I encounter it. Relieved that those eyes belonged to mules, I had pushed on further into the trail. But now standing at one end of the silver bridge, my affirmation "I can do this!" had turned into a question "what am I doing?".
The silver bridge is 0.3 miles long. It takes 15 min to cross the bridge on foot. When you are on the bridge, it feels pretty scary even in broad daylight because you can hear the roaring waters beneath you. It is made of metal bars so you can see through it. However, crossing this bridge in the dark is far more unnerving. Our sense of hearing is heightened when the lights dim, to help us react to our environment better. And in this case, the sound of the river was almost defeaning. I could not see more than 1 feet ahead of me even with headlamps. The bridge railings were too far apart, so I couldn't hold on to them. With all I could see and hear, I just had to place one step after another on the metal belt right ahead of me.
When I made it across the bridge, I looked back and drew a deep breath of awe. I instantly knew this was something I would not forget, regardless of all the other amazing wonders Grand Canyon had to offer me. The rest of the trail was challenging; some parts of the hike up to the South Rim were brutal. I had to take frequent breaks, put on crampons to hike the last 2 miles on snow and was exhausted by the time I reached the top.
Today, more than 4 years later, it's that 15 min walk across the silver bridge I write about, not the hours I spent hiking down to the bottom and back up. Maybe 18 miles of hiking is a great accomplishment for some, but for me, it's fairly normal. No, I don't mean to brag but instead to say that it was a comfort zone for me. Every step taken on that bridge, however, was as much an act of faith as it was of surrender. Maybe that was the sense of adventure I came looking for. And at the time, bottom of the Grand Canyon seemed to be the only place it could be found.