The night before, we came with all kinds of blankets and warm clothing in preparation for the 25 degree cold desert night but after having a rustic thanksgiving dinner in the desert, we all decided to get a hotel and sleep in a bit so we could head out to the Grand Canyon.

After heading out on the road we pulled over and Francesco mentioned that he forgot his book in the hotel so he drove back to the hotel and we stayed at a vista overlook taking in the beautiful views but noticing the crowds of people that continued to pour over on the side of the road. At times we found ourselves blocked in from the selfie sticks and the cartwheeling tour bus crowds as they took photos of themselves jumping in the air.  Soon after Francesco and Daniela arrived where we left off so we said goodbye to the circus and headed for some solitude which worked out pretty well for ourselves.

We got to the trailhead of the Cathedral wash and a sign was in place next to the trailhead explaining what to expect which was pretty straightforward.  follow the canyon down to the Colorado river and retrace your steps to get back out, easy enough, but watch out for the quick sand.

Now there are different ways to view this canyon and other smaller canyons in the region.  The main route, which is non technical is a do a and back trip.  Another route to take is a technical route through a uninterested wash up to a 120ft drop right down to the Colorado river, than up cathedral wash.The canyon started off with a 15-20ft wall as we bypassed some small pools of water and noticed a few interesting weaknesses in the sandstone thus creating a pattern of holes in the wall like a honeycomb.

We continued to work our way down the canyon and found three major drops that are easily bypassable

The first one was a dry fall that you go right and work your way down tot he bottom with a little partner assist.

The second dry fall you continue to work right and that takes you further down into the canyon floor, this is where the canyon gets interesting.

Eventually we could hear the Colorado rivers roar which became more and more defined the closer we got the river itself. The walls started to widen and the view of the Colorado was within sight after scrambling over some large boulders.

Once we crested over a few more massive boulders the greenish translucent Colorado river was upon us.  and it was moving rather quickly to our surprise.

The rapids were right around class 3 but an Eddie pool had a very interesting rip current at its head which could be deadly to a lot of people that might not know what the reverse waves mean.  This punctuated the fact that we made it to the Colorado river.

There are also a couple other routes by parking a car at the Navajo bridge, crossing the bridge and travelling down 4.4 mile wash ( which I have read is not that interesting ) and another wash called 3.7 mile wash.  I was also reading this was not that interesting either but they would be good if people are looking to have some quick trips and rappel to the Colorado river. We skipped these as we did not have much time and we have our eyes on some canyons down river for the future.