Today I was hiking on my own, I know that I shouldn’t do that, but it is the rush that keeps me doing it. And actually I wasn’t that long on my own because I met some really nice guys. But let me start from the beginning.

I’ve planned this hike for a really long time (I think for nearly 2 months) and well today was the day where everything was perfect for the hike. After I woke up I saw the sun shining through my window and some birds were singing outside. Before I got up, I checked my weather app on my phone, and after I saw that the weather for this day was only sunshine, no clouds and beautiful 25 degrees outside, I was so happy that I screamed “yeess”and jumped out of my bed, and well I would lie if I say I didn’t dance my supercalifragilisticexpialidocious dance. After that everything went pretty fast, I packed up everything I needed for my trip and drove to the Grand Canyon. I parked my car at the parking lots and started my tour (I’m doing one-day-hikings and start there where I stopped the last time [I’m doing this because I study at a university and work as a waitress during the week], so I can hike the whole Canyon, I just need longer than most people). I should mention that a lot of students do it the same way as I do and that we form a group to get a Jeep, with which we drive to our last spot (= starting spot) and agree to our next spot, our ending spot, during the hiking we are on our own, because everybody wants to go different tours, but at the end of the day we are all together and drive back to the parking lots, where our cars are.

But I wouldn’t talk about this day, if there was nothing special about it.

Today I wasn’t on my own, well I was but after a few hours two guys came to me out of nowhere, as I was resting and said to me that we should hike together because the next part was going to be dangerous. At the beginning I wasn’t that happy about it and thought that just because I’m a girl they think I’m weaker than they, but as I looked at my map I saw how dangerous it could be and decided to hike with them. We finished our break and went to the cliffs. I got a strange feeling about the two guys and not the cliffs. I was wondering were they had come from, because nobody was behind me and could see miles away. And there was just one path, so where could they come from? I didn’t know, but wanted to know. I was so lost in my thoughts, that I nearly fell down the Canyon and faced death. Nearly. One guy stopped me from falling. He asked me if everything was alright and if I needed a break, but all I could say was yes and no. My knees were weak and my whole body was shaking, I could barely move, but I did it (with the help of the two guys). The dangerous part was behind us and the day was going to end, I was a several miles away from our ending spot, as one guy asked me if it would be okay if they came along. I didn’t think about it and answered yes, sure you can. By sunset we were at the ending spot, where my group was waiting for me. I said goodbye to the guys and went to my group which were a few meters away. They were starring at me and I wondered why, til somebody asked me who I was talking to, because they couldn’t see anybody near myself. In that moment I stopped breathing and my heart slowed down as I realised that the two guys weren’t real. My thoughts were running and screaming through my head, were they ghosts?, did I just imagine?, what is real? who is real?, can I believe myself?

written by Larissa, year 10, during lockdown in Dec 2020