While you might have been stuffing your face with turkey and then relaxing on your couch over Thanksgiving break, ELA teacher and advisor of The Oracle, Mr. Eric Schott was exploring the depths of the Grand Canyon.

It was a trip Mr. Schott and his wife had been planning since October of 2023 when they won a lottery to stay at Phantom Ranch, a small lodge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Early on Thanksgiving morning the Schotts flew to Phoenix and then drove about 4 hours to reach the Grand Canyon.

“It was a long day, and it was a little weird not being at home with our family for Thanksgiving, but I have to admit having Thanksgiving dinner overlooking the Grand Canyon was pretty cool,” Mr. Schott said.

The next day they set out for Phantom Ranch following the South Kaibab Trail, a nearly 8-mile hike that would have them descend 4,800 feet in elevation to the bottom.

“I wish I could accurately describe the scenery, but whatever I say would not come close to how amazing it was. Some of it was terrifying like when you are on the switchbacks early on and you are only a couple of feet away from a 1000 foot drop of the side, but there were other times you weren’t on the Canyon wall and could walk around and just take it all in,” Mr. Schott said.

About five hours later, they reached the bottom. They went through a small tunnel that leads to a long suspension bridge that crosses the Colorado River.

“That was a pretty cool moment, especially after looking down on the river several hours before and it looking like a small stream and then we needed a 400 foot bridge to cross it,” he said. “We were both pretty sore when we got to the bottom. I didn’t think hiking down was going to be that hard on our legs, but walking downhill for several hours, sometimes on some steep grades, was pretty tough once we stopped and the soreness set in,” he said.

According to Mr. Schott, the pain was worth it, but it left him a little uneasy.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about making it out the next day. It’s one thing to hike 8 miles downhill, but our planned route back up was a 12-miles and this time we were climbing UP almost a vertical mile on pretty sore legs,” Mr. Schott said.

Before that long trek back out of the canyon, everyone staying at Phantom Ranch met for dinner that night and again the next morning for breakfast.

“It was neat to all eat together at the same time. There were probably a little more than a dozen people from all over sitting around sharing stories and our one common bond was we all had hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon,” Mr. Schott said.

After breakfast on Saturday, the Schotts packed up and started to make their way back up. Their original plan was to take the Bright Angel Trail, a 9-mile hike, to the top, but part of the Bright Angel was closed because of water line construction, which forced them to choose an alternate plan.

“We could just go back the same way we came down or we could go back up part way, cut across using another trail and finish going up the last half of the Bright Angel. We wanted to get to Bright Angel, but that was going to make our hike out 12 miles.”

They decided the different route would be worth the extra mileage, and Mr. Schott said it was the best decision they could have made. They retraced their path for the first 3.5 miles on the South Kaibab Trail before taking the Tonto Trail for 4 miles which then connected to the Bright Angel Trail the final 4.5 miles to the top.

“My favorite part of the whole trip was the Tonto Trail. It was amazing for two reasons. First, it was quiet and peaceful. Over those 4 miles I think we only saw six other people and there was no noise. It was almost surreal. The other part that made it so great was simply the scenery. The trail is less intense so we could just stop and look around. On the other trails you feel like you are ON the canyon walls, but this trail you felt like you were IN the Grand Canyon just walking around, like we had it all to ourselves.”

When they got to the Bright Angel Trail, they had 4.5 miles left to get back to the top. There were rest stops at the 3 mile and 1.5 mile marks so they mentally broke the rest of the trip into three 1.5 mile hikes.

“That last part was tough,” Mr. Schott said. “We knew we were making progress, but it’s pretty steep at that stretch and so it’s very visually intimidating. We kept looking up and no matter how close we were, the top still looked so far away. I know the both of us were thinking, ‘We are never going to make it.’”

Seven hours and 12 miles after they left Phantom Ranch, Mr. and Mrs. Schott made it back to the top.

“Since I first fell in love with the Grand Canyon, I dreamed of hiking to the bottom. When we began our journey down, I wasn’t sure how I would feel. As it turned out, it was more fulfilling, more challenging, and more life-changing than I could have imagined. Arriving back at the top was an emotional moment,” Mrs. Schott said.

Looking back on it, Mr. Schott said there were plenty of things that didn’t go their way like the construction on the Bright Angel Trail or even when they learned there was no running water available in the cabins at Phantom Ranch, but he did say they got lucky on the thing he was most worried about, the weather.

The average low temperature at the South Rim at the end of November is below freezing so there was a chance there could be snow to deal with. Meanwhile, at the bottom the temperature is normally 15 degrees warmer.

“It was odd. At the top, when we started down, it was 28 degrees. One of the canyon walls that didn’t get a lot of sun on it was frosted over. When we got to the bottom it looked like fall. Temps were near 50 and the trees all had yellow leaves. We got lucky in that we didn’t have to deal with any snow or ice,” Mr. Schott said.

One thing that all hikers have to deal with is an occasional mule train. Mules are used to give rides for customers or to deliver supplies.

“We saw two trains of mules, probably 8 or 10 each all linked together with cowboys leading them. The etiquette is you get out of their way and let them pass. It was a little nerve racking since there isn’t always a ton of room on the trail to get out of their way.”

Overall Schott had an experience of a lifetime.

“Needless to say, I’ll never forget it. It was an amazing experience. As an English teacher I should be able to come up with some words to describe it. It was exhilarating, terrifying, challenging, inspiring and so much more, but those words are like pictures of the Grand Canyon: they can’t really do it justice. You have to experience it. That being said, nothing disappointed. It was all worth it.”