Monday, June 26th

Wow! I don't even know how to describe my last couple of days. The imagery going through my mind, figuratively speaking and literally speaking, is astounding. I think it really was an accomplishment to hike down into the Grand Canyon and come back up. I may not have done it as a "rim to rim" hike, but I can say that I have done it.

I really didn't do a whole lot on Saturday after posting and catching up. I sat by the pool a while, but there really were a lot of bugs in/on the water and buzzing my head. There were enough clouds in the sky that I can't say I was super hot, so I just enjoyed reading by the pool. That was enough for me. After that, I walked the one mile trail down to the caverns building to order supper (which to the AZ time people was a late lunch, for me early supper). I guess it must have been about 2 PM for them, but it my mind I was pushing it to 3:30 or so. All I know is the food was NOT prepared by me, so again I was pleased with it. I walked back to my hotel room, showered and packed up all of my supplies for the trip into the canyon. I loaded as much as I could into the car and then called it a night. I think I did actually succeed in falling asleep by about 7:30 PM. That's good because I had an alarm set to go off at 2:00 AM. I woke up at about 1:30 AM and decided it was the Lord's prompting for me to get up. I was concerned about the heat and didn't want to hike in the middle of the HOT sun. Forecasts said that Supai (the town down in the canyon) was supposed to hit temps of 110.

So, by about 1:45 AM on Sunday morning I was in my car and pulling out of the caverns parking lot. I hadn't gone more than three miles on Indian Road 19 (or whatever one I was on) when I saw my first Elk. Their eyes do NOT glow at night like deer. This big hulk of an animal was standing right in the road! I was supposed to be able to drive 50 - 55 MPH on that road most of the way, but I couldn't make myself do it. I had to slam on the breaks to prevent hitting about 4 - 5 bunnies and I ended up seeing at least 2 confirmed Elk. If I had written this earlier I would have said 5, however, on the way out today I learned the there are free roaming cattle along that road. Some of the huge beasts that were lurking next to my car were maybe cows, but I thought I saw more sets of antlers. I just can't say with certainty.

Given that start tot he trip, I was more than excited when I actually reached milepost 60 which was supposed to be Hualapai Hilltop, or the starting point for this hike. I don't know how to pronounce that first word so from the start of the day on I came to think of it as hallelujah hilltop. Hallelujah I made it that far! As I approached the trail head there were cars parked all along the road starting a good half mile out. It was a sea of cars; people sleeping in their cars; people strapping on their lights to start the descent (it was pitch dark!); empty cars because people were down in the canyon. All I know is it was hard to find a safe parking place, but alas, I found one! I made use of the biffy at the top of the hill (which wasn't as bad at that time as all the postings said it would be).

Then, it was time to set out - in the dark - with my headlamp for guidance. Can I tell you what a daunting feeling it is to know and understand that I am descending into the canyon, but all I can see is about a 6 square foot radius of light in front of me? Your spacial awareness tells you things that you can't see. I could feel when I was enclosed in a canyon and I could obviously tell when I was going down switchbacks, but for me . . . that isn't something that I think is a super wise choice. I had to decide between hiking in the dark or hiking in the heat. I decided since I knew I wouldn't be on the trails alone, dark was better than heat. There are a TON of bats in that canyon and their eyes DO GLOW in the light. Very eerie!

I was cautious with my movements and can honestly say that I didn't have any concerns going down (as far as finding the trail was concerned). I was curious what I would see when I returned the next day, however, since I didn't know what I was traveling through.

The sun started to come up around 4:50 AM and I was able to turn off my headlamp. (That was almost 2 full hours of travel in the dark, however.) It was beautiful, since I was traveling East, to watch the sun come up through the canyon. I realized (well, I understood this due to just using my spacial senses) that I was traveling through a narrow canyon for part of the journey down. I didn't have a wide view of sky, but I did have some.

I made it all the way down to Supai (the village) by about 5:45 AM. All hikers are required to check into the tourist office, which opens at 6 AM (or whenever they decide to show up for work.) About 6:30 someone showed up and opened the office for us. He had my reservation, no problem, but wanted photo ID to allow me to check in. HA! I hadn't taken any more than I needed. I told him that I had a credit card with my name on it and that was about it. He said that would work and I was greatly relieved. No way on earth was I going to hike 8 miles back UP the canyon to get my ID. Uff da!

Anyway, after registering, I had to continue to walk through "town." Actually, while walking through town it, hmmmm...how do I put it nicely. I don't think I can. I gathered that the natives living down there were rather impoverished. They had trash heaps in the yards. Homes were run down. All the roads were that dusty film and I suppose that makes sense. There are no roads for vehicles. The only way they could get around was via horse. Almost all of the homes had horses in the yards. Many of them made their living by shuttling luggage up/down the canyon for tourists. No tourist transportation was an option, unless by helicopter.

Oh speaking of the helicopter. While waiting for the visitor center to open I visited with a group of about 5 college aged boys who were also waiting. None of them intended to hike back out of the canyon. They said it would be "too hard." They were talking about how the helicopter is "first come - first serve." People just start forming a line to catch it in the mornings, but they can be waiting until late in the day before they get their ride. Worth it for a lift and $80. I toyed with the idea, but that's all the further it got, especially when I didn't even hear a helicopter in the canyon until almost 2 PM that day. Nope. I didn't want to resort to that unless I needed it!

Back to the village. I wandered through town and stopped at the local school to use the public restroom. It was a nice novelty to have running water one last time when I didn't expect it. I then looked in the one and only store in town. I wanted to buy a post card and send it home because the only mail in town is the last remaining pony express route in the USA. I had brought a pen and stamps just for that purpose, but alas no post cards were sold. I then walked down to the lodge to see if they had post cards; that sounds like something they would sell at a lodge, right? Nope. No post card there. I only brought post card stamps too, otherwise I would have bought an envelope and just sent my map of the village out just to say I had pony express mail. I missed that chance.

My next stop was the local Christian Church. It had a sign in front that said "Visitor's Welcome." The serviced wasn't until 9:30 AM and I was sitting there with my full back pack a good 2 miles from my campground still. Was it worth it to wait 2 hours for church or should I press on. I KNEW I would NOT be walking BACK for church no matter what. I did wait and dilly dally for a while, but eventually decided that I would listen to a podcast of Chip Ingram later that day instead. I think the Lord understood, but it would have been a neat experience to go to church there. I rather regret that choice.

I continued the last 2 miles to my campground. Along the way I got my first views of some of the waterfalls. Navajo Falls were the first ones and I could only view them from up high. They had a lot of signs warning about the danger of descending to the base of the falls. With my backpack (which was obviously a pain to me by this time since I've mentioned it twice. It may not have been 35 pounds, but it was heavy and my shoulders were the only parts of my body that hurt) I wasn't about to do that anyway. The next falls, which were right outside the campground, were Havasu Falls themselves. It was one major water fall (probably the highest my eyes have seen, that I remember anyway) and it was glacial blue. I wondered the whole walk why on earth they were glacial blue like that (limestone in the water). The pools were roiling with the current from the falls and were already quite full of tourists down there playing. One group was doing yoga with a karaoke machine of sorts. It was very loud and distracting. I decided to come back later - after getting rid of the backpack!

I continued down the rest of the hill and entered camp. We had to walk through the burrow/horse pen to enter the campground. There were sites almost immediately to my left. They were shaded, near a water source and near a biffy. I decided that since I was leaving early in the morning I would rather have those conveniences than trapsing through the whole campground (which was about a half mile long running all along the canyon wall and the river). I chose a site and set up my hammock and bug screen almost immediately. I then set off with only a bottle of water to carry now to visit Mooney Falls on the other side of the campground.

As walking through the campground I saw that people were camping right by the river, some stringing hammocks OVER the river. Some had their own private wading pools right by their campsite. The downside of that, however was the constant sound of running water. Due to the speed that water travels any time that river is nearby we can hear it. Even at my remote donkey spot I could hear the rushing of the waters (but not enough to make me continually need to go to the bathroom.)

As I excited the campground on the far side, immediately I approached another cliff and saw that it was Mooney falls. Equally beautiful, but much quieter (fewer people). Again, frequent signs were posted saying that we descended at our own risk. I went down a ways and then decided that I needed to NOT do foolish things to get hurt. I didn't go all the way down, but rather took my pictures and came back up. They also had many signs posted saying that single travelers were not permitted to travel down to Beaver Falls. Those that were going needed to tell people when they were going and strongly adhere to the time they said they would get back. I guess it was a much more "challenging" walk down to those falls. While I would have liked to see them, I decided to follow the rules or suggestions. Instead, I went back to my hammock to take a nap.

I think I slept for a couple of hours and awakened in a pool of sweat! While where was a breeze blowing, during my nap the sun had poked through my shade and was heating my little cocoon along with the air around me. I decided to move sites; it is a lot easier to move a hammock and backpack than it is to move a tent! I tried two other spots and settled back on the second spot I tried. I then had some lunch and opted to walk back over to Havasu Falls for the afternoon. I didn't bring my floatie as I decided I was close enough to the falls that if I really wanted it I could just go back to get it. I did walk all the way down to the pools at the bottom of the falls. I walked in and got wet up to my knees, but how that water is so chilled, I do not know! It was cold. Because of the massive spray from the waterfall, and the wind, almost everyone was getting a constant cooling spray wherever we sat anyway. I decided that was enough. I must have sat and people watched for about an hour or more.

At that point, I found myself thinking, "Well now what?" I was done. I ALMOST decided to just hike back out right then and there. I was awake. It was kind of cloudy (however, the moment I left the cooling spray of the waterfall and got out on the cliff I realized that the sun was indeed beating down pretty hard and hot at that time.) I had to fight with my own desire to be done and hike out several different times that day. The winning thought was, if I hike out now it will be dark. I would have to drive that highway with the Elk again in the dark and NO WAY was I doing that again. I had also paid for the campsite. I didn't want to give that up to be homeless for a night.

So, I read my book and finished it. Then I listened to a Chip Ingram podcast and finally ate something for supper. I then decided I might as well attempt to go to bed (oh I also think I had another nap in there before supper). I had a hard time turning off my thoughts and falling asleep that night, but eventually I did. I awoke on my own about 2:17 again (about...and I give you that exact number.) I quickly got myself packed up and used the biffy prior to heading out. I had seen a couple leave when I got up and another couple was leaving along with me. There were two girls leaving right behind me. I thought that at least I wasn't out in the dark all alone.

After the first big hill I kind of lost everyone. I wandered that road to Supai with great caution. I knew there were drop offs, right off the cliff to my right and who knows what lurking in the brush to my left. I had pulled out a solar lantern to carry and I was using my headlamp, but even at that it was more concerning to try to see well enough to decipher the right trail. Look for the horse poop. That was the motto of the morning. I only had to turn around once in the trial to Supai. Once coming into Supai, I met up with another couple that stayed with me for a while. We talked about the need to follow the horse poop, but even at that with the extreme dark, and unfamiliarity with the trail we had to turn around a few times. We never went far before knowing we were off. I heard someone saying as they descended that morning, "There really isn't much concern with getting lost. You just have the one trail." I wanted to say, "Yes, that is very true, but finding that trail is a lot more challenging in the pitch dark with only a tiny headlamp." I stayed with that couple until we entered the first main canyon area. From there, it was supposed to be easier to stay on trail, so I got ahead of them again. (They were carrying more in their packs than I was and it slows you down. I know that!)

I found myself praying a lot. Occasionally I wondered if I should just stop and sit until the sun came out to show me the way, but then I realized the whole reason I was doing it that early was because there is no sun protection on the switchbacks up to the top. That last and hardest stretch would be very hard by mid morning, and I didn't want that. I wanted to stay as shaded in and cool as possible. So, I prayed for wisdom, open eyes, sturdy feet. I also prayed for the sun to come up quickly! I realized that it was kind of a benefit to not see what I was hiking because I realized that the uphill, well, there was a LOT of uphill for me happening on the return. Basically, it is uphill for all 10 miles and for some reason I hadn't realized how much that was until doing it. I only got turned around once on my own, but again I caught it very quickly. I backed up again and continued to pray for the horse poop. :) What an exciting feeling it was to meet the first group of descending hikers. It made me realize that I was on the right trail AND I was getting closer to the end.

The sun came up about 45 minutes after meeting that first group of morning hikes, and I met up with several more after that. In the dark the morning before, I had not been able to see what I was doing with the switchbacks, but I could clearly feel that I first went one direction with them (mainly facing north on the side of the canyon I suppose) and then in my mind I walked for a while and had a second set of switchbacks that faced east - then I kept facing east the whole rest of the way to Supai. So on the way back today I kept thinking - 2 sets of switchbacks . . .2 sets. I forgot, or was completely unaware of the massive uphill sections I still needed to travel prior to getting to those switchbacks. In the daylight it was plain to see that the switchbacks didn't even start until I was over 3/4 of the way up the canyon wall!

There was a beacon way up on a building in the parking lot on hallelujah hilltop. On the descent I had talked to some people that said it was a very reassuring site to see that light and know they were heading the right way, but that it was frustrating because it made them think they were at the end and still they had 3 miles left to go! True. While it was brighter for me, I could see that beacon (until it got too light and it got turned off). I asked some people how far I was from the switchbacks and they said, "Oh maybe 20 minutes." In my mind, I was thinking around the bend! HA!

Eventually, I inched my way up to the top. Hallelujah indeed! Inched isn't exactly true. I realized I did all 10 miles back up in about 4.5 hours. I was back at my car by 6:30 AM! I had wanted a hamburger and french fries at a little place on route 66, but realized that probably couldn't happen at such an early time. No matter what I was happy to be back up to my car. In hind-site, I wanted to go get my camera (at the last minute, I decided the camera would be too heavy to hike with on this trip and I left it in the car.) to take a photo of the sunrise over the canyon I had hiked, but I think I forgot about that plan. I'm pretty sure I did not take that photo. Oh well, I took one in my mind's eye.

From there, I uneventfully (unless you count several cows and a badger) drove my way off the indian highway band back onto route 66. I grabbed something more substantial for breakfast at a gas station (MN may have kwik trips, but they have Mavericks in the the south. They are good!) Once the sun had come up I saw that my hands were just muddy-dirty (my backpack had fallen on the ground overnight so I had tried to clean my water bag and probably dirtied my hands then and during the hike), my legs and ankles were all covered with dirt/dust, and I was a sweaty smelly mess. I didn't feel right going into Las Vegas still looking like that, so I cleaned myself up some (and put in my contacts) in the Mavericks gas station. It helped me feel a little more presentable.

I then proceeded to drive all the way to Las Vegas. My GPS (good Gerty) took me all the way to my hotel. I saw it and then turned her off, but I should have listened more to her. I am staying at Circus Circus. There are valet parking lots, bus parking lots and a few self-parking lots. I had no idea where to even go, so I just found a parking place and proceeded to take my laptop, purse, and toiletry bag with me thinking that I could take a shower before needing to get anything else. Well, after parking, I saw a sign that said check - in on other side of the building. So, with my shoulders sore after carting around my backpack two days in a row, I had to try to find a way to cart those bags (oh and one of them broke while walking!) all the way around the building in the 100+ degree weather and traffic. I trudged my way along and finally got to the correct entrance (only after following the wrong sign and walking at least 50 yards further than needed and then back-tracking that distance). I then got funneled into a line to wait to check in/check out. I pulled my bags along and stood there. Finally, glory - be, I got to go up to check in. There was a room ready. No, I didn't want to upgrade. I just want a clean, cool, dry bed to sleep in!

"Do you have your photo ID?"

What? I haven't had my photo ID with me at all during these national park visits because I need it to accompany my now bent (due to excessive heat) and warped National Parks Pass. I keep it in my car so I can grab it easily at the check-in gates. Sigh. No, now I have to trudge all the way back to my car - all around the building with my bags....I started out the door and headed to my car when I remembered that I was carrying my passport in my computer bag! Phew! I turned around and tried again. This time I got in and was told that I can move my car to park over nearer my hotel room!

I drug my current belongings upstairs and then went to move my car closer. Upon getting into my hotel room I immediately took a shower/bath and then proceeded to take about an hour long nap. It is amazing that the world looks a lot more comfortable after a little extra sleep and being clean! YAY!

Once I woke up, my brother-in-law and I connected and I decided to drive over the their hotel so I could talk with him some before he leaves tomorrow. The kids were swimming and having fun there. I didn't even take the time to grab my cell phone or my suit. I just left (they were in a time crunch to get to a show here in Vegas tonight. They needed to do that AND grab something to eat, so I hurried out.) After fighting traffic and the congestion with that (and going with them to eat, but not buying anything there) I am happy to be back safely in my hotel room. I may try to find something here to eat and then get ready for bed. Tomorrow will be an early morning (5 AM) because I hope to load up the boys and head out by 6:00. Next stop, CALIFORNIA! Wait, it should be California here we come!