Today was a highly varied, but mostly fantastic day. It began with an easy walk down to Phantom Ranch, where we were moderately distressed to learn that breakfast was not served until 8:00. Ce la Vie! The climb up the South Kaibob trail was populated with an eclectic mixture of characters, most of whom were participating in the early October Rim-to-Rim hike. Apparently everyone is trying to hike rim to rim in one day. Fat guy in sweat-shirts and funny packs, surly teenager with baggy jeans, tie-dye T-shirts and one carrying a gallon jug in his hand, ultra-distance runners, Brooklyn girls in designer duds, and your standard active couple with hydration system equipped packs and full synthetic outfits. Some of them had not even reached the bottom but were already very tired. They were in for a long day. The Grand Canyon is like an inverted mountain where unfortunately the easy part of the hike is the first part, and then you have to finish climbing up.
After we reached Tonto Trail, we only saw one group of people the rest of the day, a pair of week-enders who informed us that we would never make it to our camp tonight. They did have some useful information about water though apparently every source between here and Grapevine Creek was dry. Oops.
Once again the scenery was splendid. We were in the Grand Canyon after all. Most of the day was dominated by Zoraster Temple, a precipitous pinnacle of rock sitting on an arched throne made up of the most splendid Redwall cliff I have yet seen. We slowly make our way around it, watch it from various angles. Unfortunately, I didn’t appreciate the view as much today as I should have, because the lack of water had left me dehydrated and mildly cranky. This section of the Tonto makes long traverses on the cliff that contain the creeks coming down from the South Rim. The traverse seemed to take forever. By the time I was paralleling the Grapevine Creek drainage, all I could think about was water.
Finally, I reached the spring and promptly scare a frog from his puddle before I promptly down two quarts in quick secession. After refilling a third time I sat down to drink while I waited for the others. They were very glad to see me, because it meant I had found water.
The rest of the day was amazing. The sun was lowering, the air was cooling, the light was filled with marvelous colors, and my body felt perfect. There is nothing I enjoy more than the sensation of my body in effortless fluid motion. Combine that with sunset in the Grand Canyon, and my evening was a pleasant one indeed.
The choice campsites near Cottonwood Creek were taken, so we continued toward Horse Shoe Mesa. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to stop we had left flat ground behind. Lindy found a spot quickly (a good one), but Sharon and I wandered around for a while in the steadily waning light for a 7 by 2 piece of flatish ground without obvious rodent holes. I eventually settle for a dry streambed. Rocky, sloped, but adequate. Time to eat!
No comments:
Post a Comment