The last sun and I still had two or three miles to
go. I wasn't too worried as we were only two or three days past a full
moon and in the worst case I could always just wait for it to rise.
The one thing that did worry me was that walking fast is like driving
fast, you consume more fuel. In my case water. I was going through my water
way too fast and it was at this point I decided to slow down.
I also started eating a lot of my cucumber. One of them had gotten "cooked"
in the ammo can at Hermit Creek and I was basically packing it out as trash
(or emergency food) at this point. I ended up cutting about half of it
up and eating it as well. I also ate my last (of 3) apples. This was the
last of my high water content food which I had planned on using to get
up Kaibab trail. I was extremely tired as well from the hard walking.
As I approached Dana Butte it got too dark to walk without a flashlight
and I started using one. I rounded the Butte in the dark and could only
see a few feet ahead even with the light.
The trail widened up and I sort of wondered if I was still on the trail
for a while. It was about 10 and I had been walking in the pitch black
for at least 30 minutes. The trail wasn't taking the turn I expected and
I grew concerned that I was on a wash instead of a trail. The last thing
I wanted was to walk off a cliff in the dark, so I decided to stop and
wait for the moon.
I dropped my pack on the trail and fell on top of it. Exhausted. That's
when the sky opened up. I sat there for at least an hour with no shirt
as it was still very warm. To be walking in such an amazing creation, the
Grand Canyon, and think about how large it is, then to have they sky open
up and see the depth of space was an amazing place to be brought. After
what felt like an hour the moon still had not risen and took a closer
look at the trail. It was where I was supposed to be.
I threw out my tarp and my sleeping bag and got in my bag without even
putting out the foam pad. Strange thing was, the trail actually felt
like it was made for me. It seemed to conform exactly to my back. I kept
my pack close by as I knew there might be field mice after my food. I
awoke once about midnight as the moon was rising and the canyon took
on the color of silver. Even more beautiful to me than the Navajo red.
Even before I stopped on this trail I had decided this was my last in
the canyon. With my high water content food gone, Bright Angel Camp
grounds one of the biggest (read less desirable), my feet killing me,
and the sole of my boot showing signs of separation, I had decided to
hike out in the morning a day ahead of schedule.
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