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.

Venus was rising over Zoroster. This picture was taking later in the morning. As I sat there I contemplated just waiting for the dawn. A moth fluttered in my ear. I've never had a moth approach me in he dark and I looked at my watch. It was 4:09.57. I figured this was as good sign to start walking.

I took it very easy walking. I didn't need a flashlight as there was plenty of light from the moon and the sky line started to show some color. I took this short. It really needed a film camera.

As I made my way into a canyon I used the flashlight in the deepest shadows just in case of a rattler on the trail.

I made it to my planned camp site after about an hour of walking. I heard a scuffle in one of the three trees that overhung the camp site. Like I had startled a bird or something? I turned on my flashlight and there not two feet from my head was a snake wrapped around the trunk like any picture from Eden I had ever seen. It just sat there looking at me. Just a brown garden type snake, 3-4 feet long. I stood for a long time watching him. I eventually touched his tail with my flashlight and he moved away down the trunk.

I kept walking, but repeatedly looking back at the trees in a sort of daze. For some odd reason at this point I calculated how long I had been gone. Hadn't really thought about it on the trip. If I left on May 25th it was night number 41, but if I left on May 26th (which I did), it was night number 40. The significance of the number was not lost on me as I felt led on the entire trip anyway.

I made it to Indian Gardens and ceremoniously drank the last quarter liter of my water as I approached. I filled up and started the long hike out.

I kept trying to get a picture of the moon. Yet another need for a real film camera. I'm definitly carrying my good film camera next time.

These two boys were in the camp site next to me and I so enjoyed their company for the evening and the next morning. I tried to rescue their frustrated grand father and offered to show them maps of the canyon. We sat for an hour or so in the evening and I had a great time with them. The one on the left is Cody, the one on the right I can't seem to remember his name and it has been bugging me for days. I went back to my camp site and within 5 minutes here they came and sat on my picnic table with me and their brother who was 14. I watched the boys race each other from a rock to a tree trunk as they talked to me about school and home with the overflowing energy all young boys seem to possess.

The next morning I was up early and packed. I was finishing some tea and the boys got out of their tent and made a beeline to my table. What an amazing feeling to have such friends. The small one in an excited voice said, "Hey mista, I'm gonna take your piture". Purposefully misspelled as they were from Arkansas. He took off running like the wind for the tent and returned shortly with a brand new disposable camera their Grandparents had given them to document their first journey outside their small town. It's an honor to think I am picture #1 on those cameras. I got mine out and had them pose on one of the rocks that had marked the run racing from the night before. A multi-purpose rock.

[Later] I find it interesting the the only picture I took with people (besides myself, my shadow, and random travelers in the background) is the absolutely last picture I took on the trip. Not a single picture in Vegas or the drive home. A picture of two young boys who made such a pleasant impression on me. The last picture, the return to reality.

That afternoon, before I met the boys, I contemplated the journey. It felt something like Forrest Gump stopping in the middle of the road after running countless miles, both for no apparent reason. While I had always planned on spending a night or two more in Zion (the 10th was always the day I had planned on returning home), I knew the journey was complete. I was done. I made a reservation in Vegas at the Sahara for a much needed shower and the first real bed in 3000 miles. I got up early in Vegas and drove home. I'm not sure what home means right now, but I drove to a safe place with family. I guess that is home.

I've never been much of a bible reader, but I brought my bible on this trip and read Proverbs 3 and John 8 a few times a week.

Trust in the lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

That's what I lived for 40 days and 40 nights and all I have to say I was treated well. Take whatever you want from that. The possibilities are endless. Nothing is impossible. Nothing.

The End.
The Beginning....