Day 27 - Grand Canyon

---

My alarm went off at 3.25am, but because I hadn’t taken into account the hour’s change into Mountain time, it was actually 2.25am.
When the right time did come, we loaded up the OJ and doughnuts and headed back to the Canyon for the sunrise. There was heavy cloud presence which was threatening our viewing, but we still headed back with the hope we were still going to see something.
Like the previous evening, Todd led us to another ledge just off the path, where everyone stayed, but Todd, Jess and I climbed down to a lower ledge and sat there for ages waiting and having some individual ‘me’ time. Just like Dead Horse Point, it was so peaceful.
Sadly the cloud presence hindered any attempts to witness a sunrise, so the three of us finally headed back to the others, only to discover that the doughnuts were all gone and there wasn’t much OJ left either. Not as an amazing start to the day as the previous day was. Especially as we were all heading off for some hiking now.

Graham, Neal, Jess, Mark, G, Tanya and I headed for Bright Angels trail which would take us 3 miles down into the Canyon. Every 1 ½ miles there are toilets and water stops, and like the Natural Bridges; I set off at a pace. It was stupid thinking really, because I was only thinking about going down, not coming back up. Soon after the trail starts, there is a sign warning “Going down is optional, coming back up is compulsory”. After a while, Graham, Neal and Jess shot past, and quickly go out of sight, deciding that they were going to run the route.

After finally reaching the half way point towards the bottom of the Rim, I stopped for a toilet break, and when I emerged again, Tanya had come and gone, so I quickly followed suit, but realised I left my Indy hat in the toilets so went back for it. When I started off again, almost straight away I turned my ankle once more, so quickly decided not to risk any further injury and started heading back up. The first 3 miles took me under an hour. That was the easy part; the much harder part was climbing back up the Canyon, and with the time now being past 9am the hot weather was now coming into play.
That was the reason why we left so early this morning. There would be no hot weather or any other tourists to contend with.

The hike back up was a killer, as I struggled to keep a regular pace, stopping every few turn backs. At one point I almost gave up completely, thinking I would never reach the top, but I eventually came across a young teacher who was on the final leg of her amazing 5 day trip from the North Rim, down into the Canyon and back up to the South Rim. On her last day she seemed so happy and cheerful, so that gave me fresh determination to get back up the top. If she could keep going after 5 days, I could after only 2 hours!
After 2 hours I finally made the top again but it felt like much longer. I took shelter in a nearby restaurant and ordered a big breakfast before meeting up with Zoe, and eventually Todd, taking up seats on the patio of another restaurant chilling until the others returned. I had looked in one of those pay telescopes down into Plateau Point to see if I could see Graham, G and Jess, and I think I actually saw some people. Whether it was them or not I don’t know, but I like to think it was.
I have to say that I was a little disappointed that I didn’t do the whole hike, and wondered if I gave up too easily with my ankle being turned once or twice. Then again, Todd told me that if I was too injured to get back up to the top, there was no other way of getting back up, so maybe it was best that I turned back before it was too late.
Much earlier than Todd was expecting we were joined by the three, who may be suffering from serious sun stroke or something, as they didn't hear us calling and were laughing like three hyenas and at noon we headed back to camp, but not before taking in a trip to Wendy’s for lunch.
The afternoon was a chill out session, so Kylie, Scott, Zoe, Sarah and I headed over to the bar next to the site for some drinks and pool. Fortunately the table wasn’t working properly so we didn’t have to keep paying for another game, but there was no cue ball, so one of the bar staff gave us another ball from another set and marked it with chalk.
I think I may have beaten Sarah, who is a bloody good player, by a couple of games, and soon after we headed back to camp, a little tipsy. I have a quick Journal (the ekit sim card I got for the trip comes with a free map and journal for people who are following me to comment and watch my progress) chat with Mark back home about my ankle, Vegas and staying in a hotel, and that my nephew Lewis could say my name properly now.
I also emailed Rob, originally about a problem with my mp3 player (we have the same one), and then about our 4th July plans. Todd responded to this by saying “We’re gonna blow s#*! up!” as well as talking about Vegas. Rob is a big poker player, mainly online, but has been to Vegas a couple of times and won some tournaments out there. Mark gave me a bet to make when in Vegas, which I’ll make sure I will. Could be a winner.
The evening was finished off with some of us watching Forrest Gump under the stars.

---