Heading Home

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Everybody got up early today. As much as we hated leaving the canyon, we wanted to get as far up the trail as possible before the sun finally came over the rim. So a quick breakfast, a cup of coffee, the requisite group picture, and we were on the way by 6:30 local time.

For the first half of the hike out, we met up with many groups of rim-to-rimmers heading down. They often travel in large packs and, since they are traveling light, are moving fast, especially on the downhill. I was glad when they thinned out.

We were not moving fast, but we kept a steady pace, stopping occasionally for a drink of water and handful of nuts. I also tried Power Gel for the first time on this trip in an effort to keep those pesky electrolytes in balance.

Made it to the bridge in about two hours. Stopped on the shady side, took off the packs and boots, and rested awhile, talking to some folks headed down.

Stopped again at the Supai Tunnel for water. Met some R2R2Rer’s from the South Rim who had decided to turn back instead of going to the top. One of them had really bad blisters and was looking for a ride from the North to the South Rim.

Stopped once more at Coconino Point and topped out at 11:50 local time.

Once we changed into our Crocs, we headed over to the lodge. The last time we had lunch there was when we’d climbed out on a Mother’s Day which also happened to be opening day at the lodge. We hadn’t had access to showers on that trip and were a little “ripe”, but they still gave us a prime seat in front of the windows looking out over the canyon. We got a similar table this time and lunched on turkey reubens, served up by Blaine from California.

Finally left the park, returning to Jacob Lake where we planned to splurge on chocolate shakes but, alas, the machine was broken so we had to settle for soft serve cones which weren’t very good.

We headed east on 89a and stopped at Navajo Bridge where it’s always fun to cool your bottom on the fancy, state of the art composting toilet system. And, as always, we trotted out onto the old bridge in hopes of seeing a condor. We did see a big bird flying around, but I think it was a raven. The condors have usually just left before we get there… or so we hear.

I’m posting a picture of the original Navajo Bridge that I came across the other day looking through one of my aunt’s albums. It was taken on September 26, 1940. This bridge was built in 1929. Before it opened, unless you took Lees Ferry across the Colorado, it was an 800 mile trip to get to the other side.

Turned onto 89 and went up the big hill and on to Page, a town built in 1957 to house workers and their families during the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. We settled into the Best Western Arizona Inn. Hit the showers and crashed for the night… 6 pm local time.

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