Miles Hiked 76.1
Elevation 8,224
Miles Hiked Today 11.2
All three of us hikers mentioned the day before were up and gone before 7 AM. The trail was slightly down or flat, so I was able to keep up with the other hikers with whom I camped the night before. We arrived at the ranger station mentioned in yesterday’s post, and there was water there. After filling up, the other hikers took off. We talked about meeting and spending the night at the Cottonwood Campground partway down the canyon.
I made good time on the trail. There was nothing remarkable about it, and I was focused on reaching the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The village came into view at noon.
I meandered around looking for the back country office. I needed a permit to camp in the Canyon. I reached the office at 12:30, and of course it was closed for lunch. At 1:00 PM it opened. The first thing I did was ask about the two other hikers. One of the hikers is Hawaiian, so I described him to the ranger. He remembered him and said he bought a permit for the Bright Angel Campground. That’s further in the canyon than Cottonwood.
There was no way I would make it to the Bright Angel Campground today. I decided to go no further and spend the night on the north rim at the hiker/biker campground. I did buy a permit and reserved a campsite at Bright Angel Campground for the next night.
Next, I went to the campground and got a place for my tent. The main reason I decided not to go on to the Cottonwood Campground was I wanted a shower and to wash the muddy clothes that had been that way since the first day. Imagine my dismay when I was told that both the showers and laundry are closed due to the Corona virus. UGH!
Nothing to do but setup my tent and relax. It was only about 1:30 PM, so after I setup my tent, I straightened out my backpack, threw garbage away and cleaned a few things. I was also able to unload some of my food on another hiker. That really helped. The last thing I wanted to do was go into the canyon tomorrow with unnecessary weight.
The afternoon went by fast and I was in my sleeping bag by 7 PM. While I’m sorry I couldn’t catch up with the other two hikers, it didn’t blunt my enthusiasm for going into the canyon tomorrow.
