Day 5: North Kaibab Trail - September 7, 2008

Up at 5 a.m. to dress, close up our packs, and walk into the chill of the morning to get coffee and muffins at the North Rim Saloon, which not only caters to the late night crowd but opens at 5:30 for the hikers as well. Then we handed our overloaded packs to the van driver and loaded up for the two mile drive to the trailhead. When we stepped out of the van, we stepped into a chilly, windy morning. Wow - it must have been in the 30's - such a difference between the trailhead and the lodge! We took a quick (and I mean quick) picture and walked quickly down the trail, knowing that warmth was attainable by going down.

Nancy stopped and put on a fleece - I stayed with my shorts and two thin Techwicks. We moved down the trail at a quick pace. The sun was rising over the Eastern rims of the Canyon and birds were making their Canyon noises and the wind was swirling around. I was excited to be going back down again and looking forward to being warm. We reached the Supai Tunnel at 7 a.m. After a quick pit stop, we moved on through into the redwall limestone. These next five miles are the steepest on the trail - almost 5,000 feet of elevation lost on these miles. We took off our outer layers and rejoiced in the warmth of the Canyon as the sun rose higher and the temperatures climbed. It felt so good.

We reached the bottom of the Bright Angel Canyon which is marked by the Roaring Springs ranger station at 9 a.m. We decided to stop, take off boots and socks, eat an apple and some trail mix, and Nancy needed to do some Rx on her blisters. More were developing between her toes. The bandage system we had manufactured for her heel blisters was holding, but we really didn't have the right bandaging for her toes. It was a nice break and we were soon off again, the trail more level and straight as it moved through the Canyon walls toward Cottonwood Campground. A couple of hours later and we pulled in to Cottonwood for water and a rest stop. We ate some more food and talked with a father/daughter who were doing a rim to rim. They were ready to settle in to Cottonwood for the night. Not Nancy and Pat, though - we had miles to go and a beef stew dinner waiting for us at 6:30.

After leaving Cottonwood, it was only a matter of an hour and a half before we walked back into The Box. God, I love this part of the Canyon - so old and deep and narrow and black and hot and the creek rushing below me so cold. Vishnu schist - the rock formation layer we were walking through - I love the name - Vishnu Schist, the basement layer, 1,700 million years old. My life span not even a snap in time. And the time and effort it took the people who carved this trail out of the steep walls of the Canyon, burying a water pipe that brought water from Roaring Springs to the South Rim. Amazing.

There are four bridges that span the Bright Angel Creek in the box. After the first two there is a long wait for the next two, and the last one was especially deceptive. Around every turn and bend I expected to see it, but no. Not yet. I was feeling the effects of the descent, though not as strongly as I felt the descent on the first day of the trip. We met up with one of the women who had been on the shuttle to the trailhead and had started out ahead of us. She was nursing blisters and had changed out of her boots into sandals for the last effort. We offered food, water and first aid and she declined, saying she was fine, just taking her time.

We went on and were soon greeted by the Welcome to Phantom Ranch sign. We stood beside it and our faces told the tale of 14 long miles. It was 2 p.m. Now what? After checking in and buying a couple of Lemmy's, we went to our assigned dorm and chose our bunks. Luckily we were early enough that we could claim the two best bunks in the back. More room, close to the toilet, and far from the door. We walked out to our spot by the creek, took off our sandals, and soaked our feet. I had had enough sun and could see a bit of a rash forming on my legs. Sun poisoning? I was always careful with the sun screen - so not sure what that was about. We relaxed for a while and then decided a shower and a quick lie down were in order before dinner.

The shower felt great on my warm, salty skin, but it still wasn't draining at all and I left Nancy with two inches of scummy water to step into. Sorry, Slick. While she showered I lay on the top bunk and let my body feel the luxurious tiredness and my heart feel the warm sense of accomplishment in having made three legs of the journey - healthy, strong, and in my heart. After her shower, we walked over to the lodge and made some notes about the day. We realized there was a Ranger talk at 4pm so we moseyed on down and found seats under a huge Cottonwood tree. The Ranger giving the talk was the same guy who had spoken to us about the geology of the Canyon last summer on our rim to rim - only that time he had been stung twice by scorpions and it was hard for him to concentrate on anything but the feeling in his hand as the poison ran its course. A character and a throw-back hippie, he had a great time telling us about how changing the flow of the Colorado River, by damming it up, altered the ecology of the Canyon - the good and the bad - and his rambling and sidebars kept us entertained until the 5 p.m. dinner shift.

After the talk, Nancy and I wandered up to our bench overlooking Bright Angel Creek and looking up at the canyon wall surrounding the Ranch. Nancy decided to call Don while I sat and contemplated. She joined me a while later and we talked and looked at the sky and watched the bats come out as we waited for the dinner bell. I was very ready for beef stew, cornbread, salad, iced tea, and chocolate cake when the folks on the later shift let us in to eat. I am a fast eater, but Nancy demolished her stew so quickly it made me feel almost normal in my eating speed. She reached for more and took care of the second bowl easily. I could still feel my body craving calories so felt no compunction about packing it in. Yes!

It was dark when we emerged from the dining hall. Of course, it was only 7:30 - what were we going to do? Couldn't watch TV. We could hang outside on our bench, but I was feeling pretty DUN. We went back to the dorm, brushed teeth, changed into sleeping shirts, and got into bed. We talked for a while and eventually felt our consciousness fading. I vaguely heard the rest of our bunk mates show up some time later, but they kept the overhead light off and I was able to fall back to sleep. It felt so good to stop moving, to let go, to cease the effort of moving forward. It felt so good.