Reflections of My Travel

Last night was a much cooler night and even though the ground was still hard and there were no soothing water sounds, I managed to get just a bit more sleep. We all got up at daybreak so that we could eat breakfast, pack up camp, and start the arduous journey up and out of the canyon.

There was a lot more elevation climb today than there was yesterday and my legs were definitely feeling the last few days but I had a great time and kept moving.

Mentally, the hike was nicely divided into thirds as it was approximately 1.5 miles to the 3 mile resthouse and then, of course, the same to the 1.5 mile resthouse. I found it comforting to know how far I’d been and how far I had left to go.  If I had one complaint about these trails, it’s that there is no signage and no mile markers.  I like to know where I am.   All in all, today’s hike was much nicer than yesterday’s.  Even though it was steeper, the temperature was so much cooler and there was a lot more shade on the trail.  The closer we got to the top, the more snow and ice we encountered on the trail.  It was a lovely day for a hike.

The best part of the entire experience was when we got about a mile from the rim and there was an awesome view that showed a good bit of the trail and you could see Indian Gardens.

I looked down there and it struck me – I have gone all that distance, all that depth, on my own two legs. Suddenly, I was just overwhelmed with perhaps the greatest sense of pride I’ve ever experienced. I ran my first half marathon last month and felt nothing.  But this… this was an accomplishment!  My legs carried me (plus 25 extra pounds) almost 17 miles and almost a mile in elevation down and back up.  GO LEGS!!!  That sense of pride gave me the energy that I needed to make it the rest of the way out and I believe all four of us were pretty darned happy to be at the rim.

We made one last stop at the park’s superstore so that I could get a t-shirt (finisher’s medal ;-D) and then we started heading out of the park and up to Utah.

First, we drove through a massive sandstorm and some of the biggest dust devils i’ve ever seen.

I’m guessing there was some sort of a race or car show down toward Phoenix because we kept passing little sports cars and I had to laugh at the convertibles with their tops down – I’ll bet they were thoroughly regretting it with the sandblasting they were getting.

As we approached the mountains, we were seeing less sand but there were clouds up ahead that I was certain were carrying snow. Sure enough, while we drove through the Kaibab National Forest, we started getting flakes.

And then we were getting higher in elevation and the flakes turned to fat clumps. Before long, the trees and grounds were white.

Me? I was beyond elated. Hubby? Not so much. He was very concerned about the ability of our little rental car to make it if we went much higher and the road was covered in snow. I didn’t care. What can I say? I’m a Florida girl; snow is a big deal! Fortunately, we soon reached the summit and started down the other side so hubby could breathe again. Of course, that was after a brief stop for me to get out and run around catching snow on my tongue.

And also, after we drove over a lightly dusted stretch of road.

Snow is so beautiful.

Our destination for the night was Kanab so that hubby and I could head to Bryce Canyon in the morning and Sylvis and Peach could start their trip back to NV. When we arrived in town, we enjoyed a tasty dinner (long overdue since there was nowhere to stop on the way and we were still going on this morning’s oatmeal and trail mix) and then a nice soak in the hotel’s pool/hot tub before calling it a night.