There She Goes Again

After a carbo-load breakfast (because evidently I think I’m riding a bike 100 miles) we drove over to the Canyon and began our hike down to Indian Garden.  About 45 minutes into the hike down (remember, I hate down – I’m constantly worried about wiping out and screwing my back up [more]) I asked Charlotte if she found stuff like this to be “fun.”  She does.  I told her I think it sucks.  She asked me why I do all the crazy things I do (Inca Trail, Tongariro Crossing, etc.) if I don’t enjoy it.  That got me thinking and what I’ve decided is I do these things because they are there and I want to.  I enjoy bitching so being miserable at the start works out well for me.  A big part of why I’m miserable is I’m so nervous that it will be way harder than it is and I won’t finish and I’ll perish by the side of the trail or something ridiculous like that.  Once I figure out that I’m going to survive I stop hating it and start having a good time.  Well except for the Tongariro Crossing, that sucked all the way through but I’m still glad I did it.  Once I realized there was water every 1-1/2 miles and I wasn’t going to dehydrate (even with John carrying six gallons of water for me  - OK, slight exaggeration but he was schlepping a lot) it got a little better.  Once we reached Indian Garden it got really good.  As much as I hate climbing I think I actually enjoy the up more than the down, I don’t worry about wiping out when I’m going up.

I think riding a mule into the Canyon shouldn’t count as getting to the bottom unless you’re disabled.  Being lazy doesn’t really earn it, you know?  Then again, if you’ve only got one day and you’re determined to get to the bottom it’s your only choice.  I’m not on a mission to reach the bottom and I’m definitely not in a hurry to ride a mule again.  I remember doing so at the Valley of the Kings and the damn things walking as close to the edge of the trail and a sheer drop off as it could – and their feet slipping here and there as they walked.  Not to mention if I pointed my toes down I could actually touch the ground.  No thanks, I’ll walk.  I’m so glad I borrowed Alan’s walking sticks, they seemed to be a help but then again I didn’t try to do much walking without them.  I like being able to push down against something as I’m going up.  Not to mention being able to brace something on the ground as I’m heading down.  At first I felt like an old fogey using them until I started to see real hikey people using them.  I’m only a recreational hiker.

Three hours after we started we arrived at Indian Garden and after eating lunch we reversed course and headed back from whence we came.  One thing about climbing out of anything (whether it be on a bike or a hike), you start talking to people.  We met a guy, probably in his 60’s, and a friend of his who had hiked down on another trail a week earlier, stayed at the bottom, hiked UP to the North Rim, hiked back down and were now hiking out.  That does not sound like a fun time to me but they loved it.  We also passed two guys in their 30’s who were with a little boy, they were heading up when we were heading down.  I pointed to the kid and said “I bet he thinks this is fun.”  He did.  Kids are stupid that way.  I remember being excited about riding a bike UP the hill across from the house I grew up in.  What the hell was I thinking?

Conventional thinking is that for every hour down it takes 1-1/2 hours to get out so our hike out should have taken about 4-1/2 hours.  NOT.  We headed down at 7:40 am and were back at the top at 3:20!  We left Indian Garden to hike out at 11:20 so it took us three hours to get down and about the same to get out (of actual walking time – lunch and stopping on the way out was about an hour).  I’m very proud of myself! 

Some random things I remember from the hike: 

·         Charlotte spotting a rattlesnake next to a rock on the way down and everyone standing on the opposite side of the trail to try to take a photo of him. 

·         Realizing halfway down that there’s no point in taking my fancy schmancy camera on treks like this.  It’s more of a pain to pull it out, take off the lens cap, snap a photo, replace the lens cap, swing it back around, repeat.  From here on out I need to remember to just take the little point and shoot, it’s fine. 

·         Squirrels are cool.  On our way out we had one who was hanging out with us, standing on his hind legs giving us a little show.  I’m easily amused. 

·         Lastly, the sunburn I got on the hike in Bryce Canyon is bad.  The back of my calves are both bubbly – little watery blisters.  They don’t hurt but they look gross.  Didn’t want to rub them off with all the dirt I was walking through but I’ll give them a good ‘scrubbling’ when I’m back at the hotel. 

We are all filthy, from the knees down we’re coated with red dirt.  Like our shoes?  My face and arms have definitely gotten a lot of sun.  I thought my legs were much tanner but that turned out to just be dirt.  After ice cream at the General Store we went back to hotel and scrubbled the grime away.  The tub was filled with so much red dirt it took a long time to drain.   I laid on the bed for an hour and a half then we headed back to the Canyon to watch the sunset.  We’re driving Route 66 tomorrow and then heading home.