Sunday, October 8, 2023
Miles: 34.02
Elevation gain/loss: 3291’/3773′
After better sleep, I was up at 4:50am and hiking by 5:25am. It was very cold for the first few hours, with frost everywhere; my hands were painful until the sun came up and started to bring the temperature higher. Around 8am, while walking through a mile+ long field with low grass, I saw a mountain lion. It noticed me and then ran the long distance to the trees surrounding the meadow. It was an awe-inspiring sight, with enough distance between us to be beautiful and not intimidating.
For much of the day, the trail paralleled the Grand Canyon’s North Rim entry road. I could hear traffic but we mostly avoided directly seeing the road except to cross it 2-3 times. The ranger station by the entrance had a portapottie and a 5-gallon water jug set out for AZT hikers. It was nice to not have to filter my water.
The sky clouded over by 10am, and there was very light rain from 11am-12pm and then again from 2-3pm. There was a thunderstorm without precipitation from 3-4pm, with some blustery winds. I rushed my last few hours, trying to get to the North Rim’s Backcountry office in time to get a hiker/biker campsite. I missed them by 15 minutes, but it worked out in the end.
I knew I’d be doing a Rim2Rim the next day, since I was stopping for the night at 5:30pm on the North Rim. While an overnight in the Grand Canyon would be nice, I’d done it before, staying at Bright Angel Creek and Havasupai Garden. I felt that I would just miss my partner more if I hung out in the Canyon at either of those sights. If I’d had hiking buddies to stay with, it would have felt more viable, but hanging out at a campsite in the Canyon for half a day by myself just sounded stressful.
At the North Rim, I started up my laundry, showered, charged my devices, and bought dinner at the North Rim campground general store – they were about to close for the season, so the pickings were slim but I managed to get a decent if random dinner. I happened to run into Uno and Chopchop outside the laundry room; we met when I was hiking in the spring, at MJ’s house in Superior. They’re doing Stateline -> Pine, to finish up what they missed in the spring due to snow. It was great to see familiar faces, and I joined them at their hiker/biker campsite for the night.
