Our last day in the Canyon was pretty straight forward. Wake up. Hike out. Drive home.
We got started around sunrise.
Here’s Lloyd hoisting his pack, ready to hike out. He knew how much up there was, me on the other hand, ignorance is bliss.
I found that I just love hiking. It was the first time that I have done this much and was just smitten with the whole thing.
I took this next photo for my mate BA.
He’s always telling me ‘If you’re not on the edge, you’re taking up too much space’.
So, here is a photo of me on the edge just for you BA;
I love this shot, not just ’cause I’m on the edge, but because it also shows a great view of the Canyon and again showing the trail, in this case behind us.
Up and up. The odd thing about it was two fold, firstly, because it was cold at the bottom, it was even colder up higher. They had a dusting of snow that night (melted by the time we got there, but there was still some frozen patches of water around), so the higher you hiked the colder it got. As you were hiking you kept warm, but you never got warmer, so gloves and jacket were required. It just felt weird to not warm up.
Secondly, we were going from ~3500 feet to ~7000 feet, the air was getting thinner. The higher you hiked, the harder it got because the air was getting thinner. Fun.
I had some time to think a bit about the whole thing and one thing that really jumped out at me was the fact that I was carrying everything I needed to keep me going for the past 4 days. All the food, clothing, shelter, everything.
I packed just the right amount for the weather we stuck. I used everything I took (Other than a pack of tissues), so did not feel that I was carrying more than I needed. Yes, it was low tech, so it was a bit heavier than it could be, but given my time and budget, we managed.
The other thing that really stuck me was how much time had passed in this place. The Canyon is old. Really old.
It was clear to me like never before that we are simply tourists on this planet. We are just specks. It was pretty humbling.
I’m very grateful to Lloyd for getting the camping permits and for inviting me along.
It was an amazing trip. I just had a blast.
Read the start of it all here, at Part Zero.
Click on the pictures to make them bigger.
Click on ‘Trips’ in the Categories to see the other parts of this epic Canyon adventure.
