May 27th 2016: Grand Canyon North Rim – Crystal Springs, ca. 18 ml

We decide to hike the Arizona Trail up to Jacob Lake and will see where to go next from there. It’s just too risky with my crappy hips to go cross country down into the canyon again. I once read that “the biggest strength is gentleness” and even though I’m not well in applying that to my own life and my own body, this time I gotta go there. And so I “fight” my sense for adventure and craziness and I try to be gentle with my body. I’ve put it through enough the last couple days. It’s been fine and I am so grateful it has brought me this far.

So we hike out at 6:45 and maaaaan it is sooooo easy to have a trail. It’s so fast. You only realize how easy a trail is when you haven’t had one on which you can cruise. So we cruise and cruise and have lunch at the meadow right next to the National Park entry. It hails and the sun comes back out and so on.

O the meadows we cruise through are so beautiful. We see lots of birds and a coyote and we only meet 2 girls the entire 18 miles till Crystal Spring. O what a different experience compared to the PCT last year! We also see a ton of deer and when I see deer I think mountain lion so I am very aware all day.

We pitch the tent on a little hill near Crystal Spring. It’s peaceful and quiet.