Arizona Trail

Grand Canyon to Zion – Day 11: Cruising on the AZT

May 28th 2016: Crystal Spring – Jacob Lake, 11 miles and a hitch

IMG_3923I sleep like shit. My hip hurts. My ass freezes off. And my irrational fear of mountain lions keeps me awake. I’ve been sleeping like a baby during most nights of this trip. No so much last night. When we wake up the inside of the tent is covered in ice. No wonder I’m freezing my ass off. It must have been well below zero.

It’s still freezing when we have breakfast, even when the sun is out already. Frikkin cold on the Kaibab Plateau! Luckily the sun warms me when we get going, although the meadow is still glowing and glittering with ice crystals. It’s beautiful. We see lots of deer and birds. Ah transition zones! Meadows – forests – springs. So much life!

We cruise again and have a last view of the east rim. Bye Grand Canyon.

How easy the walking is when there’s a trail, in and out of meadows and forests. Somehow though (I know we are just terrible) we both get bored and when after 11 miles the trail goes right next to the road 67 we put up our thumbs.

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Grand Canyon to Zion – Day 10: Kaibab Plateau – Arizona trail

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

IMG_3900We 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. Continue reading →