I think I'm the only person that is able to sleep in while camping. I woke up late and debated not hiking the route I had planned. But I knew I had enough time to do it before the sunset. Why not? I started at South Kaibab trailhead around 9:20 and headed down into the canyon. My hiking poles helped with my bad knee because it was either downhill or flat the entire way down. Absolutely stunning.
By lunchtime, I had made it to the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch (see below). There's a campsite and little shacks to stay in. It was so green. I filled up my water bottles here because there is no water on South Kaibab. Then it was time to go back up.
It's about 7.5 miles down and 10 back up. I think I must have blacked out at one point because it didn't seem so bad to get to Indian Garden (about half way up). But I was able to stick my feet in the cool waters of the Colorado earlier in the day. The rest of the hike was good, except for the last 1.5 miles. I hit the wall so hard. My legs weren't moving and I was chafing. I wanted someone to carry me up. The only thing that kept me going was knowing there was an ice cream shop at the top.
I finally made it! 17.5 miles in 8:30. Faster than I expected. I walked like a cowboy to the ice cream shop to see that it was closed for 3 minutes! But luckily the scooper called out, last call for ice cream. I think I would have cried if I had missed it. I had two huge scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream, proud that I made it.
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