May 6
Mileage: zero

I have one goal for my zero at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, besides eat a lot of food and do all the internet things I need to do: take a nap. I accomplish this goal in the afternoon, laying in our tent at the forested campsite that Bert so generously shared with us, while outside the sun fights with an oncoming storm in bursts of cold wind and cars go by on the nearby road and people murmer in the neighboring camps. It’s an incredible nap- but aren’t they all? Camping so near a road reminds me of sleeping in forgotten patches of trees in my trainriding days.

After napping is more food eating. We find another hiker- his name is Charlie Dayhiker, and he’s on the AZT. It feels great to be around other hikers, if only for the day! To talk about hiking, and stuff. It turns out we’re not the only ones stumbling around in the desert. Sometimes on the Hayduke it feels that way.

We’ll hike out in the early a.m. tomorrow- we could’ve hiked out this afternoon but we’ve got to get all the way across the canyon and back up to the north rim in one day before camping, so an early morning start is best. This new storm will bring fresh snow and cold to the north rim- not as bad as the last storm, but we can’t get rid of our extra layers just yet, and we have to bring plastic bags for our feet. I don’t think I can conceptualize this next section, but it’ll be eight days, seven of them in the Grand Canyon, with the hardest/slowest hiking of the trail. I can’t wait!