Day 25: 21st April 2011

Today did not start early! Turned out that my still-young husband ALSO had his legs hurting after yesterday's trail! HA-HA! So much for calling me old... Thank You God!

And we both were less on enthusiasm today to start at 6 in the morning, as earlier planned!

Also we had to pack up from the Camper village and go to the Mather campground today. It was annoying to pack up and ride 5 miles and set it up again! So much for wanting to being INSIDE the national park! Stupid us!

So we spent the next hour packing up stuff, loading it on the bike, saying our byes to fellow campers... promising them to meet on the trails, and left the campground... when suddenly..... We fell... OMG! Too shocked to click a picture of  the fall, but in hind sight, I should have.. it was a funny sight!

Since we fell down a slope, we broke the right side rear view mirror, the mirror housing AND we were unable to get the bike back up! A guy came running to help, and it turns out that even the three of us couldn't get it up! So call for another one... it took 4 of us, every ounce of our strength and energy to get the bike back on the road! Phew! What a start to the day! The only snap we managed to click was later... of the damage!

So by the time we got to the Grand Canyon entrance it was post 1130 am! We decided that it was probably best to extend our stay by another day, and we reserved a site for 22nd as well. BUT, we didn't get the same site as 21st!!! SO it meant that we would have to pack our tent and stuff and move sites on 22nd morning!!! Too much unnecessary work! <Sad face>.. 

We did want to do at least a part of the South Kaibab trail, though not all of it (we had confessed to ourselves that there was absolutely no way we could have done all of it!) The fact that they had out posters all over, announcing how people had died attempting to complete this trail in one day, did not help at all. There was no way I was going to die over a stupid trail! I did not even mind admitting that maybe I really was getting old.... all for a noble cause of staying alive!

1st things 1st... we had to eat.. before we start our trail.... so lunch was at the Grand Canyon general store... We could go further if we were not hungry, we told ourselves.

No, that's NOT my food.. I am a vegetarian..... Still!

I am eating the tiny Salad, that's hardly there! (I felt the same after eating it.. hardly there) ...

This is V, stuffing himself... (remember the keep-him-well-fed rule?)

So, there we were, being well-fed.. and feeling so!

By the time we actually started walking down the trail, it was almost 3 in the afternoon (I am not sure if the delay was genuine or I was trying to delay it, hoping that I wouldn't need to do it at all)

We carried 2 bottles of water with us - one for each, and a few cereal bars. Hoping that the lunch we ate almost an hour-and-a-half ago would last us till the end of the trail, we didn't carry any food.  The trail started at the rim of the canyon and going down, descending into the canyon. I did carry my trail stick with me, in spite of the name calling, and turned out it was a good idea! Going down the trail was the easy and fun part.

This is a snap that I clicked of V going down the trail, and I swear V is in the snap.. you just have to look hard enough to spot him :-|. (I have had enough bashing from V for clicking snaps that don't serve the purpose and hence are useless. This one for example was supposed to show V walking down the trail.. BUT :D)

I kept wondering why people would die on this trail, it seemed to be a sweet one. The sun won't set till 830-900 pm and thus we had more than 6 hours for the trail, so we decided that wherever we were around 6, would be the point from where we should turn back and start the return. We wanted to play it as it came, and not stretch ourselves. The view was breathtaking and we took our time clicking pictures, soaking in the naked beauty of nature. Just looking at the landscape lying in front of you, calm as hell (or heaven is it?).. speechless!

We did manage to reach 'Caesar's ridge', 4 miles down the trail, into the canyon.
A look back at what we had achieved.. and common sense dawned upon us. It was easy to walk down, but the tougher part was the return - walking up! So no point going any further and time to turn back.

We were standing at the Caesar's ridge, camera with V (as usual, given how good a photographer I am) and looking around if we could find someone to click a picture of both of us together. We spotted an elderly gentleman (OK, middle aged as per US standards), and I was framing in my head how I should approach him and request him, when he said "Photo Khichna hai?" (Hindi for 'you want me to click a snap?"). I almost fainted. Recovering from the shock, I smiled and thanked him as he took the camera from us.

We learnt that he was a professional Tabla player (an Indian instrument), and had played with the likes of Zakir Hussein and Ravi Shankar. He was in Arizona for a concert and was taking some time off in the Grand Canyon. He had spent a few years in Nepal .. (aaahhh.. that's how the knowledge of Hindi, makes sense) and was very well-read on Indian mythology. He even went to the extent of explaining V the meaning of his name and where it figures in the mythology (which we didn't know of course, before he mentioned)..And he practiced Yoga religiously every day and believed in it's powers.


That's him, the white-guy who put two Indians to shame, by his knowledge about India.

Time to head back. And boy! the way up, was TOUGH! I had to stop every 10 min and take a sip of water and wait for 5 minutes to catch my breath!... NOW, I knew how you could die on this trail if you are lost or if you try to rush it and finish it at one shot.... you would probably die of exhaustion.. I knew I could!

It was a long long way up and it took us more than double the time it took to go down! No point rushing it, so we took our time, enjoying the views ... It was getting cold and the sun was losing the warmth, trying to hide behind the rocks.

Made it to the campground by 800... in time to build a fire, fix a quick meal and have a beer :D