Good Feeling Gone!*

I just realized I never posted this!

I don't think I took any pictures on the way out of Havasupai.  Let me just put it on the record that the first 8 miles of the hike were not so bad.  I actually went at a pretty good pace.  Jesse and I stopped for lunch (i.e. hiking snacks) close to the end.  We found two rocks in the shade and sat down.  Jesse with his back to people coming out and me with my back to the people coming in.  One thing - there are horses all along the trail.  People's stuff being packed out or the mail service delivering mailt to the reservation.  Sometimes these horses have people with them, sometimes the horses are just set on the trail and they go for it.

So as we were sitting there, I noticed a shadowing coming up around the bend and then a horse came.  I tried to tell Jesse that the horse was coming (let's face it, I'm not so good with communication when faced with impending danger (lest I remind you of my dad's muddy bum). The horse started to go straight for Jesse, who was eating beef jerky.  Jesse was able to see him coming and told him to back off (ever since the horses defecated in our campsite he had a hatred of the horses).  So that horse moves on a little dejectidly and Jesse starts to say that if he had something the horse could have eaten maybe he would have given him some.  I shook my head and said, "no you wouldn't" and he agreed that he wouldn't.  Then we made jokes about what would happen if the horses had gotten a taste for meat.  It was all very dark humor it was wonderful.  A few minutes later I see another shadow and it's another horse.  I kept saying, "he's coming, he's coming" because this horse was coming right for him.  My declarations went unheard and suddenly Jesse found himself nose to snout (snout?) with a horse! Yes - he jumped and cried and in surprise and yes - I laughed.  Then Jesse told that one 'no' as well.  It began to walk away and then just broke into a run.  It was quiet except for the horse running away and then I heard Jesse behind me say, "Is something coming?"  Maybe you had to be there, but that was one of the funny moments on the hike.  We also passed, were passed by, and then passed again our older friends from the day before.  I hope they got out of there alright - I did worry about them.

As I said - the last mile and a half was (pardon my French) hellish! I thought I was going to die several times.  There was ONE spot with shade and I stayed there for a while - I actually met some people living in Northern Virginia so that was neat.  But I had to keep stopping on the way up because my head was pounding and it was so hot.  But I finally made it!

From there we drove to Williams, Arizona where we tried to get back our calories from the week...that was a fail.  We got pizza.

Then we went to Dairy Queen where I learned that I should always order the small...not the medium.  No room in that tummy of mine.

Then it was on to the Grand Canyon.  Compared to Havassupai the Grand Canyon was like a resort!  The campsites were neat and organized and there is a small town with a post office and general store.  You can even take a shower (a steal for $2)...which...we did.  We took showers and oh my goodness - I hadn't realized how much I missed warm water and shaving my legs!

Friday morning we decided to hike in.  When Jesse mentioned it Thursday night I kept telling him I was done hiking, we could do the rim trail and he said, "we have to hike down in to it!"  By Friday morning my body had recovered enough that I was ready, plus the hike was only 6 or 7 miles round trip - that seemed reasonable to me given the other days that week.  The hike in - easy, all downhill and it went much faster than we thought.

The hike out - horrible...horrible, horrible, horrible.  My legs burned, my eyes stung, my camelbak broke.  I was stalked by a squirrel (Jesse took that opportunity to tell me that squirrels can smell fear), a horse ahead of me decided it was time to urinate and I was lucky enough to not be too close behind.  And...it was all uphill.  It was no Havasuapi - but it was still toture.

Then we took the shuttle bus (resort) to the other end of the rim trail and started to hike back towards the visitor's center. 

 We made it to the end of the "green line" for the shuttle and got on a bus and rode it back.  We were spent.  Then we got in the car and drove back to Tuscan...stopping at In & Out Burger on the way back...yum-o.

Oh - and I have it on good authority that squirrels cause the plague.