Flyin' Shoes

Despite my own doubts, I actually made it up at 2am, and out of the motel at 2:30am; with the 50 mile drive and the walk from the car-park to the trail-head, I was starting the hike a little later than I wanted at 4am.

It’s quite surreal walking down the canyon at night and apart from the occasionally strong wind, there was so little noise, you could hear the slightest breath in the air. Moving down the path and out of the final glimpse of streetlight, the stars burst into my eyes, in a wonderful spray of light and if I’d had more time, I would have lay down and stared into that scene for hours. For the most part, I had the silence and stars to myself, only to be met by a few of hikers along the way and I must confess, this is the preferred way of visiting the canyon (Later, on the ascent, there would be a lot more traffic starting on their descent.)

I reached the 1.5 miles house as dawn was breaking and exchanged silence, with a younger group coming up. It’s amusing that the seasoned hikers and regulars, are full of joy and always pleasant. The only other group I bumped into, was a couple at Indian Gardens, where I made a very brief stop next, for some walking fuel. I felt amazingly refreshed at this point and of course last time at this stop, I was already feeling tired.

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Some days, you just wonder how they can cram so many steaming bodies into an airport, and then there are days like these. 4pm at SEATAC airport and the terminals are mostly empty and the TSA screening had (drum roll) two people in front of me. To top it off, the two hour flight cut to 1.5 hours and the pilot did a flyby of Mt Rainier; got some lovely video, although I was sat on the wrong side of the plane for the real close-up.

No compact cars available by enterprise rentals, so they threw me an odd assortment of alternatives, all of which had no cruise control. Every state I’ve rented from so far, has had cruise control on even the throwaway basic models and I have to say, my knee and foot are threatening my existence for the punishment.

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I’m making the most of a business trip to Utah this month and I’ve extended my stay, into the weekend, to be able to visit a couple of new locations and re-visit an endearing moment of 2007.

Included in this weekend sojourn, I’m covering Death Valley (California), Mojave National Preserve (California), Grand Canyon (Arizona) and Zion National Park (Utah), as well as an actual shot of the Salt Lake itself, this time. Full itinerary is up with other trips for this year on my notebook and continually in a process of update – all itineraries are subject to change.

The descent into the Grand Canyon, will follow the same Bright Angel trail as last time, except this time, I’m going physically and nutritionally prepared, and with an HD camcorder (and enough spare batteries for the camera). I’m still waiting to hear back, as to whether I need a permit for hiking at 3am; I’m hoping it’s still classed as a day hike and doesn’t need a permit. If I get the 3am start, I’ll be able to catch the sunrise from inside the canyon, and hopefully some night and dawn shots.

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