It was the final day of our hike. We were sad for it to be finish since we had enjoyed the experience of seeing so much of the canyon and really taking our time hiking but we might have also been talking about sleeping in a bed, taking a shower, and eating ice cream later that day. After talking the with park ranger that camped next to us she suggested getting up early to start our hike out to make it as enjoyable as possible. Neither of us slept well so we were ready to roll up our sleeping bags at 3:30am. The trick was packing up camp in the dark and as quietly as possible as not to disturb the other hikers. We really had to pay attention to where we sat down tent stakes or we would never find them in the dark. We were headed up the trail at 4:30am so the first 20 minutes were in the dark making it a fun night hike with the light of the full moon. You could see the head lamps of other hikers out bobbing up and down the trail on the canyon walls in front of us.
The last section was supposed to be the most difficult with several thousand feet of elevation gain in 4 miles. We had left early to beat the heat of the day and also to avoid sharing the trail with the crowds coming down from the South Rim since the last thing you want to do hiking up hill is stop for the masses to tramp past you. While we were hiking we also got to watch the light change in the canyon as the sun came up and the shadows from the canyon walls grew shorter. On this final stretch of the hike there are rest stops every 1.5 miles and 1000 ft elevation change which were great ways to break up the hike some. We felt like we were finally getting some cardio work in.
At about 7am we rounded the last switchback corner and could see Kolb Studios perched ahead of us on the edge of the South Rim. And just like that we traded the solitude of backpacking through one of the most amazing environments to being surrounded by tourists from all corners of the world. We probably looked a little ragged and certainly became much more aware that we hadn't showered in several days. The Kolb brothers made their living at the Grand Canyon starting in 1904 by taking pictures of travelers and developing them in their studio on the edge of the canyon, we too had to have a commemorative photo taken at the trail head to mark our completion of this bucket list item.
The next item of business was to walk the half mile back to where we parked the car and then round up enough quarters for the coin operated showers at the campground. We relished every drop of the 5 minutes of shower time our quarters bought us. Most of the hike we had talked about celebrating with getting ice cream at the lodge but to our dismay they were not open yet this early in the morning-- what does a person have to do to get ice cream after hiking a Rim to Rim? Instead we stopped at the gift store (which seems to be open at all hours of the day) and got a patch to add to our backpacking collection. We stood at the edge for a few more moments and marveled at the canyon but with different eyes than a few days earlier since this time we were looking down on terrain that we had been immersed in. We could see beyond the pure grandeur of the canyon since we had such a more intimate experience.
One of the rewards of backpacking is the meal to celebrate afterwards and since the ice cream plan fell through we went on to the Cameron Trading Post for brunch. We had Navajo tacos with fry bread and French dip and were in heaven. The rest of the afternoon was spent making our way across northern Arizona. This required some tag team driving to accommodate for naps. We did stop in Tuba City to see the Navajo Code Talker museum in the Burger King. We finally arrived at our hotel in Cortez, Colorado late in the afternoon. We enjoyed more luxurious showers and a really good nap. The lady at the front desk had recommended that we head downtown for the evening to a Native dance performance. At the time we were questioning if we actually wanted to leave the room and forgo vegging in front of a movie for the night but we were so glad we went. The performance explain several of the different powwow dances and the outfits worn for these dances. The group also had multiple generations so it was good to see these traditions continued to be passed on. Afterwards we decided to meander through the downtown and came across the Moose and More ice cream shop-- finally. It was made even better since they were having a community event and the ice cream was free. What a great date night!
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