Driving into North Rim, we passed a car that had flipped off the road and the NPS Fire Department was working to stabilize the victim. It's curious how long the guy was trapped in his car because of the road's remoteness and where the nearest hospital lies.
Anyways, we started hiking the North Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon at 9:30 to beat the afternoon heat. Before setting out on the Trans-North America trip I had set a goal to do a rim-to-rim run, however, I've learned it's 14 miles to the Colorado River from North Rim alone and the rangers say it's a near impossibility to hike to South Rim in one day. That in mind, we planned to hike no more than two hours into the canyon, giving us about 4 hours to hike back out. For the first mile of the hike we followed a mule train, constantly avoiding their acrid piss puddles and making slow progress until they took a prolonged water break.
Seventy-five minutes into the hike, 3.5 miles along the trail, and about 3,000' below the rim we decided to take lunch then climb back out. The temperature had been rising steadily and we had no plans to run out of water before returning to the Wagon. The views of the canyon were amazing, but unfortunately the layout of the trail made it so we never could see the Colorado River. The hike back out was far easier than hiking down and we passed more groups completely unprepared for the heat that we would have liked.
Back at North Rim, Liv showered while I ran the Uncle Jim's Trail along the top of the canyon. It was an enjoyable run, except for the ankle rolling, and my breathing was almost 100% at the 8,000' elevation. Returning to the Wagon, Liv informed me the glove box couldn't open, a seemingly harmless nuisance that threaten the future livelihood of the trip. We spent almost two hours fighting with it, resorting to asking a ranger to shoot the glove box open with his riffle. He refused and we finished the day with our perishables possibly trapped for eternity. Damn you Volvo for building a quality glove box.
Driving out of North Rim, we aimed westward for Lake Mead. Dropping a few thousand feet back into Utah saw the temperature rise as usual but the desert sunset was one of the best of the trip. Making it to Hurricane, Utah, we hoped to camp at Sandy Hollow State Park, but arrived at the heavily fortified gate two minutes past closing. Heading back to town, we found the Willow Wind RV Park where kids were prohibited and the grass meticulously manicured. Setting the tent away from the Winnebago crowd, we set camp after talking to the rather unenlightened park residents.
Hopefully we'll be able to hit the road tomorrow morning sans payment.
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