Unlimited Sunshine

Another hitch in the Grand Canyon flew by, with 9 days of unlimited sunshine. I don't think we had a drop of precipitation, a nice break from last hitch's wild weather.

(drying off after the hike up to the worksite)

We camped with CREC (another work crew) at tip-off with the giant orange dome tent again. That place really felt like home this time and it was a joy to wake up there every morning.

(morning stretch circle on the tonto)

We tackled one of the most challenging sections of the trail this time, the switchbacks right in the meat of the red and whites, and I'd say we did a damn fine job. Everybody worked really hard, especially our amazing volunteers. I don't think I heard a single complaint from any of them the entire hitch, which is really unbelievable. They made this one really special.

(South Kaibab, finished trail in the foreground, unmaintained trail around the switchback)

CREC had one of their education specialists come down to give a presentation on primitive survival techniques, and he showed us how to make fire using the bow and drill technique. They were gracious enough to let us try our hand at it, so I got to whittle my fireboard and drill out of yucca wood and I got a fire going my first try! It's really interesting, the hot ash from the drill and board creates a little pile that coalesces into a burning coal right in front of your eyes. Then it's like a little baby that you have to nudge into a tinder ball and nurture until it blossoms into a flame right in your hands.

("Mowgli, teach me how to make fire!", yucca wood drill and board with animal bone spindle)

NPS hooked us up again with some awesome equipment, this time including an elevated fire pit, so we actually got to build a real campfire in the Grand Canyon...something you just can't do if you're not a work crew. It was a once in a lifetime experience, roasting marshmallows over the open flame on the Tonto Plateau, stars shining above. I'm so grateful for that experience.

(Fire in the Canyon, with requisite Swiss Miss)

We were mandated to take a bath one time during the hitch, so we took turns hiking in pairs down to the river after a half day of work. I went with my boy Matches after four days of hard work and had an amazing cold dip in the Colorado, right on the Boat Beach at Phantom Ranch. Then we sent some postcards and caught an interpretive talk about the Kolb brothers under the Sycamore tree. On the way back up to a wonderful dinner, we got caught in traffic behind a big horn sheep for about 15 minutes. It just kept walking up the trail ahead of us, dawdling around and snorting at us. After Patches took 100 pictures of it, we were done with the creature so I snorted at it. It froze, peed on the trail and then took off, so I think I won the territorial battle.

(The creature, blocking our path to food)

The last day I made another trip down to Phantom for a swim in Bright Angel Creek, which has warmed up considerably since January. Those hikes up to camp at dusk, clean, full of sunshine and with no pack are the best, and arriving to a freshly prepared dinner is the icing on the cake. We'll be heading to Montezuma's Well National Monument on Tuesday for a four day hitch, and then probably back to the Canyon after that to start working on the upper half of the South Kaibab. Life is good.

(too much energy on day 1)