April 24: I and my mom woke up early to leave from Phoenix, but first I had to commit to a college. You had to commit to May 1 and I would be timings during that time. I chose Colorado State, where I had just gotten back from. After spending 3 hours at a Starbucks and getting everything figured out we got to take the nice long drive up. I somehow slept almost the whole time, it was amazing. We got to flag and realized it was supposed to rain while I was out but forgot my poncho so we had to go buy one from Walmart. We then went out to Cedar Ranch. We got there a long time after I had planned and the day was almost over, I was supposed to hike almost 20 miles that day. As we looked around the flat dry landscape I decided "screw it" and had my mom drive me a few miles up the road. I know, I'm a cheater, but if you saw the area I was in I bet you wouldn't want to hike it either. By this time I was also hitting my mental limit. I wanted to be done, I changed my plans and made the next few days awful so I could get done faster. I missed home and I missed my friends and girlfriend. My mom dropped my off where the road became too rocky to drive in a mini van. When I got out the wind was screaming, the dust whipped at my feet and hurt my legs. A layer of dust caked the car, inside and out, by the time I shipped off. I had probably only hiked a 14th a mile before I met and elderly gentlemen who went by the name Old Pete. He seemed very friendly and was setting up his tent for the night. I headed back off, I still had quite a few miles to get to where I was planning that night. I surprisingly still had cell phone service, I was at least 30 miles in any direction from any sort of town. I used my LTE to call my sisters and my girlfriend. It s a strange thing, being so alone yet being able to connect with family in New York so easily. The terrain was the flattest I had seen almost the whole time, even the horizon was flat, something I had never seen in Arizona before. I was worried about that night because the wind was still blowing so sleeping would be difficult if I didn't find some sort of wind break. I made it to a small, shallow valley there was less wind but still quite a bit. I decided to camp there for the night, a nice windy night is just wanted I wanted.
April 25: I woke up that morning to some of the biggest scariest cows I had ever seen. I had camped near a cow tank that night and they had all coke for a morning drink. The area was flat and featureless so I had to walk along side a large bull with nothing to use for cover if he charged. He was kicking up dust and making the most testosterone filled moons I've ever heard. I snuck around the fences, with my bear spray ready to take down a cow. That was probably the only exciting thing about that day of hiking, the ground was flat and the weather was Windy and a little cold. The dirt against my legs still bugged me and made my shins red. Most of the day was along dirt roads, one of them was actually pretty busy, well as busy as a dirt road 40 miles from Water could be. Today was a strange day because on my original plan someone was going to resupply me today, and that was how I would get my water, but no resupply was coming so I had to hope a small tank had water in it where I was camping. Right before I got there I met a woman walking her little dogs, My presence scared them and that started barking at me. It turned out the spot I decided to camp was pretty popular, there was probably 5 or more RVs parked in the area. It was at a fire tower overlooking a tributary of the Colorado river, so it looked like the Grand Canyon in a mini. I climbed up in the fire tower and got a few good pics, even though the wind almost took my phone. I had hiked around 23 miles that day and I made it to the camp way early somehow. I used an outhouse has a windbreak and set my tent up on the east side. I made dinner and ate and the sun hadn't even gone down yet, I decided I would say hi to my neighbors. I met some guys from Iowa state who I guess we're on spring break, they were RVing and had planned on staying the night there, I talked with them for a bit and helped them find a better camp site out of the wind, After that I had hot cocoa and a good night of rest.
April 26: the game plan: hike into Tusyan and hang out that day there, I had a reservation for the night after in the Grand Canyon so I couldn't stay in the park that night, Tusayan is a small town entirely built to accommodate tourists going to the Grand Canyon so it's right on the border. windy day. The terrain finally changed and I started to see some hills and pines. It was only a 11ish mile day so I got done pretty early. Finished right on the edge of town and walked into a campground. I looked around for dinner, sad to see the Pizza Hut wasn't all you can eat, all the restaurants were very very expensive. I guess they can charge whatever they want with all the tourists coming in. I finally settled on a Mexican restaurant and got a Navajo taco, my favorite meal. It was decent and I had fried ice cream for dessert, after that I tried to see how much it would be to camp in the campgrounds. 35$ a night for their cheapest site. Lucky being the social butterfly I am I made friends with the owner and they said they would let me use the showers that night. I would camp right outside of town because it was all in a national forest. On my way out I met a woman who had a dog bigger than me and was planning on power gliding the canyon this week, which is super illegal. I really hope she did it and didn't get caught. I didn't have any shampoo so I ran to the store and bought the most expensive shampoo in my life and used the pay showers at the campgrounds. After that, I wasn't quite sure to do for the next few hours so I went to McDonald's, plugged in my phone and watched the gremlins on their wifi while eating chicken nuggets. Surprisingly I wasn't the weirdest looking person in there. Classic McDonalds. After nightfall I packed up my things and hopped the fence out of town and camped 10 feet from the campground I would have had to pay 35$ for. I felt like I had cheated the system.
April 27: I woke up to the sound of planes and helicopters, more than I had even seen in my life. A plane would fly overhead and as the sound of it faded the sound of another one would replace it, it happened all day. I had 4 miles to hike, that's all. It was also all paved and I got the amazing confidence boost because I was in the Grand Canyon. I finished my hike for the day in like an hour. I checked in to my campsite and unpacked some of my stuff, I showered and washed my clothes. All the AZT thru-hikers get put in the same place, it was me and a guy named sage, he was probably around 24 and from Phoenix, the only other thru-hiker from AZ I met. I went to one of the lodges to get dinner and ended up filling up on soup because my meal was very small, while I ate they turned on moans because it was a kids night, so of course I ended up hanging out with some moms watching Moana while eating soup and free popcorn, what else did you expect me to do at the Grand Canyon? I took a quick trip to the store there, that somehow had decent prices. I ran into Pete, who I had met on the trail 3 days before, he lost a tent peg and I told him he could just Have one of my extras. I got a bunch of snacks for the day and toured the rim Of the canyon. I checked out almost every area that evening and went to a nice point to watch the sunset, I took a selfie there which is very unlike me. I took the last tram back to camp and talked with sage for a while. I connected better with him than anyone else I had met during my trip. I also talked with some Belgians who were biking the nation. My mom had left a resupply box With the camp host and I got T-storm him, I had way too much food and gave some to sage and Pete, and the Belgians. I and Sage tried to start I hiker box for the AZT hikers but the Rangers wouldn't let us. I finished washing some clothes and went to bed.
April 28: the canyon. What I had been looking forward to this whole trip. I started off my day pretty late, slept in and got another shower. My day was only 12 miles, and a fairly well traversed 12 miles at that. I and Sage stopped by the store and I said goodbye to him after I completed my hike I found his real name was Richard, which totally blew my mind because he didn't look like one at all. Anywho I took a shuttle to the rim, I cheated a little whoops. Then had an older guy who I don't think had ever used a camera before take my picture, they were all bad. I started the canyon, it was a lovely day and not too busy which was nice. I had been down the canyon a few times before but never down the South Kaibab trail, only bright angel and North Kaibab. I met so so many people. There was a southern couple who had completed parts of the application trail. There were a man and his wife from Holland who was a riot to talk to. The man seemed to take a real interest in what I was doing, and at one point he ditched his wife so he could hike further with me. He gave me Stroope-waffle (the most typical Dutch food on the planet) and headed back up this his wife, they later donated a few bucks to my campaign, making it international. Last but not least I met Alex and John, they were a couple of college kids from Iowa. I met them about 2 miles down and hiked with them to the bottom, so for about 4 miles. They were some pretty good guys and I got as close as you can get to people you've only known for a few hours. They really liked taking selfies and I got some good ones of me during that time. They stayed the night on the bottom, at bright angel camp, but I was headed part of the way up the north rim to cottonwood. Now I had gotten to an area I had hiked before, I had gone down there twice the year before, and rim-to-rimed once. I was now on my old stomping ground and it was nice to see a familiar area. I said goodbye to the guys then, stopped in the cantina at Phantom Ranch for an iced tea and snack. I sent out about 8 postcards to friends, family and a couple who I promised one to in exchange for a phone charger at the beginning of my hike. John and Alex came in and had a snack with me too, I watched as people who had had pack mules carry their food down start making guacamole and boy did it look good. Everyone was kicked out because they had to get ready to serve dinner, I said goodbye to Alex and John and headed off, I had 6 more miles that day. It went by pretty quick and I made it a point not to listen to music, the creek I went up was a roaring torrent and it sounded very cool against the canyon walls, it would bounce around and echo in strange was. A really cool side hike I had been on before, ribbon falls were completely inaccessible because of the flooding, the bridge had been damaged. I made it to Cottonwood early and set up camp. My spot was sort of secluded so I didn't end up talking to anyone and went to bed early.
April 29: I woke up the roaring of the creek, even from my campsite I could hear the water rush down the canyon. Today was one of the days I was dreading most, the North Rim. I had to climb about 5000 feet over 7ish miles, it sounds like a short day but it's very steep all day. When I had done it before it about killed me. I saw very few people this day, only the occasional person running rim-to-rim-to-rim in a day, so they didn't have much time to talk. the entire north rim of the canyon was closed. It didn't open up for another month after my trip so the only highway to get in was closed. I had a spot on the campground on the north rim and was thinking there might not be too many people there. There were some closers in the trail due to all the rain and I luckily made it the very day they opened it back up. It started snowing part of the way up, which was pretty exciting. It was actually the first snow I had gotten my whole trip, everything else was just ground cover. This coupled with my Narnia soundtrack made for a pretty cool climb. I finished way before and with way more ease than I thought I would. I met some guys at the top of the north rim who had obviously not been very prepared. They were totally out of the water and really hungry. I still had at least 2 liters of water with me, I usually didn't drink much during the day. I gave them that and some banana chips and they headed back down the canyon. When starting this leg I was worried about how cold it was going to be and for good reason, the north rim is at 9000 feet and a lot of it I wouldn't be able to hike through due to waist deep snow cover making it impossible to find The trail. I had to put on all my clothes and my balaclava and the cold wind stung my face and it passed over me. I went to the north rim campground, which was deserted. I found a man washing windows (which seemed sort of pointless) at the camp lodge. There was no one else at the entire campground, a campground with over 300 sites. With all these open sites I naturally chose to just sleep in the outhouse that night for a windbreak. I walked to the rangers station which had water. I had some trouble finding it but I did. I talked with one of the Rangers in the station there for a bit, it was super nice to be out of the freezing cold. After that, I went back to my camp and decided to hike down the to the lodge, which I knew wasn't open but I wanted the views. I hiked down there and for the fun of it tried to open some doors, I found an open bathroom but it looked like I shouldn't have been in there because all the water was off, I took some pretty sweet pictures and was astounded how such a large lodge could be completely empty. I saw a very large storm cell moving in that came out of nowhere and rushed the little ways back to my camp grounds. Somehow at camp, I had LTE service, who knows why or how. I haven't had LTE since Tusyan not even at the south rim. I called my mom and one of my sisters while I passed the time. I had a lot of downtime before dark so I went and explored the campgrounds, at the main lodge I found a door ajar, it was a pretty spooky looking basement door, with large "do not enter! asbestos warning!" Signs, so, of course, I went in any way. Inside of this basement was one of the most horrifying sights I've ever seen, it still haunts me to this day. There sitting alone, under a single small light in the middle of the room, the only thing the eerie little light touched was...was a....was a POPCORN MACHINE!!!! After that I went and snuggled up in my outhouse, went on Instagram for the first time in a while and went to bed, sleep was amazing and the outhouse was so much warmer than outside.
April 30th: One of the most boring yet beautiful days of my whole trip. I woke up early that morning, I had 50 miles to Jacob Lake and 2 days to a pickup. I had been told the snow had been so deep I might need to hike along the highway, which was kept clear for the Rangers on the north rim station. I tried my luck with the trail and within less than a tenth of a mile I realized I could do it, my feet had already become drenched from snow melt seeping into my boots, which had really been through a lot the past few 600-700 miles. Though it had only been a month old they were about dead. I met back up with the highway and dreaded the next 50 miles. Even worse than hiking trails is walking along the road for long distances, the hard pavement makes your feet hurt within a few miles. Lucky for me I had to do like 30 miles today.... the day took a very long time. The weather was freezing, I was in a strange limbo of wearing all my clothes and baking from The sun and taking my jacket off and freezing from the excessive winds. I kept my balaclava on all day because the wind was so bad. There were times I couldn't hear my music and podcasts as I walked because the wind would make such loud whistling in my ears. I passed out of the national park boundary and onto Kaibab national forest, one of the most beautiful areas of my hike. The plant life was nothing like anywhere else in the state, it was more comparable to Colorado where there was more water that could support such lush greenery. There was also a ton of water from the snow melt, lakes had emerged in what had been dry during my last visits, flocks of ducks swam in these ever sided puddles and make for a relaxing view. At some point I saw a few large RVs and was confused, the area was supposed to be closed??? There were 2 men standing around an ATV and talked to them For a bit. They were super nice and told me they were hunting bison in the area. They gave me a Gatorade, or two and sent me on my way. Those were the only people I saw that day, other than some trucks hauling water to the north rim station. Near the end of the day, I went off the road and used my GPS to find the trail. Which wasn't too far off to the side. I needed to stay near water and there was none along the road. I set up camp near an old corral and a large pond. The water was crystal clear and full of ducks, I sat there thinking this was my last real night in the trail, tomorrow I was staying at Jacob lake lodge and getting a ride back and I only had one day after that. I took a long break there, something I had not really done. I often pushed myself during my trip and I wished I haven't but this was not one of those times. I sat in silence, relaxed and fetched water to filter. I went to bed after a good meal.
May 1: I woke up to the sound of hooves, large hooves running through my camp. I'm pretty sure it was a bison but I can't say 100% what it was because I didn't see it. As I made breakfast in the comfort of my sleeping bag due to the cold a truck drive past the little road I was near. It stopped and a man started looking around, probably game. I started walking over to him and when I was pretty close I said hello and scared the living daylights out of him. We talked for a while before he moved on, hunting turkey. The morning was freezing but it warmed up quickly, I was able to stay on the trail most of the day because I had gone down in elevation and the snow had eased up. Much of the day was hiking through burned down forest so they were pretty boring, I got my first glimpse of the finish, the Vermillion cliffs and somewhere below them, I knew was a campground that marked the state line and the end of my trip. Later on in the day, I left the trail to hike into Jacob Lake. I would call it a town but it's really just a gas station and lodge. I had to walk along the highway again. I made the mistake of listening to a podcast about an ax murderer who killed people in the forest, as I walked alone in the forest. I got a little paranoid so that was nice. Before I knew it I was coming into Jacob Lake. My dad was going to meet me a little later, I got my room and grabbed a cookie at the store, went to my room And took the nicest shower ever. My dad showed up and we ate some burgers at the diner, came black to our room, relaxed the rest of the night and went to bed on a real bed.
May 2: My dad and I left and took a long drive back to Tucson, I had to come home one day (28 miles) before the end of my trip because I needed time to make and practice my presentation that I was required to give for my senior project. I would have to come up right after and finish up my last day
