"Heather's Grand Birthday"

Another year, another birthday...just five days after Mary's third birthday, I celebrated my thirty-third. And, to celebrate 33 years living in Arizona, we decided that we would go someplace I had never been before: the Grand Canyon. Yes, laugh all you want, but it is true: I am an Arizona native who had never been to the Grand Canyon. Naturally, it was on my list of things to do, and all we needed was a three or four day weekend in order to make the trip. John decided that this would be the year, and we arranged to take a four-day weekend immediately after my birthday. He planned out the whole trip and researched all of the possibilities for a memorable weekend. The plan for the weekend was to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is far more scenic and far less crowded than the more popular South Rim. We would be able to use our recently purchased National Park pass for the first time - we had just ordered it on-line to use during our vacation in September. As for lodging, we decided to camp in the Kaibab National Forest, about halfway in between Jacob's Lake and the park entrance, so that we would not have to pay for campground fees...and, of course, so that we would have a nice, quiet weekend in the woods, without having to worry about noisy neighbors! One week prior to our trip, we made one more major purchase, something to make our camping trip - as well as our upcoming road trip and all future camping trips - a little more comfortable. We bought a 17 cubic foot Thule roof pod for the Jeep. As soon as we loaded it onto the Jeep and packed it full of camping gear, we were convinced that we had made a worthwhile investment. It was going to make a huge difference on the amount of space we had inside of the Jeep, and with another child coming into our lives, we needed all the space we could get. This would be the pod's maiden voyage, the true test of its efficiency. We hoped that it would work out well for us. So, with all of our gear packed in the pod and the ice chests and food box in the main cab of the Jeep, John and Mary and I left our house at 4:00 a.m. Friday morning to begin our long journey to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive would take us about six hours to complete, so we decided to get as early a start as possible. The first two hours of our journey - I-17 to Flagstaff - were very quiet as Mary slept peacefully in her car seat. (We had pulled her out of her bed and put her in the car without waking her. Our parents used to do that to us as kids, and it wasn't until I had a toddler of my own that I realized that my parents had the right idea!) Mary didn't wake up until we arrived in Flagstaff, shortly after 6:00 a.m. That was when we stopped for breakfast at the Village Inn on Milton Avenue. After breakfast, we took our time in Flagstaff, making sure that we had enough gas and supplies to get us to our destination. Then, we headed north on US 89, where we soon entered the Navajo Nation. That was when our journey slowed down - not for traffic, but for bathroom breaks. After all, we were trying to reinforce Mary's potty-training (and keep her car seat dry, too), so we had to make sure to stop at least every ninety minutes for potty breaks. Our first stop was in the town of Cameron, near the Little Colorado River. We parked behind the Chevron station and used some of the dirtiest facilities I had ever seen...but at least Mary went potty! Next, we stopped at the Navajo Bridge, which is located in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We spent about a half an hour there, exploring the bridge and admiring the beauty of the Colorado River. We also stopped in the National Park Service visitor center so that we could purchase a National Park passport book, in which we could date-stamp our visits to the National Parks. (That would be a fun diversion for Mary, now that she was old enough to appreciate it.) In that book, she received her first stamp - for the Glen Canyon NRA - and there would be many more to come. Not long after we left Navajo Bridge, we continued along US 89A, passing by Lee's Ferry, Marble Canyon, and Cliff Dwellings, until we arrived at the Dominguez-Escalante Historical Marker. Now, it wasn't necessarily the historical marker that made us stop there, rather it was its proximity to the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area. According to our map, that was where the wilderness area bordered the highway, so we took the opportunity to stop there so that Mary could have a chance to enter the wilderness. We parked next to the historical marker and hiked the short distance to the barbed wire fence that was the wilderness boundary (though there were no signs indicating such). There was not, however, a gate through which we could pass to enter the wilderness area - that meant that I would not be able to go inside. That did not mean that Mary would have to miss out; in fact, to ensure that Mary would get that wilderness area, John lifted her up and over the barbed wire and set her down on the other side. And what did she do? She went hiking...by herself! "Look, Daddy, I'm hiking!" she said, walking away further and further away from us, with her little backpack on her back. "Um, maybe one of us should go get her," I said to John, knowing that he was going to be obvious choice. (There was no way I could climb over the barbed wire fence in my condition.) He agreed, so he found a safe place for him to scale the fence. Once on the other side, he went after Mary and brought her back to me...but not before they took the time to explore a nearby ditch! John helped Mary climb down into it and climb out of it, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She was still giggling as he finally steered her back towards the fence. After we got back into the Jeep, we continued our drive towards the Grand Canyon. Soon after leaving the desert floor, the highway began its long, steep climb up the Kaibab Plateau, at which point we left the Navajo Nation behind and entered the Kaibab National Forest. Along the way, we watched the landscape change from the dry, red Navajo sandstone to pinions and junipers and finally tall pine trees and blue spruce as we reached an elevation of 8,000 feet. We arrived in Jacob's Lake around 10:00 a.m. and stopped there for one last potty break. Then, we turned to go south on SR 67, where it was another 40 miles to the park entrance - the final leg of our journey. About twelve miles south of Jacob's Lake, we turned off onto FR 429 in order to look for a place to camp for the next three nights. We followed FR 429 for a couple of miles, until we came to a most humorous sign: "Mile and a Half - 1/2 mile". Not knowing the area very well, we thought that it was funny that "Mile and a Half" (whatever that was) was not 1-1/2 miles away but 1/2 mile away. A half a mile later, we found Mile and a Half - it was a primitive camping area that was available for large groups by reservation. It was in that general area that we decided to look for a place to camp, and we soon found a suitable campsite only a half a mile from there, off of a side road. While Mary played with her toys, including the elephant and the rhinoceros that John had won for her playing one of the games at the Village Inn in Flagstaff, John and I set up our campsite. We pitched two tents - the large one for us, and the little one for Mary and all of her toys - as well as the table and chairs and camp stove. By the time we were finished, it was time for lunch, so I made sandwiches for everyone while John played a game with Mary. (They played with Mary's new Wiggles Memory Game, which I had given to her for her birthday. It seemed like a good idea at the time...) Once lunch was over, it was time for us to go to the Grand Canyon. We took a few minutes to cover up our camping gear with a tarp (in case it rained while we were gone); then, we were off on our Grand adventure. En route to the park entrance, we passed by the Kaibab Lodge, where we discovered that there was a general store - a place where we could buy ice and gas and snacks if we needed them. We stopped briefly to find out how late they were open, since we didn't know how long we planned to be at the park. Fortunately, they were open until 8:00 p.m., so we had plenty of time! From the Kaibab Lodge, it was only about ten miles to the park entrance. As soon as we arrived, we stopped at the fee booth to show the ranger our brand new National Park pass. She took it and punched a hole in it to indicate that it would expire in August 2004; then, she handed it back to us along with maps and information about the park. As we pulled away from the station and entered the park, she wished us a nice visit. "Where are we going?" Mary asked from her car seat. "We're going to see a big hole in the ground," John replied. "Oh!" she said with excitement. She couldn't wait to see it! It was another ten miles past the park entrance to the visitor center and lodge. As soon as we parked the car, we followed the flow of people streaming from the parking lot to the Bright Angel Point Trail - a quarter-mile long paved trail leading from the visitor center parking lot to Bright Angel Point. It then looped back towards the visitor center, ending at the lodge. The trail was quite crowded that afternoon - there was a steady flow of tourists coming and going as we hiked along. Mary didn't seem to mind the crowds at all - she was hell-bent on going to see the big hole in the ground and barged right through the crowds, nearly tripping up a few of the other hikers. At one point, she tripped and nearly fell down herself, trying to dodge another person - of course, she was frightfully close to the edge and nearly gave me a heart attack! We took our time hiking to Bright Angel Point, so that we could stop and take pictures along the way. There were some marvelous vistas all along the trail, and we had to see them all. About halfway to the point, there was a place were we could climb out onto the rocks and stand on the edge of the cliff overlooking the canyon. John thought it would be fun to do that, but once he looked over the edge, he remembered that he didn't like heights. "I don't think I'll ever be a BASE-jumper," he said. "That looks scary!" That was when the park ranger asked him kindly to come back onto the trail - it wasn't safe for him to be out that far. "Don't worry," I told the ranger. "He's already scared himself - he's coming back!" We hiked all the way out to the Point, where we came to a most stunning view of the Grand Canyon - and, for the first time in the thirty-three years of my life, I was finally there! Sure, I had seen pictures of the Canyon, but those pictures could never do it justice. The Grand Canyon is a place that must be experienced first-hand in order to see it for all its beauty. Even with the low rain clouds that obscured the view, it was simply incredible! Not only was Mary fascinated with the canyon, but she was equally fascinated by the boulders at Bright Angel Point. We helped her climb on top of one boulder, which was about four and a half feet tall (a whole eighteen inches taller than her!). Once at the top, she sat down with a huge smile on her face and said, "I did it!" She was quite proud of herself. Another couple offered to take our picture at Bright Angel Point, so we handed them our camera; then, we returned the favor and took one of them using their camera. With that said and done, all of us began hiking back to the visitor center. We hiked at a quick pace this time, as it was beginning to sprinkle just a little bit, and we had left our rain jackets in the Jeep! It took us about fifteen minutes to return to the lodge from Bright Angel Point, with Mary hiking at her own pace. The trail took us up to the outdoor patio, where there were rows of chairs overlooking the canyon. We entered the lodge through the tall, glass doors and made our way through the lobby, where a line of people had formed to check in at the old western style hotel clerk's counter. It looked like a long wait. We stepped outside of the lodge and went into some of the gift shops nearby, to see if there was anything we wanted to buy. John also stopped at one of the coffee shops to buy us ice cream cones. (It was Mary's first ice cream cone, and though she enjoyed the ice cream, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with the cone!) Finally, we went to the visitor center in order to stamp our passport book, to show that we had been there. It was still early in the day when we returned to the Jeep, so John suggested that we take a drive to one of the scenic overlooks on the map. Even though it would be a long drive, he decided to take us to Cape Royal, to do a little more hiking and to take some more pictures of the Grand Canyon. The drive to Cape Royal was long indeed, following a winding-twisting paved road up to the scenic overlook - and it didn't help that we got behind a slow-moving van that we weren't able to pass! Along the way, both Mary and I fell asleep - the 3:30 a.m. start time had finally caught up to me. By the time we arrived at Cape Royal, the temperature had dropped by about twenty degrees, and the sky was completely covered with low-lying rain clouds that threatened to open up at any moment. Nonetheless, we decided to brave the elements anyway and go on the short hike to the overlook, bringing with us our rain jackets, just in case. And it was a good thing, too, because as soon as we reached the overlook at Angel's Window, the skies opened up, dumping a light rain on us at first. Thunder rolled all around us, and there were bright flashes of lightning everywhere, making it a very dangerous place to be. We hiked back to the Jeep as quickly as we could and made it back there just in time for the big downpour. It was getting late in the day, and with all of the rain, we weren't going to have much of a chance to see anything else, so we decided that it was time to head back to camp. As we drove out of the park, through the pouring rain, we found a rather curious sight: white stuff along the sides of the road! Was it snow in August, or was it hail? Although we knew that it had to be hail, we stopped anyway to get a closer look and to take a picture of it, just for the curiosity factor. It was nearly five o'clock when we arrived at the Kaibab Lodge and the general store, and the rain was still falling on us. That was when we made our big decision: what to do for dinner? Should we tough it out and cook dinner at camp, or should we eat dinner at the Kaibab Lodge, where we could warm up and get out of the rain? It was a tough choice, as you can well imagine, and the obvious answer was to have dinner at the Kaibab Lodge. After all, we enjoy roughing it...but we're not crazy! We arrived at the Kaibab Lodge about fifteen minutes before the dining room opened up for dinner, so we passed the time by browsing through the gift shop in the lobby. At five o'clock on the dot, the restaurant opened up, and the hostess began seating everyone. We were seated next to the window, and from there we watched the rain as we ate our dinner. By the time we were finished eating, the rain had finally stopped, so we decided to head back to camp. Ironically, when we arrived, we found that our campsite was bone dry - it had not rained there at all. We knew, however, that if we had decided to eat dinner at camp, it would have rained the entire time, so we did not regret our decision to eat dinner at the Kaibab Lodge. We spent the rest of the evening sitting by the campfire while Mary played with her Wiggles Memory Game. At eight o'clock, we put her into her warm pajamas and tucked her into her sleeping bag for the night. She was so tired that she was asleep within minutes. John and I managed to make it another hour before we, too, decided to turn in for the night. We awoke the next day to a clear but cold morning - it looked like it was going to be a good day for exploring a new wilderness area. The plan for the day was to hike the Kanab Creek Wilderness, as long as the weather allowed for it. (Had it been raining that morning, we would have planned to do something else.) This would be a new wilderness area for all three of us, so it was sure to be an adventurous day. The trail that we were to hike was the Snake Gulch-Kanab Creek Trail #59, a 21.5 mile long trail located at the end of FR 642. Of course, we weren't going to do the entire 21.5 miles of the trail, not in my condition, but we hoped to be able to hike a few miles into the wilderness. To get there from our campsite, we made our way to FH22 - a dirt highway - and traveled north to FR 423, which we followed for a little over a mile until we reached FR 642. It was our understanding that 642 was a 4-wheel drive road, however, we discovered that it was passable in a sedan. At the end of FR 642, we came to the trailhead, where there was a large parking area surrounded by boulders and a kiosk with trail information. That was where our day's adventure would begin. Our hopes for a dry, sunny day began to fall apart as soon as we started driving to the trailhead that morning. During the time it took for us to get to the trailhead, gray clouds covered up the entire sky, and they threatened to open up on us at any second. Then, as soon as we arrived at the trailhead, a light drizzle began to fall. Since Mary had fallen asleep en route, we decided to wait it out to see if the rain would let up before we began our hike. While we waited, John and I got our hiking equipment together in preparation for our wilderness adventure. It didn't take long for the drizzle to stop, so we awoke Mary and began our day hike on the Snake Gulch Trail. Although over twenty miles long, the Snake Gulch Trail #59 is a very easy trail that follows along a dry wash as it winds through a very pretty canyon. A quarter of a mile from the trailhead, as the trail turned to head west, we found an old crumbling building, about which we knew absolutely nothing. We stopped to take a picture of it, just because it was interesting. A few hundred yard beyond the old house, we came to the Kanab Creek Wilderness boundary. John explained that the wilderness area is actually divided into two parts. We were going to hike in the part that was managed by the National Forest Service, as it was part of the Kaibab National Forest. There was also a section of the wilderness that was managed by the Bureau of Land Management; there was a trailhead located at Hack Canyon, along the Kanab Plateau, where hikers could access the BLM portion of the wilderness. He also explained that the Snake Gulch Trail #59 eventually intersected with Kanab Creek, a major tributary of the Colorado River. It would be a long backpacking trip, but hikers could follow Kanab Creek all the way into the Grand Canyon, at the point where Kanab Creek meets the Colorado. I'm sure that you would needs permits to go that far, though - after all, the creek eventually passes into the National Park. Beginning at an elevation of about 5800 feet, the trail traipsed through a landscape of desert shrubs - creosote and mesquite and other prickly plants. Typically, it was a trail that would not be suitable to hike on an August afternoon, as it would be too hot and exposed, but with the cloud cover and the drizzle, it was a perfect day for that trail. John and I very much enjoyed it. Mary, on the other hand, only enjoyed it when she didn't have to hike it. When perched upon John's shoulders, Mary was happy as a clam, because she didn't have to do any of the work. As soon as John put her down on the trail and ordered her to hike, she threw a fit. Now, we did manage to distract her to keep her from whining. One way was by providing her with food - chewy granola bars worked quite nicely. The other thing that distracted her was the insect life that we found. The summer monsoons had brought out all sorts of insects, including thousands and thousands of fuzzy caterpillars! They were crawling on every bush and all along the trail - you couldn't walk without stepping on one! Mary tried to pick them up, and when they wriggled between her fingers, she squealed with a mixture of disgust and delight. "Ew, gross!" she exclaimed, while laughing hysterically at the same time. After about an hour, at which point we had hiked just over two miles, we decided that it was time to take a break. We found several large boulders along the side of the trail, and there we sat to eat snacks and rest. We also used that opportunity to teach Mary an important outdoors technique, something that she would always need to know: how to pee in the woods. Now that she was almost potty trained and was wearing underwear, we had decided that it was time that Mary learned how to relieve herself when there wasn't a potty chair around for her to use. (Fortunately for Mary, she wasn't going to have to learn the hard way, like I did - while trying to empty a shy bladder after drinking the equivalent of a whole bottle of wine, with all of John's relatives laughing in the background!) Naturally, Mary didn't have a single problem peeing in the woods - after all, she was a wild child, raised to love the outdoors. That's what happens when you start kids out that young. (I mean, Mary was twenty-six days old when she camped for the first time.) As soon as I showed her what to do, she did it, no questions asked, and she was quite proud of herself, too. While we were resting, another light drizzle began to fall on us, so John decided that it was time for us to start hiking back to the Jeep. Had we not had Mary with us, he would have loved to continue hiking, but he just didn't want to risk Mary getting sick being out in that weather. It took us only an hour to hike back to the trailhead, even with Mary hiking most of the trail on her own two legs. In order to get her to hike, John offered her a series of compromises ("You hike to that tree and then I'll carry you!"), and he made a game out of it, too. Towards the end of the trail, as soon as we left the wilderness area, the two of them turned the hike into a race to see who could get back to the Jeep first. Mary was so excited about it that she won the race. To celebrate the end of a fun hike, we took a family picture at the trailhead. Then, since it was eleven o'clock - lunchtime - I opened up the ice chest and made sandwiches for all of us. We ate them in the warmth of the Jeep, while John consulted the forest map to decide where to go next. It was still very early in the day - much too early to return to camp - so John suggested that we go on a scenic drive. The Kaibab National Forest was full of scenic roads, and a lot of them ended at vistas overlooking the Grand Canyon. John navigated as I drove. Once we were back on FH 22, he directed me to go south, so I zipped along the dirt highway, splashing through mud puddles along the way. (The Jeep and the roof pod got quite dirty, as you can imagine.) We traveled that way for more than ten miles, until we came to FR 214, where John asked me to turn right. FR 214 ended at an overlook called Parissawampitts (which John affectionately nicknamed "Paris Armpits", in order to remember the name). He had seen that there was a trail there that was sure to have spectacular views of the canyon - and since the rain had stopped and the sun had come back out, he suggested that we go on a little hike, to see what there was to see. We hiked about a quarter of a mile of the trail, which, by its description was supposed to follow along the edge of the canyon. Instead, it began to descend steeply into the canyon. As we went deeper and deeper into the ravine, our spectacular view disappeared, obstructed by the number of fir and spruce trees that lined the trail. Disappointed, we decided to turn around and head back to the Jeep, before we ended up too far into the ravine for me to be able to hike back! Now it was Mary's naptime, so for the rest of the afternoon, we continued our scenic drive of the area. Eventually, we returned to the Grand Canyon National Park and drove to Point Imperial to see the view there. We also considered driving the Point Sublime Trail, which was supposed to be a great road for 4X4's, but with all of the rain that we had been having, we decided that it wasn't worth the risk. Later that day, our journey took us back to the Kaibab Lodge, where we stopped to fill up our gas tank and buy ice at the general store. We then returned to camp to spend time relaxing and playing games with Mary. We also taught her one more important aspect of camp-life: how to poop in the woods. We had been having a very difficult time showing her how to poop in the potty - every time she had to go, she went in her pants, and that was driving us batty! This time, we caught her before the "accident" could take place, and we used that opportunity to show her how to squat over a cat hole. The technique worked only once, but at least it was a step in the right direction. That evening, we ate dinner at camp, since it didn't rain for the rest of the day. Then, once the dishes were done and put away, we spent time sitting around the campfire watching Mary play and planning out our hike for the next day. We had decided to do a short hike in Grand Canyon National Park: a five-mile loop called Uncle Jim's Trail. It was described as an easy trail that winds through the forest and ends at Uncle Jim's Point, which provides visitors with another stunning view of the canyon. On the downside, the trail is heavily used by both mules and hikers. Since we were interesting in hiking it anyway, we decided that we would take our chances with the crowds. The next morning, after another peaceful night in the Kaibab forest, John and Mary and I awoke to start the day. Once again, the skies were sunny and clear, but having been duped so many times already, we weren't expecting it to stay that way all day. As soon as we were dressed and fed, we got into the Jeep and drove to the Kaibab Trailhead, which was located just a few miles south of the park entrance. Since we were so late getting there, we arrived to find that the parking lot was already full, but we were fortunate to find that someone was leaving at just the right time, and we were able to take that parking space. While I prepared sandwiches and snacks for our hike, John took Mary over to see the mules at the trailhead. Even though the corral was a considerable distance from our parking spot, I could still hear Mary as plain as day, calling out to the mules. ("Hi, Horsie!" she said to them. John explained to her that they were mules, but she didn't seem to care. After all, to her, they all looked like horses.) Once all of our gear had been prepped, John and Mary and I set off on our day hike along the Uncle Jim Trail. The trail actually began on the Ken Patrick Trail, which started next to the mule corrals at the end of the parking lot. There was a commemorative plaque located there, explaining that the trail was named for Park Ranger Ken Patrick, who had been killed some twenty years ago in the line of duty while working at Point Reyes National Seashore. (Interestingly, we had never seen anything about Ken Patrick while visiting Point Reyes two years ago!) Almost immediately, the trail began to climb. Although the slope wasn't very steep, it was a difficult climb because we had to trudge through a sticky mixture of mud and mule pee that smelled just as bad as it looked. We eventually found an alternate path on higher ground, but not before our boots were covered with mud. Fortunately, the views made up for the disgusting mess found along the trail. The first mile of the trail - the portion that follows the Ken Patrick Trail - skirts along the rim of the Grand Canyon and offers some very lovely views. At the end of the first mile, we came a trail junction, where the Ken Patrick Trail intersected with the Uncle Jim Trail. (From there, the Ken Patrick Trail continued on for another nine miles, winding through the beautiful forest.) We went with the Uncle Jim Trail as planned. As it left the trail junction, the Uncle Jim Trail dropped steeply into a drainage then soon climbed back out again...but after that, the trail remained flat all the way to Uncle Jim's Point. It was also mule-free, meaning we didn't have to dodge anymore mule dung - that was the most pleasant part of our hike. We soon came to an unmarked junction, where the loop trail began. We decided to take the counter-clockwise loop, which took us to the point much faster. It wasn't much later that we arrived at Uncle Jim's Point, where we found a very large, flat area that would be suitable for camping...but it was completely surrounded by trees! What kind of a view was that? Naturally, being the explorers that we are, we went looking for the view and discovered a spur trail leading out beyond the trees and onto the point. That was when we discovered THE VIEW! It was one of the most amazing views of the Canyon yet - mainly because it was so peaceful and quiet there. We were the only ones there - there weren't hundreds of other people all trying to enjoy the view with us. For the longest time, John and Mary and I sat on Uncle Jim's Point, enjoying the solitude and the beautiful view of the canyon. From Uncle Jim's Point, we could also see the Kaibab Trail, one of the many trails that goes deep into the Grand Canyon. John and I both had to laugh at the many, many switchbacks that made up the trail. Since both of us were pretty out of shape, we knew that neither one of us would be able to do that trail...but one day we may be crazy enough to do it! After a while, we returned to the tree-lined campsite and sat down on a set of logs that someone had crafted as chairs. One of them had even been dug out so that it had a back to it. (Mary chose that chair - it became her princess throne.) We rested there for about a half an hour while we ate our lunch. Our peaceful lunch was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter circling over the canyon. We weren't sure if it was on a rescue mission or if it was merely on patrol, but it was certainly flying at a low altitude. At one point, it circled over the campsite at about a 1,000 feet - low enough that we could see that it belonged the the National Park Service. It circled overhead twice; then, it flew away. John and I shrugged and went back to our lunch. Around noon, we decided that it was time to complete our hike. We packed up our garbage and then stepped back onto the Uncle Jim Trail to complete the loop. The rest of the loop was completely flat; it wound its way through the forest, still skirting along the rim of the canyon so that we had great views. Along the way, we kept our eyes out for wildlife and found a very large pheasant sneaking through the foliage alongside of the trail. We added that to the list of animals we had already seen so far: deer, elk, wild turkeys, and porcupines, among others. (We had been told that the North Rim was the place to see animals - and it was true!) As it neared the unmarked junction, the trail began to switchback downhill. It then continued to descend past the junction, until we reached the drainage, where we stopped to take a break. (Mary had insisted that it was time to go potty, so she put her new skills to the test and peed in the woods!) From the drainage, it was all uphill again to the junction with the Ken Patrick Trail. And just in time, too, because dark gray monsoon clouds were beginning to gather overhead, and the thunder was growing louder by the second. (As I said earlier, we weren't about to be duped by clear skies in the morning - we knew this was coming!) Despite the mule pee and the mud, we hiked the last mile of the trail as quickly as we could, in order to make it to the Jeep before the big downpour. Naturally, the big downpour never happened, because were made it to the trailhead before the skies could open up on us! Once we were back in the Jeep, we said good-bye to the Grand Canyon National Park and went to do a little exploring along the backroads of the Kaibab National Forest. One of our destinations was the Saddle Mountain Wilderness Area, which we had no intention of hiking - we just hoped to hike long enough to enter the wilderness area, but that was it. We accessed it from the East Rim Trailhead, where we hiked on a very pretty paved trail all the way to the wilderness boundary. At the end of the paved trail, there was a grassy hill, where John and Mary sat down among the wildflowers to enjoy the lovely view. Then, the three of us hiked about 500 feet into the wilderness area, just to claim that we had been there. Another one of our destinations was the Marble Canyon Viewpoint - a place that John had discovered on the Kaibab National Forest map and that seemed to be worth exploring. When we arrived, though, the view was...well, it was just not the incredible view that we were expecting to find there. But then, we discovered the side road, just off to the right. It was a narrow dirt road that was only a couple of hundred feet in length, and it was completely dark, as it was lined on either side by a thick grove of pine trees. Suddenly, the road exited the trees and ended on a gigantic grassy hillside overlooking beautiful Marble Canyon! Now THAT would have been the ideal campsite. It was large enough to have multiple campsites, in case you wanted to take a bunch of people with you...and in the morning, you would be awakened to that stunning view. Next time...that's where we're going! Of course, someone already had that idea. Tucked away at the edge of the trees was a campsite. Since we didn't want to disturb them, we decided not to stay there for very long. As soon as we had taken in its beauty, we turned around and left. We continued to explore the backroads for several hours, until at last we arrived in Jacob's Lake. We stopped there to fill up with gas and to buy ice. Then, we took SR 67 back into the forest, towards camp. That evening, after we had rested and before cooking dinner, John suggested that we go on a little explore, just to pass the time. (In other words, he was getting bored.) Our drive was cut short, however, when one of the brakes started squealing loudly. He stopped the Jeep several time to see what was causing that horrible noise, but he couldn't seem to pinpoint it. Unwilling to take the risk of breaking down somewhere, we returned to camp and stayed there for the rest of the night. I think I was the only one who slept peacefully that night. Mary awoke to a nightmare and managed to get John up out of his sleeping bag to help her. Apparently, she had been having a nightmare about horses, but whatever the cause for alarm, she was tired enough that she fell back to sleep in no time. John had trouble falling back to sleep after the incident, as he was still thinking about the squealing brake. Shortly after five a.m., while it was still dark and cold outside, he crawled out of the tent and set about to fix the Jeep. He was finished long before I woke up at six o'clock. As soon as I emerged from the tent, he presented me with a tiny flat rock - the same flat rock that he had pulled out of the brake shoe of the Jeep. "I fixed the Jeep!" he sang proudly. Of course, I think what made him happier was the fact that it wasn't a serious problem! That made me happy, too! As soon as Mary awoke that morning, it was time for us to begin tearing down camp - the long weekend was over, and we had to go home. We had a six-hour drive ahead of us - not including the number of stops we would have to make - so we had to get moving as early as possible. We were quite efficient getting our camping gear packed away that morning, and by 8:00 a.m., we were ready to hit the road. We decided not to take any scenic routes to get us back to Phoenix - rather, we retraced our footsteps through the Navajo Nation, back into Flagstaff, and down I-17 towards Phoenix. Naturally, there were many potty stops along the way, but we managed to make it all the way to Navajo Bridge before we had to make our first stop. Our next stop was in Cameron, where we chose to use the Texaco Station, rather than the Chevron, for Mary's potty break. We tried to keep our stop in Cameron short, but we ended up spending more time there than planned, as we were caught in traffic for about a half an hour. The construction crews had limited travel to one lane on US 89, so we were forced to wait in the baking sun for the traffic break. We finally arrived in Flagstaff around 12:30 - lunchtime! Rather than make sandwiches and eat them in the Jeep, we decided to eat at Chili's instead, just so that we could get out of the car for a while. It certainly felt good to do so, too - Mary needed time to run off her excess energy, and I needed to get up and walk around. And John? Well, sitting at the construction zone for thirty minutes, his "road rage" was at a high level, so he needed time to relax before hitting the road again. Before leaving Flagstaff, we stopped to get enough gas to get us back to Phoenix. He accidentally filled up the tank, though...and it was a good thing he did, too! Being in the Kaibab Forest for four days, we had been cut off from all of the local news from Phoenix. We had very limited radio reception - in fact, the only stations we could get were some Utah light rock and country/western stations. We had no idea that there was trouble brewing in Phoenix until we got back into town. That was when we began to hear about the long lines at the gas pumps due to the shortage of gasoline after the pipeline that carries fuel from Tucson to Phoenix had ruptured. On Tuesday night, after spending a long day at work, John ended up taking my car to find gasoline, because I had not bothered to refuel before we left on our trip. Fortunately, that was the worst of it for us - by the time we ran low on gas again, the crisis had been resolved. Of course, all I could think was, it was nice that we weren't in town when the crisis started. It was nice to be so out of touch with everyday life for a few days, while we enjoyed seeing so many beautiful sights and doing so many incredible things. Most importantly, I was able to add another accomplishment to my list: I had finally seen the Grand Canyon.

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