1030am - Cedar Ridge

I started down the South Kaibab Trail around 915am, after a fantastic breakfast at the El Tovar Hotel with my friend, Jim, friend who is visiting the Grand Canyon from Albuquerque.

I began feeling some discomfort in my right hip about halfway down here and was getting very nervous that I may have been aggravating the injury from last October. I actually started to abort after a brief stop at Ooo Aaa Point, but then going back up the trail did not bother me at all, which was very different from last October. So, I turned around and started down again, hoping that the discomfort was just my not being used to carrying all the weight and my body needing to get used to it. Things don't seem any worse down here, so I am glad I decided to continue.

It is a bit breezy down here and very cool.

1220pm - A shady spot

I am taking a break in some hard shade just below the Redwall switchbacks. I left Cedar Ridge at 1045am and made it to Skeleton Point at 1145am. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to skip the rest there and start right into the Redwall. There are lots of very muddy puddles on the trail. It rained heavily yesterday afternoon and all of that water settled in on the low spots between the erosion bars on the trail and several mule trains have already managed to stir it all up.

I was having an issue with my backpack, and it kept making this clicking sound. I finally pinned it down to the hip belt and found one strap that was not connected to anything for some reason. It was supposed to be connected to the hip belt which could have been causing some of the discomfort I have been feeling. There were issues with the pack that I discovered after packing it up in Flagstaff that I corrected. Not sure how things got messed up as my pack was manhandled by several people after the incident in October. If they had been present in October without my noticing them, they definitely could have contributed to the accident hiking up the Redwall on the Tanner Trail. I need to make a mental note to give the pack a good checkup before starting a trip.

I ate a Kind bar at Cedar Ridge, and I am munching some Hot & Spicy Unisoy jerky here.

1255pm - Ramada near The Tipoff

I started hiking again at 1235pm. There is a nice ramada for shade here, but it is very windy, and the wind is actually howling through it. This makes it very cool and verging on cold in the shade. I put my sweatshirt back on for while I am here. I am not sure how long I will stay here. I only have about 2 miles to go to Cremation Creek. There are about a dozen people here right now, but I have no idea which way each party is heading.

3pm ish - Cremation Creek

I left the ramada near The Tipoff at 2pm after a nice long rest break there. One other party left a little before me and headed out on the Tonto East as well. I caught up with them on the way over here as they were huddled under a nice patch of hard shade trying to cool off a bit. They were actually down here yesterday and got to experience that wind and rain storm first hand. The spot they were huddled under when I passed them is where they ended up spending the night yesterday. I kept going because I wanted a better choice of a camping spot. They arrived here a little after me and are camped a little way down the creek bed. They are one guy and two women from India on a guided hike. There are not really many good campsites near where the trail crosses the creek, maybe there are better ones up or down, but I did not want to go very far. I am going to just skip the tent and just use the footprint for it with my mattress and sleeping bag.

I am waiting for my dinner to heat up. I am having some mac & cheese tonight with some Unisoy chipotle jerky mixed in. The mac & cheese bag is leaking, and I have no idea how the bag got punctured or how long the hole has been there. I hope it is ok.