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We were up early the next morning, had a quick breakfast, broke camp and started hiking around 7:30, before the sun was even up. I knew it was going to take us longer to go up than it had to come down, especially with my ankle hurting me the way it was. Resting it for the night had not seemed to help it at all and it still hurt like nothing else when going uphill. This was not going to be fun. The short hike up Tanner Canyon to where the trail started up Asinine Hill was no problem but Asinine Hill itself was. It was pure agony. How was I going to be able to do this. I briefly considered the option of staying where I was and sending Robin out for help but I just could not bear the thought of having to be rescued from my first backpacking trip. No, I was determined to do this. I got myself into this mess and I would get myself out. Somehow. I grit my teeth and forced myself to keep moving, onward and upward, towards the rim.
After a while I discovered certain steps that were easier to take than others with the injured ankle and also learned how to use the other foot as much as possible to put less strain on the injured one. I gradually settled into a pace that had me going at a pretty good clip with only a minimal amount of pain. We made it to the top of Asinine Hill, and from there up to the Redwall break. The Redwall break itself was not so bad and I seemed to have an easier time with really steep trail where I was doing more climbing than just walking uphill. I was really looking forward to the long relatively flat stretch between the top of the Redwall and Stegosaurus Rocks. We were making pretty good time and stopped for lunch at the top of the Redwall break. We got there around noon and rested until 1 pm. I took off my boots to let my feet air out and had serious trouble getting the one back on the injured foot… the pain was excruciating at times. The foot hurt for quite a while after putting the boot back on but then returned to just a dull throb.
Around 3 pm we reached Stegosaurus Rocks and retrieved our water cache. That was a good feeling as we were almost out. I had reserved about a quart of my water as had Robin, just in case, but it would have been a rough hike out without the cache. We rested and snacked and guzzled water for a while before starting the final assault on the rim. Uphill again. I was not looking forward to it.
We were both pretty tired going into this section but the rest break and the snacks along with a great deal of water had given us back at least some energy. Robin has never been good with uphill though and the pain in the ankle was causing me to stop and rest a great deal more than I would have otherwise. It probably had us going at pretty much the same pace, which was rather slow.
We finally topped out at the rim a little after 6 pm. The sun had just set and the western horizon was ablaze with color and in the east the full moon was again rising over the Palisades of the Desert. Robin was beat and she just sat while I ran around and took pictures. It felt good to be back on level ground again. So much for the first overnight backpacking trip: Bob - 0, Grand Canyon - 1.
The ankle hurt for a long time afterwards and gradually got better over the period of about a year. I never had it looked at as I was convinced it was just a sprain and although it was slow it did seem to be healing with time. At this point I don't even remember for sure whether it was the left or right ankle but I think it was the left one.
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Robin heading up Assinine Hill, Tanner Trail
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Colorado River, Palisades of the Desert, Robin, Tanner Trail
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Robin retrieving the water cache, Tanner Trail
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Bob & Robin, Moonrise, Tanner Trailhead
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