I took some more Milky Way shots from camp last night before hitting the sack. The Milky Way was lined up perfectly with Hermit Canyon, I remembered that from last year.

I was up well before dawn this morning, 315am I think. I had the alarm on my phone set for 330am but since I was awake I decided to get an early start. I broke down camp and got most things packed away before having breakfast. I had Granola with blueberries for breakfast and somehow I managed to knock over my second cup of mocha and lost it all so only one cup today.

It was still dark when I started hiking and I don't even remember what time it was when I left camp. The sky did start to brighten as I approached the junction with the Hermit Trail going back up to the south rim and it was nice to see things start to light up as I was hiking up that long section of trail that leads up to the Cathedral Stairs. I was up above the Redwall and the Cathedral Stairs by 700am and started the long traverse through the Supai and then into the Hermit. This section of trail just seems to go on and on and does not climb that much but there are numerous rockfalls that need to be crossed. I finally passed a very familiar tree a little after 900am and I knew I was getting close to Santa Maria Spring. I finally arrived at the rest-house there at 935am. I took a long break there and took the boots off to give the feet a rest before continuing on.

I left Santa Maria Spring at 1010am to begin the final climb to the rim. I was in the sun a lot after that but luckily it was still pretty cool. I started up the switchbacks through the Coconino around 1045am and was at the section where the fossil lizard tracks are at 11am. There were a lot more switchbacks after that as the trail climbs out of the Coconino and the through the Toroweap and finally the Kaibab. I recognized the broken slope that goes through the Kaibab as I approached around 1145am it and knew I was getting close. I was at the Hermit trailhead about 20 minutes later at 1205pm.

I still needed to get back to the village so after a short rest break I walked to Hermit's Rest to catch a shuttle bus back. I had to wait a while for the shuttle and then it took about 20 minutes to get back to the village transfer near the Bright Angel Trail. It was already closing in on 115pm by the time I got there and a few minutes later I was back at the truck.

The first order of business was to get out of the boots and hiking clothes. I put on some jeans and a t-shirt that I had left in the truck and also my sneakers. It felt really good to get rid of the boots and to be wearing cotton again... dry cotton. After changing I headed over to the Maswik cafeteria for some lunch. Sadly, I discovered that they had already stopped serving lunch so the taco salad that I had been looking forward to was not to be. I got back into the truck and headed out of the park to We Cook Pizza and Pasta in Tusayan and had myself a nice Caesar salad, a half of a pizza and a pint of beer. I took the other half of the pizza home for dinner in Flagstaff along with a couple more beers.