The main focus of this morning was to check to see if the water cache I had left at the saddle of Seventyfive Mile Canyon last October, almost exactly one year ago, was still there and to retrieve it if it was. The thought of cluttering up the Canyon with an unused cache had been bothering me ever since I had to abort that backpacking trip last October. The story of that trip can be found by clicking here.

I slept pretty well in the back of my Prius and only had to get up once in the middle of the night to make a trip to the restrooms. I regretting having forgotten to bring a pillow and had to make do with some extra clothing balled up under my head as a replacement. There were only two other cars parked in the huge lot out at Desert View, neither of them anywhere near me, and I never saw anyone.

I finally got up well before day break and took a walk down to the Watchtower to gaze into the Canyon and check out the stars from down there. The sky was already starting to brighten a bit to the east and it looked like it was going to be another glorious day as far as the weather was concerned. The morning was still a bit chilly but my fleece was enough to keep me warm. I went back to the car and ate a couple of muffins that I had brought for breakfast, along with a Starbucks mocha frappuccino.

After breakfast I drove over to Lipan Point to begin the hike down the Tanner Trail to the saddle at Seventyfive Mile Canyon to see if my water cache was still there. It was difficult being on the Tanner Trail again as I had promised myself after last year's injury "never again". But like falling off a bicycle the only way forward is just to get back on. I had done a fair amount of hiking since recovering from the injury and the hip was not giving me any problems.

The start of the trail was easy enough, a nice gradual descent, but it does not take long before it starts to get steep and slippery. I was lucky enough to be doing it this time with just a day pack and carrying very little weight and part of me wondered how I got down all of this with no problems last year carrying all of the weight that I had. I had no problem at all going down the trail last year but I do remember it was very slow going in the upper reaches and also in the Redwall. The problem last year was in coming up the Redwall and very close to the top. I still don't know what happened or what I did that caused the hip to give out. One moment I was fine and then all of a sudden it was pure agony. I was just taking a turn on one of the switchbacks and I do not remember slipping or anything. I was so happy to have that Garmin InReach GPS with me to call for help.

This time down the trail was also slow going as there is just no other way to handle this trail. I went down through the Kaibab and Toroweap layers and into the Coconino and across the big rockfall in the Coconino and after only about a half of an hour of hiking I had a pretty good view of the saddle. It still took another hour and a half to get down to the saddle to the spot I refer to as Stegosaurus Rocks. I had a great view down into Seventyfive Mile Canyon from there and my cache had been placed on the north side of the saddle.

It only took a few more minutes to the get to the flat spot on the other side of the saddle where I had planned to camp on the last night of that fateful trip. I immediately recognized the bush under which I had stashed my cache and upon closing in could see that the flat rocks I had placed over the bottles were still there and could even make out a portion of one of the bottles below. It was still here.

After removing the rocks I could see that some critter had been trying to get into the bottles. There were numerous chew marks on the bottle caps and one of the straps that secure the cap one of the bottles had been completely chewed through. One of the bottles had a sleeve of some sort around it that had also been torn up a bit. One bottle could probably be reused but the other was destined for the recycling bin. I emptied the water that was in the bottles and by watering the bush they were under and a couple of other plants in the vicinity. I was not curious at all about the taste of the water after sitting in these bottles for a few days shy of a year and I hope the plants made good use of it.

I had a little snack of some trail mix that I had with me and drank other water I had with me before starting back up the trail. Going up was a lot easier than coming down had been and I was back at the trailhead just a little after 10am. The round-trip of a little over 3 miles had taken just under 4 hours.

The other plan for today was to get back to Grand Canyon Village to see the train from Williams arrive. The Grand Canyon Railway runs the steam engine on the first Saturday of every month so this was a lucky break as well ad I would never pass up the chance to see it being the train nut I am.

I drove to Grand Canyon Village and parked my car over at Maswik Lodge as this was very close to where the train would enter the village area. I arrived there with plenty of time to spare and availed myself of the time to freshen up a bit at Maswik Lodge. When I passed by the front desk at the lodge I noticed a sign that said "Rooms Available" and was giving that serious thought. There was also going to be a Star Party at the Visitor Center this night and I wanted to stay up at the Canyon to attend that and had just planned to sleep in the car again but a real bed might be nice.

After cleaning up a bit I went back outside and walked down to the train tracks to wait for the train. It arrived just a little before noon and after taking some photos I went back to Maswik Lodge to have some lunch. I ordered myself a taco salad which is my favorite meal at the lodge and also got myself a can of Hazy Angel IPA from Lumberyard Brewing in Flagstaff.

After lunch I went back to the desk to inquire about a room but the sign that said "Rooms Available" earlier was no longer present. Oh, well, I walked into the gift shop across from the main desk to see if there was anything I wanted. There wasn't and after leaving the gift shop I just decided to inquire about the rooms anyway.

The gal at the desk said that there were still rooms available but not very many and when I asked how much they were I think she said $280 per night. That was not something I was willing be pay for one night and would just spend the night in the car again. But then a few seconds later she said she could give me the walk in rate. And when I asked about that she said $100 for the night. I don't know if she noticed the expression on my face when she said $280 or just wanted to give the old guy a break but I was more than willing to pay $100 for a nice room and a real bed to sleep in. So that was a deal. I got the key for the room and moved the car over closer to it and unloaded a bunch of gear. I had still not even rolled up the air mattress or the sleeping bag so I took care of that.

I had the afternoon to kill as the Star Party was not going to start until 730pm. The train back to Williams left at 330pm so I got some more photos of it leaving as well. I walked over to the Canyon rim and checked our the art exhibit at the Kolb Studio. I took some photos also the rim and then stopped in a the El Tovar beer garden had another beer. Someone had recommended bar hopping at the Canyon so I made the most of the afternoon and also hit the bar at the Bright Angel Lodge and had another beer and a snack. At dinner time I went over to the beer garden at the Yavapai Lodge and had one more beer and also some dinner. I was very pleased that they had the option for an Impossible plant-based patty for any of their burgers since I do not eat meat.