Day 11 (01-Oct-13) North Rim Grand Canyon (16 miles)

Despite Simon clearly being at death's door, Q showed no mercy - the alarm went off at 05:30 hrs. Q leapt out of bed, and got straight to the task of dragging the crew to Imperial Point (at 8,900ft the highest point on the North Rim) to capture the sunrise; and proclaim "shot of the day" in the process.

 

The rigours of this march, allied to the 2C (34 F) morning temperatures, proved too much for Simon. Though he collapsed on the trail, we (Q&A) nontheless left him for dead; opting to power on in true Klingon warrior tradition instead. After hours spent crawling on hands and knees (parallels of Touching the Void), Simon eventually made it to the cabin, whereapon he dragged himself back to bed. Cocooned under multiple blankets, he fought the fever that was so melodramatically ravaging his body, with the high altitude exaserbating his precarious condition. Damn The Sheldon plague...... Simon's last thoughts before losing consciousness!!

 

With Simon left to safely die a slow miserable death (which probably involved clinging on to anyone unsuspecting the seriousness of his illness - man flu), Quentin and I 'headed for the hills', or to be more precise, canyon, in this instance. Leveraging his OCD skills (though he prefers to refer to his condition as OCO), Quentin had thoroughly researched the route we were to take and had prepared me mentally for the hardships to come.

We reached the start of the North Kaibab Trail (8,241 ft) at 08:45hrs, and having read the warning about possible mule encounters, headed downhill for the Roaring Springs (5,020 ft). With weather being very pleasant at this early hour we made good progress, allowing ourselves time only for more "shots of the day". We did not notice the soft sand on the trail gradually filling our shoes until we were barely able to put one foot in front of the other. The added stop to empty our shoes of the sand dunes that had accumulated therein came as a most welcome relief.

Upon reaching the end of the mule trail at Supai Tunnel (6,800 ft), some 1.25 hrs in to our trek, we had a quick drink and refilled water bottles at the tap conveniently located there. Onwards and downwards we went, literally walking back through time! The trek down the side of the canyon passes through a number of sandstone, shale and mudstone formations, spanning the Permian to Devonian epochs, each with distinct faceies and colour. Vistas were absolutely stunning, adding to our sincere feelings of compassion, sorrow and concern for poor Simon, who was left to fend for himself in the little log cabin that was our shared room for the night. That said, I will not regale you with detailed "tales of the unexpected" that occurred during the middle of the night, when Simon, in his own words, was "looking for the bathroom".....Suffice to say Simon is clearly missing his girlfriend!

We reached Roaring Springs at 11:30 hrs. The name given to this spot is quite apposite, as water emerges from a spring in the cliff face from the side of the canyon and roars down to the Colorado river (2,400 ft). We had a quick lunch, while spying this natural wonder, and then started on the long uphill return to the canyon rim at 11:45hrs. At this altitude, and with the air temperature now approaching 100F, we elected to go slowly - NOT! We managed the return hike in the same time it took to descend the canyon, overtaking legions of laggards in the process.

We reached the rim at 14:15hrs and then drove back to the lodge for a well earned cup of tea. There, we spotted Simon, replete with very bulbous red nose, streaming eyes, and a missing back bone. He had managed to extricate himself from bed and was slumped in a chair on the terrace. We spent the rest of the afternoon attending to simple chores and modifying the itinerary for the remainder of our expedition - a situation enforced by the closure of all US national parks.

We then head out back to Imperial Point for photos of the sunset, which was more spectacular than sunrise. After returning to the lodge we booked an early dinner - a simple and alcohol-free affair for Q&A, not so much for Simon!