Day 220 (HDT 34)

Day 218 (HDT 34): 21 miles

We made it back to South Kaibab after 9am to start our Rim to Rim hike. There are limited camping options in this stretch of the canyon but they would have been too short of a day anyways. So now I can add a single-day rim to rim to the resume. A fun 5,000 foot descent and then a 6,000 foot ascent out of the canyon up to the north rim. I was tired toward the end of the day, but really it wasn’t too bad. I also had the added fun bonus of carrying a 40+ lb pack.

There’s no water on the south Kaibab trail but on the ascent up to the north rim there was a lot. I passed a lot of people on the descent and got a lot of comments about the 3 jars of Pringles on the back of my pack. In high travels areas, I always get a lot of comments about whatever I’ve got in the back of my back, always either Oreos or Pringles. Hiking pro tip: the best part of carrying out a Pringle/lays stax jar is they make great trash cans for tuna packets. Their gross smell and juice will go right through a ziploc, but not the power of the jar

I liked the hiking today, but I didn’t really slow down to appreciate it or take pictures much. I had already seen all this and I was in a hurry since we started late and had a lot of vert to cover

We got up to the north rim around 7pm. 10 hours for a rim to rim ain’t bad. There was still a few inches of snow on the north rim and it was gonna be pretty freaking cold for the night, so we made our way to a somewhat off the grid privy to sleep in

Unfortunately I decided to throw away the outrageously large hat I’d been wearing since Hanksville. It was all torn to hell and wa s basically a sun hat visor at this point, but I mainly threw it away cause it was too big to store and just too big. It was annoying to strap to my pack and be flying around a lot. But even more so, when it was windy and I had to wear it cause either the sun was beating down or I had my pack cover on, it became a nuisance. Wearing it in the hail and rain was just sad. And wearing it in the extreme wind was extremely annoying
It would fly off constantly cause it was basically a parachute.

Climbing out of the south rim with the hail and strong winds it was actually kind of a hazard. It would fly off and go directly in front of my face when the wind was sting and I walking on a ledge with a huge drop off. Not a good combo. All this to say, I broke down and bought a Grand Canyon hat like a basic tourist bitch and felt like a total NARP today wearing it in the canyon. I do like the hat tho

Sidebar for airline discussion:

Part of the reason we started late this morning was because I had to call customer service for spirit airlines. Now I’m not gonna sit here and slander Spirit like a lot of people. I’m loyal. However, I booked a flight yesterday for after this trail and ended up getting emails saying it did go through and some saying it didn’t. Don’t ever book a flight through Cheapo-air. I should’ve known given the name, but google was telling me to. Anyways, I called to cancel any flights that were booked under my name with all the confusion and cause they were cheaper now.

The guy sounded helpful on the phone, but it turned out he completely did not cancel my flight like he said he did, but he added a checked bag which I did not ask for and kept somebody else’s address on my ticket. Total clown.

I realized this fool didn’t cancel the flight RIGHT as I was about to descend the south rim and was already starting late. I knew I wouldn’t have cell service again in time to call to cancel the flight within 24 hours. Thankfully my mom came to the rescue and talked to a competent person on the phone and got it straightened out. Moms fix everything.

Song of the day: fight for your right-beastie boys