Day 221 (HDT 35)

Day 219 (HDT 35): 25 miles

It was a pretty freakin cold night on the north rim, even inside a 4 walled shelter. The weather for the nearest town said it was 20 at night, it we were more than 3,000 feet higher than that town so it was certainly in the single digits up on the north rim. We got a late start to the day, but knew it would be pretty easy road walking.

It was for the most part. But for most of the day I was walking in a couple inches of snow, not enough to be horrible, just enough to get wet feet and move slightly slower.

It was road walking all day to end near Swamp Point, but there seemed to be a lot of short little ups and downs just to keep you on your toes. My back felt super tight all day, partly from carrying a heavy pack that is over 40 pounds and probably partly from me tensing up/shivering last night cause it was cold.

It was nice to be walking in a woods all day for a change. Normally I’d hate that, but it was a nice change of pace, and nice to get a little break from the sun especially with it reflecting off the snow all day.

I did get cell service for a couple minutes today and updated the weather forecast for this side of the canyon. This trail can not stop fucking us. On the day we are supposed to be Boulder hopping along the Colorado, it looks like it’s gonna rain all day and then drop back down to 20 at night. Then the next day, it supposed to snow and have a low temperature of 6. That is dangerously cold, and we’d be hiking up Kanab Creek that day with snow after raining the day before. Kanab Creek has “outstanding flash flood potential” according to our guidebook. And after the 6 degree night, it’s gonna be 8 the next night, and then 10 and then stay below 20 for a while so that’s cool too. Maybe I should’ve researched more, but I really didn’t think I’d need my 0 degree sleeping bag for this trip, but this many nights below 20 degrees with a 22 degree bag is not ideal.
So idk we might have to make another alternate route to avoid Kanab Creek in a flash flood because once you go there, there doesn’t really appear to be another way out. This trail is hard enough already but being hit with 3 cold fronts that are bringing extreme weather this early is really harshing my vibes.

Song of the day: life of the party-Kanye west