22.3 miles
142.5 AZT mile marker
We got tons of condensation last night, inside and outside of our tents. I even had it on the top of my sleeping bag. It was a little foggy in the morning which helped explain that.
We continued through ponderosa pine forest and were greeted by a group of curious cows almost immediately, as we heard the dreaded tourist helicopter in the distance. However, it was the only one we heard for the day, and we appear to have finally escaped their menace.
More flat easy trail today. We had a partial view of the North Rim, likely our last, after the fog cleared.
There were a bunch of partial cow skeletons throughout the day, and we didn’t see any more cows after the first group of the morning. Perhaps the skeletons were the reason. I did see 2 elk in the distance running away from me. The first truly wild elk of the trip. There were also tons of signs of elk throughout the day. Many prints and even a tree that had been used to clear the velvet off an elk’s antlers.
We were doing good on time and had an extended lunch where we also dried out wet equipment from the night before. We had to take water for the night at the lunch stop since there wouldn’t be any more water sources.
Yesterday from the fire tower, we had spotted the San Francisco peaks, hazy in the distance. Today we rounded a corner and there they loomed, visible through a clearing. They were much closer than yesterday and very snow covered at the top, though I don’t think we will be crossing them that high.
The ponderosa forest gradually changed to pinyon pine and juniper later in the day.
There isn’t much else for today. The scenery was mainly forest with a couple meadows and rare views of the surrounding country. The hiking was easy, but not very exciting. I hope it gets more interesting soon.
After dark in camp, an owl made it’s loud call from the tree above us, startling us. I had to relate my owl attack story from last year.
I hiked again with Breaks, and we will probably hike together until at least Flagstaff. We only saw one other hiker, Some Guy, passing at twilight when we were in camp. We also saw a mountain bike tourer on the trail. They are allowed on the route as well.