A free day! Not that the past several have been anything but vacation, but it was nice to know that if we didn’t choose to put on hiking boots we didn’t have to. So we all undertook different activities: some hiked back to the New and Rock Falls, others went to swim at Havasu, and a couple went to the top of Havasu Falls to see the view from that perspective. And me? I sat at the picnic table and wrote in my journal, and updated the notes for each day, thinking that it would be warmer for swimming in the afternoon (the water is really cold)!
Everyone returned for lunch, and then some set out again. A slight drizzle/rain began, so others (including me) took the opportunity to read in our tents, listening to the mesmerizing sound of raindrops. So it was sorta a read/doze/read/doze kinda afternoon. Eventually the skies cleared and I did walk over to Havasu Falls, but it simply wasn’t warm enough for me to brave the chilly, but beautiful water. It was also a day to notice little things, like the night shade plant enroute to the (compost) toilets shared by all the campsites. And the helicopter that swooped in to drop nets at those toilets, which were then loaded with half a week’s worth of compost and picked back up to fly it out. It’s easy to forget that there’s not a way for any of the regular activities of life to take place in such a remote place. So poop has to scooped out by copter twice a week!
Another lovely dinner and conversation, and plans for Friday, which we knew would be a big day. The ten miles out of the canyon were daunting and worrisome to a few of our group, and knowing that we needed to get up and head out early to miss the heat of the day led us all to bed as soon as night fell. For me it was a restless sleep; the wind picked up sometime after 3AM, which rattled the tent flaps, and knowing that we were due up at 5AM meant it wasn’t the longest of rests.
But it was a lovely day, and nice to have some time to ourselves and able to explore at our own pace. It was good to have a day like Thursday sandwiched between the more challenging hiking experiences.
