I was going to stop at Santa Fe and soak in the Western scenery. Alex Baldwin must've known my plan and decided to fire a rifle at his crew while filming "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch. It's now active crime investigation scene that is all taped up. I'll still drive by and check it out. The stay at Tucumcari has been mighty pleasant meanwhile. Maybe that is why my cold is getting better. I'm coughing as I expected but the box of Bronkaid that I bought in Tulsa is keeping it in check.
My plan after Santa Fe has changed. Both Antelope Canyon and Havasupai are managed by native tribes and require reservation and gazillion dollars. Havasupai in particular requires 3 night stay which can run the bill to the tune of over $1000. I'll have to better prepare for them and then come back later to get my money's worth. For now I'm going straight to Grand Canyon where my NP pass will get me in for free. I'll hike a few trails there and make it a grand finale.
The full length of Bright Angels trail is woefully tempting. It's 16 miles round trip to Colorado River at the bottom, which will require substantial refueling. I'll buy a box of energy bars. Water is available at Indian Springs, so I'll just carry 2L bottle. It's likely though, that I'll turn around at Plateau Point and make it a 12 mile hike. We'll see.
The big unknown is whether I'll recover from the cold by then. I'm in the upswing today, so I might be able to in the next 2 days. I'll do the shorter Kaibab trail first and see if I can hack it. Then give it a day of rest and tackle Bright Angels. We'll see. 12 mile 3000 ft hike will be the crown jewel of this recovery-from-CFS trip. Move over, Angel's Landing. And Chesler Park. And Mt. Ida..
No comments:
Post a Comment