Roaring Springs to The Box
From Roaring Springs it was just a quick walk to the Pumphouse Residence.
We stopped here for our first true break. It was shady and beautiful, and the creek was babbling through the canyon just feet away. If I had been smart, I would have taken off my shoes and put my feet in for a minute, and then let both my feet and my socks air out a bit before continuing on my way. Instead, I lay down on a bench and put my feet up, ate an orange and a granola bar, and stretched my legs some more. It felt amazing, but I think my feet would have been in better shape if I had aired them out more frequently. Next time I will know better.
There were about a dozen or so people from our group here, and we stopped to chat for a bit about the hike, about other hikes we want to do, and to enjoy the shade. At this point we'd come down 5.4 miles and were at 4,600 ft.
From the Pumphouse it was was another 1.4 miles to Cottonwood Camp. This stretch passed pretty quickly in spite of the heat. My knees were definitely starting to feel the strain from the downhill march. My legs were shaky, and the outside of my good knee was starting to nag me. It wasn't particularly irritating, but I made note of it nonetheless. I did not want to have my hike complicated because I failed to notice a potential problem.
We sat down at Cottonwood Camp (6.8 miles, 4060 ft) having again caught up with some other hikers, ate some more and chatted. One of our hike leaders was talking to the park ranger about our hike, and I spent some time eavesdropping. Lol. At this point I put my Kool Towel around my shoulders, which made a HUGE difference in how hot it felt outside, and then set out again.
I was endlessly amused by the glass insulators on the telephone wires along the trail. My dad bought me some of these at the AZ Antique Gas Engine Society show a couple months back because I was so enamored with them. It was really cool to see them in use.
Also, here are some more pictures of squirrels. Just for your amusement.
By this point we were out of the trees and well and truly into the desert scrub. It was hot, but the kool towel helped a lot. Not enough to make me forget the heat, but enough to make so I didn't feel like I was slowly being roasted. When we set out we were unsure if we would make the side trip to Ribbon Falls. I really, REALLY wanted to go, but I was also really concerned that my knees would somehow fail and I would be forced to amputate both my legs and build myself new ones out of...cacti? Rocks? Something...
We crossed over Bright Angel Creek a couple of times, and hiked through some marshy areas, which was a welcome reprieve from the sun.
But then it was right back to walking under the desert sun.
When we finally reached the signpost we decided against it. We were already well behind the 12 hour pace, I was worried about adding extra mileage because of my knees and Antoline was worried about adding extra mileage period. It was a good decision, for sure, and the right one for me on my first R2R, but I will for sure, stop to see it next time. We were now 8.4 miles in and at an elevation of 3,720 ft.
We kept on hiking, slow and steady, toward The Box.
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