Spikeball and a Canyon Grand

Day 56 (September 18, 2021)

Before we left on this trip, our friend Zach had mentioned to us that he had some friends in Utah who like to play Spikeball. Well, we were in Utah at this point, and had a hankering for some Spikeball. We asked Zach to connect us, and told him that we could drive anywhere in the state. It turns out his friends live in St. George, Utah, about a 5 hour drive from Moab. After some texts back and forth with his friend Elinor, we hopped in Blue and drove across the state!

Elinor gathered a whole crew of enough players to have two games going at once! The Spikeball was most excellent. We had such a good time playing with our new acquaintances. The games were surprisingly high-level, and featured lots of good rallies.

That evening we drove out into the desert to camp, and watched the clouds put on a show with the help of the full moon.

Day 57 (September 19, 2021)

This morning we woke up and headed to Harmon's grocery store, which Elinor recommended to us as an "experience" more than a grocery store. The store is filled with exciting sections of baked goods, dips, prepared foods, and more. We spent almost an hour walking around and deciding what we wanted to get.

While we were walking through the aisles, Elinor texted us and asked if we wanted to join her for brunch at her place. We grabbed some eggs, bacon, asiago cheese, and avocados to cook a brunch feast.

After brunch, we hit the road once more and headed towards our next destination: The Grand Canyon. We made it all the way to Kaibab National Forest, and found a nice spot to rest for the night. The free spot came with already gathered firewood, and since Arizona doesn't currently have a fire ban, we ate our dinner by a roaring campfire!

Day 58 (September 20, 2021)

In the morning we drove from our campsite... to the Grand Canyon! Our first stop in the park was the area by the visitor center. This gave us access to a trail with several nice overlooks along the rim of the canyon.

Next up was a much longer hike into the canyon along the North Kaibab Trail. During this trip, we've almost exclusively gone on hikes that begin with a climb, so starting with a steep descent felt very strange. We could see why they have lots of signs warning you not to go too far on this trail ⁠⁠— it's easy to hike down and so much harder to hike back up! 

The trail led us past several nice landmarks including a tunnel through the red rock, a bridge with a great view down the canyon, and absolutely ginormous cliffs.

Neither of us has ever hiked down into the Grand Canyon, and we were both wowed by the experience. From the rim you get a sense of how big the canyon is, but it's hard to see how distinct the different layers are. Hiking down emphasizes how deep the canyon goes, and lets you see the geological history up close.

We made it to the bottom of the canyon (at least the section we were in) and found a lovely stream covered in greenery. We ate our lunch a bit further along, and then began the long trek back to the top of the rim. It was not easy, but we made it!

Even with just one day here, we felt like we experienced a lot of what this place has to offer. After a second evening with dinner by a campfire, we headed towards Arizona!

Day 59 (September 21, 2021)

This was mostly a travel day. We drove from Kaibab National Forest over to Flagstaff on our way to Phoenix. We stopped by a laundromat in Flagstaff, stopped by a café to blog, and found a nice spot to camp halfway between Flagstaff and Sedona. A dinner of quesadillas wrapped up the evening.

Tomorrow we'll be driving to Phoenix to pick up Veronica! She's joining us for an entire week of traveling!