camping grand canyon

We spent Saturday night in Bullhead City at Jesse's parent's place. Sunday night and Monday night we car-camped in the campground at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It was cold, but we had plenty of blankets and built a fire each night. There was a forecast for snow on the rim Tuesday night. We cooked big breakfasts and suppers, and enjoyed a couple of drinks in the evening. Sunday night I stayed up late reading a book (with my headlamp) that I picked up at the Denver airport called Now & Then which I have to say I was disappointed in. It was supposed to be about a dog, but the author did a better job selling the sub-plot about the character's glossy white teeth... disappointing.

Anyway, Monday night we went to bed early in an attempt to prepare ourselves for a big hike down into the canyon on Tuesday. I was nervous about the weather (cold), the trail (difficult and unmaintained), the timeframe (my first three-nighter), and my condition (I didn't train much for this) and had a tough time falling asleep. Of course in the middle of the night we both woke up and had to go to the bathroom, so we had to get all bundled up and climb out of the tent. By the time we were back in the tent, we were both wide awake. If it hadn't been 3am, I would have started packing up to get on the trail, but it was. Shortly after we both finally fell back to sleep, the alarm on Jesse's watch sounded and we got up. It was still dark, but we packed everything up, ate and then drove to the Hermit trailhead where the car (not winterized) would sit for the next few days.