We could see one little mouse scurrying around, with big Mickey ears and no fear.
In the tent, I begged Jesse to push on my back and pop a few bones back in to place. Which he did, and it popped. We boiled some water and rehydrated our backpacker meals and ate. Then we put all our food, trash and otherwise scented stuff in our mesh bag (like chain armor) and suspended it from the rack they provide. We put our rain poncho over the food so it wouldn't get ruined (by the few drops of rain we had felt earlier) and it looked like a ghost: leg-less, semi-transparent, floating.
We settled in, me in my pink sleeping bag and pink blanket, and Jesse in his gold and gray bag. Immediately our little mouse friend was exploring our food-free packs. We tried to spook him away, but he wasn't shy. We went to sleep almost immediately after it got dark. I got cold in the night, and Jesse got way too hot. So hot that he got sweaty and threw off his sleeping bag. Then he was damp and cold... no fun.
We woke up soon after the sun came up. Jesse discovered a little chew-hole in his pack, and quite a bit of the plastic insulation on his water hose was chewed! He was mad... We heated up water for coffee and oatmeal and started packing up. Miraculously, I was no longer quasimodo. Thank goodness. Our bodies were still exhausted from the day before but we headed out. We had nearly 7 miles to go this day.
On the way out we met a nice older couple who were scouting around the historic camp (where they had mules and such a hundred years ago). They were planning on 6 nights in the canyon with a friend who hadn't hiked in 30 years. They came down Hermit and didn't make it passed the Tonto trail junction - they just pitched the tent there!
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