------------FRANCAIS --------------
Je me réveille a Flagstaff et découvre de jour l'auberge dans laquelle je suis arrive de nuit. Il est assez tôt car j'aimerai discuter avec les autres occupants qui je suppose sont ici comme moi pour voir le Grand Canyon. Petit déjeuner, rencontre avec des personnes avec différentes objectifs et différentes histoires. Je m'aperçois que descendre au fond du canyon n'est pas très commun. La plupart des gens le visite avec le tour organise en bus, reste quelques heures et reviennent. C'est le cas de 100% des personnes que j'ai rencontre et qui ont vu le canyon. Peter est le seul témoin que je connaisse qui est descendu.
Bon organisons nous: Si je descends au fond je dois partir très tôt le matin un peu avant que le soleil se lève car la au fur et a mesure que l'on descend la température augmente et peut atteindre 50 degrés en Aout. Je dois donc passer la nuit dans le Parc National ou commence la rando. Une fois au fond, impossible de remonter la même journée a cause de la chaleur et la fatigue. Je dois donc passer la nuit aussi au fond (De toute facon ça faisait partit de mes objectifs). Il faut aussi que je me rende au Parc National.
Je rappelle le Phantom Ranch, le seul endroit ou l'on passer la nuit au fond du canyon quand on a pas de tente. J'aimerai passer la nuit de demain. Le mec au téléphone me dit qu'il n'y pas de place, que les gens resservent des mois, parfois un an en avance.Il fallait s'y attendre. Mais il me dit que parfois des gens annulent leur réservation. Il me met donc en liste d'attende car deux personnes sont dans le même cas que moi.
"Ok merci, quand est-ce que j'aurai une réponse ?"
le mec: " Ca depend mais vous pouvez appeler demain matin après 6h30"
"Ok, mais j'avais l'intention de partir très tôt..."
le mec:" Je ne peux pas faire garnd chsoe pour vous...mais vous êtes ou la ? dans le parc ?"
"Non je suis encore a Flagstaff je pense arriver cet après midi dans le Parc"
le mec:" Ok, vous comptez y passer la nuit ?"
" Je ne suis pas sur. En tout cas je n'en ai pas l'intention si je ne suis pas certain d'avoir une chambre dans le Phantom Ranch pour le jour d'après. Je n'en ai pas les moyens. Je ne peux pas avoir une réponse plus tôt ?"
le mec :"Ça serait surprenant mais vous pouvez appeler en début d'après midi vers 2h"
"Ok j'essayerai...Comment vous vous appellez ?"
le mec: "Glen"
"Moi c'est Antoine"
Glen: "Ok Antoine alors a plus tard."
Je raccroche
Bon c'est mal partit...je n'ai pas de chambre au Phantom Ranch, mais dans le cas ou une se libérerait, il faudrait que je sois déjà dans le Parc qui coûte 25$ par jour et que j'y passe la nuit dans un hotel hors de prix...Qui n'essaye rien n'a rien ! Je tente, je vais au Parc !
Je laisse mon gros sac a l'acceuil de l'auberge et n'emporte qu'un petit sac a dos avec un t shirt de rechange et une bouteille d'eau. Je demande ma direction au premier chauffeur de bus que je vois qui m'indique quel bus je dois prendre pour me rendre sur la route principale pour aller au parc. En même temps le même chauffeur me donne un ticket de bus que quelqu'un a laisser tomber. Cool c'est toujours ça de gagne...
Comme prévu le bus sarrette sur la route 180 mais ne va pas au parc. Je descend et commence a faire du stop. Quand je commence a perdre espoir, je vois ce vieux van qui devait être blanc a l'origine s'arrêter en face de moi. A l'intérieur un mec la soixantaine, le cheveux et la barbe aussi longs et blancs, des lunettes et un bandeau de couleur autour de la tête pour retenir ses cheveux. hahah le clicher du hippie !!! c'est tellement évident que j'ai du mal a y croire . Je ne me souviens plus de son nom mais il me raconte qu'autrefois, faire du stop c'était le principal moyen de locomotion mais que maintenant plus personne s'arrête. Qu'il était archéologue dans le Grand Canyon jusqu'à ce que Bush coupe les fonds pour les utiliser dans les guerres en Irak et Afghanistan. Marié 3 fois il a 7 enfants dont une fille qui étudie "l'ethnologie spatiale" c'est a dire le rapport de l'Homme avec la conquête de l'espace (pas banal n'est-ce pas ?)...Il me montre ou il habite, une petite maison blanche au milieu de nul part sans electricite, des Km de champs de foret autour. C'est d'ailleurs la qu'il me dépose, au milieu de nulle part...Je recommence a faire du stop
Un vieux pick up très crado s'arrête après quelques minutes. J'apercois une femme derrière le gros volant, la cinquantaine, les cheveux gras et une géométrie dentaire assez particulière. Elle parle très vite et m'explique qu'elle vit par ici, que son boulot est la bas et qu'elle doit aller chercher son courrier plus loin. Elle me prend car elle est sur la route pour récupérer son fils qu'elle a oublie quelque part...Je n'ai pas le temps de comprendre pourquoi que je suis déjà dehors. Au moins j'ai du réseau. J'appelle le ranch et demande Glen.
"Salut Glen c'est Antoine !"
Glen:" Ah Antoine alors tu es dans le parc ?"
"Non pas vraiment...mais j'arrive. Tu as des bonnes nouvelles pour moi ?"
Glen: "Non personne n'a annuler encore...tu arrives dans combien de temps au parc ?"
"Euhh c'est a dire que je ne sais pas trop ca depend des gens qui sont sur la route..."
Glen: "Quoi , tu fais du stop ?"
"oui, c'est le seul moyen que j'ai trouve"
Glen:" Ahaha ! t'es tare Antoine! "
"Ahaha !Oui peut etre mais j'avais envie de tenter ma chance"
Glen: "Mais tu sais ou tu vas dormir ce soir quand tu seras au parc ?"
"Pas vraiment... Je rentrerai sûrement a Flagstaff ce soir si je ne peut pas aller au Ranch demain"
Glen: "Ok si tu veux j'ai plein de place chez moi, voici mon numéro de téléphone perso. Appel moi quand tu es dans le Parc si tu ne peux pas rentrer a Flagstaff ce soir"
"C'est genial ! merci beaucoup Glen, je note."
Tout content de ne plus avoir a me soucier de la nuit dans le parc je reprend la route. Après un bon moment d'attente un voiture rouge s'arrête. Contrairement aux deux précédentes elle est plutôt propre et l'intérieur sent bon. Le chauffeur est un Indien d'Amérique. Son nom Olivier Dejolis. Étonnant pour un Indien d'Amérique mais son prénom est un hommage au meilleur ami Francais de son père avec qui il a fait la guerre en Coree et son nom a cause d'un instituteur français qui a décidé le siècle dernier en venant aux Etats Unis de donner un nom de famille français au grand père d'Olivier. Bref, vraiment sympa il m'amène jusqu'au Parc dans lequel il avait l'habitude d'y travailler il y a quelques temps, ce qui nous permet d'y entrer sans payer...Très bien.
Enfin ! Je suis dans le Parc ! Olivier me quitte, je le remercie vivement.
Je marche un peu et je l'aperçois, mon cœur bat. Je le vois, Le Grand Canyon, juste en face de moi. Il est gigantesque. Je ne sais pas si tous les gens qui le voient pour la première fois sont comme moi mais je reste stupéfait devant sa grandeur.
Après une demie heure de contemplation je rappelle Glen pour lui dire que je suis bien arrive au parc. On se donne donne rendez vous a cote d'une boutique souvenir me décrit. Après quelques minutes d'attente, un homme s'approche de moi et me demande "Parlez vous Francais ?" . C'est Glen le deuxième Indien d'Amerique que je rencontre dans ma vie et dans la même journée.
Glen: "Alors tu veux toujours descendre dans le Canyon demain matin ?"
A ce moment je n'espère plus rien et dit "Oui bien sur mais j'ai compris que ce n'était pas possible"
Glen: "On va faire en sorte que se soit possible"
En fait Glen est la personne responsable des gens qui passent la nuit au Phantom Ranch. Je l'accompagne donc jusqu'au comptoir ou il travail et fais en sorte de d'inscrire mon nom parmi ceux qui vont dormir au ranche demain soir. Il me fait visiter ensuite le parc qu'il cannait par cœur. Me montre le reste d'un voiture d'un homme qui avait décidé de mettre finà ses jours en se jetant dans le canyon. Il me raconte aussi toutes ses histoires de personnes qui ne sont pas parti assez préparées qui se sont perdues, déshydratées et mortes dans le canyon. La semaine dernière ils ont encore trouve le corps d'un enfant de 9 ans.
Nous allons faire quelques courses et je remplie mon sac a dos de barres de céréales et de bouteilles d'eau. Je dîne et dort ensuite chez Glen.
Le lendemain matin je me leve déterminé à affronter la "bête". Glen décide au dernier moment de venir avec moi car il est en congé.
Nous commençons la descente. Le temps est dégagé il est encore tôt, il fait doux. C'est assez perturbant de commence une randonnée en descendant. Plutôt facile même au début. Alors que nous descendons le soleil monte plus haut dans le ciel. Il commence a faire chaud. Je bois beaucoup, je mange, je descend encore. Le paysage est simplement grandiose. Les photos sont plates par rapport a la réalité. 3h30 plus tard on arrive à Phantom Ranch. C'est un oasis tout au fond d'un immense gouffre aride et extrêmement chaud. Je passe la journée a me reposer au bord de Colorado River. La nuit tombe, la température aussi mais très légèrement on mange puis passe la soirée avec le staff du ranch que Glen connaît très bien. Guitares, tam tam , harmonica et chants dans le vieux Ranch. Dehors le ciel montre toutes ses étoiles. Je vois même la voie Lactée. Putain je rêve ou quoi ! Fatigué et imaginant la journée suivante ou il faudra cette fois ci monter, je vais me coucher après avoir vérifié qu'il n'y avait pas de scorpion dans mon lit.
C'est le matin ! j'avale quelques barres de céréales et une orange, je refais le plein de mes bouteilles et j'entame la monte avec Glen. On prend un chemin différent. Il fait déjà trop chaud...Mais le paysage me fait oublier la température ainsi que mes mollets. Sur le chemin je rencontre Jose un espagnol et Livianne une Chinoise qui eux aussi se sont rencontrer en route. On continue la marche ensemble et on rencontre Boon un américain du Texas. On discute , on marche on prend des photos et on arrive exténué au parc après 8h00 de marche. On se dit au revoir sur une bonne bière fraîche et bien méritée. Jose me conduit jusqu'à Flagstaff ou l'on va passer la nuit a l'auberge. Le lendemain au planifie d'aller a Vegas. Ou je peux prendre le Bus pour San Diego et ou il peut prendre l'avion pour San Francisco...
Fin de l'épisode du Grand Canyon qui a priori n'était pas tellement réalisable et qui est devenue une expérience inoubliable.
------------ENGLISH--------------
I wake up in Flagstaff and discover with the day light the hostel where I arrived at night . It is quite early because I'd like to discuss with other occupants who are here I suppose to see the Grand Canyon. Breakfast, meeting with people with different goals and different stories. I realize that descend to the bottom of the canyon is not very common. Most people visit with the organized bus tour, stay a few hours and come back. This applies to 100% of the people I met who have seen the canyon. Peter is the only witness that I know who went down.
Let’s make a plan: If I go deep down then I have to leave early in the morning a little before the sun rises because as we are going down the temperature increases and can reach 50 degrees Celsius in August. So I need to spend the night in the National Park where starts the hike. Once I am at the bottom it is basically impossible to go back the same day because of heat and fatigue. So I also need to spend the night as the bottom (It was part of my goals anyway). It also requires me to go the National Park from Flagstaff. I call back the Phantom Ranch, the only place where we it is possible to spend a night at in the canyon when you don’t have any tent. I whish I can spend the night tomorrow. Damn! tThe guy on the phone tells me there is no vacant place because people book months in advance, sometimes a year .It was expectable. But he also says that sometimes people cancel their bookings. He therefore put my name on a waiting list because two people are in the same situation as me.
"Ok thank you, when do I get an answer?"
The guy: "it depends but you can call tomorrow morning after 6:30"
"Ok, but I planed to leave earlier than 6:30..."
The guy: "I cannot really do anything for you ... but where are you right now ? in the park?"
"No, I'm still in Flagstaff I might arrived this afternoon in the park"
The guy, "Okay, do you expect to spend the night? "
“I’m not so sure. Anyway I have no intention to do it unless I am sure to have a room in the Phantom Ranch for the next day. I cannot really cover a night in the park. Is it possible to have an answer sooner?
"the guy:" It would be surprising but you can call early in the afternoon around 2 "
" Ok ... I'll try. What’s your name?
The guy: "Glen"
"I’m Antoine"
Glen: "Ok then Antoine I talk to you later."
I hang up.
Well… It doesn’t go so well. I have no room at Phantom Ranch, but in the case one becomes vacant, it should be already in the park, which costs $ 25 per day and I will also have to spend the night in an expensive hotel ... No pain, no gain! I try, I am going to the park. I leave my big bag has at the hostel and switch with that a small backpack with a t-shirt and a bottle of water. Then I ask my direction in the first bus driver I see that tells me which bus will brings me to the main road to go to the park. In the same time the same driver gives me a bus ticket that someone dropped. Not too bad ...
As expected, the bus stop just before Highway 180 but does not go to the park. I get out and begin to hitchhike. When I start to lose hope, I see that old van that was to be originally white stopped in front of me. Within a guy about sixty years old I would say, hair and beard as long and white, glasses and a colored bandana around his head to hold his hair. hahah the cliché of the hippie! it's so obvious that I can hardly believe it. I don’t remember his name but he tells me before, hitchhiking, was the best way to travel but nowadays nobody stops. He was an archaeologist in the Grand Canyon until Bush cuts funding for using money in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Married 3 times he has 7 children including a daughter who is studying "anthropology space" which is the relationship between Man and his conquest of space (not very common isn’t it?)... He shows me where he lives, a little white house in the middle of nowhere without power, miles of forest surrounding fields. This is also where he drops me, in the middle of nowhere ... I start to hitchhike again. An old pick up very dirty stops after a few minutes. I can notice a woman behind the big wheel, fifties, greasy hair and interesting tooth geometry. She speaks very quickly and explains she lives here, that her job is there and needs to get her mail somewhere else. She takes me as it is on the road to pick up her son she forgets somewhere ... I don’t have time to understand why that I'm already out. At least I have a signal on my cell phone. I call the ranch and asked for Glen.
"Hi Glen ! Antoine speaking!"
Glen: "Oh Antoine are you in the park yet?"
"Not really ... but almost there. Do you have good news for me ?
Glen: "No one has yet canceled … When wil you be in the park?
" Euhh I'm not sure it depends on the people on the road ... "
Glen:" What, you hitch-hike? "
" Yes, it’s the only way I found"
Glen: "Ahaha! You are crazy Antoine!
"Ahaha, yes maybe but I wanted try "
Glen:" But you know, where you'll sleep tonight when you get to the park? "
" Not really sure ... I'll be back in Flagstaff tonight if I can not go to the Ranch tomorrow"
Glen: "Ok if you want I have plenty of room in my house, this is my personal phone number. Call me when you're in the park if you can not go to Flagstaff tonight"
"It’s really cool! Thank you very much Glen, I note it. "
Very exited that I don’t have to worry about the night in the park I take over the road. After a while waiting, a red car stops. Unlike the previous two it is pretty clean and the interior smells good. The driver is an American Indian. His name Olivier Dejoli. Surprising for an American Indian but his name is a tribute to the best French friend of his father with whom he fought in Korea and his last name due to a french teacher who decided the last century from the U.S. give a French surname the Oliver’s grandfather. Anyway, he is really nice and he brings me to the Park where he used to work some time ago, allowing us to enter without paying ... Very well. Finally! I am in the park! Olivier leaves me, I thank him warmly. I walk a little and I see it, my heart beats. I see Grand Canyon, right in front of me. It is huge. I don’t know if everyone who saw for the first time are like me but I am still amazed at its greatness.
After a half hour of contemplation I call back Glen to tell him I am in the park. We decide a meeting place next to a souvenir shop and I describe myself. After several minutes, a man approaches me and asks "Vous parlez Francais?" . It is Glen, the second Indian American I met in my life and also in the same day.
Glen: "So you still want to descend into the Canyon tomorrow morning?"
At this time I hope for nothing and says: "Yes of course but I realized it was not possible"
Glen:" We will make it possible"
Actually Glen is the person in charge for the people staying overnight at Phantom Ranch. So I accompany him to the desk where he works and makes sure to write my name among those who will sleep at the ranch tomorrow evening. Then he shows me around the park hw knows perfectly. He also shows me the remains of a car from a man who decided to end his days by jumping into the canyon. He also told me all these stories of people who are not prepared enough get lost, dehydrated and died in the canyon. Last week they just found the body of a 9 years old kid.We do some groceries and I fill my backpack of granola bars and bottles of water. Then we dine and slept in Glen’s house.
The next morning I wake up determined to confront the “beast”. Glen decided at the last moment to come with me because it is his days off. We began the descent. The weather is clear it’s still early, it’s warm. It's pretty disturbing to begin a hike going down. It’s even easy first. As we descend the sun rise higher in the sky. It is getting hot. I drink a lot, I eat, we descended again. The scenery is simply amazing. The pictures I took are flat compared to reality. 3:30 later we arrive at Phantom Ranch. It is an oasis deep within a huge chasm arid and extremely hot. I spend the day to rest along the Colorado River. Night falls and the temperature also but slightly. We eat then spent the evening with the staff of the ranch that Glen knows very well. Guitars, jumbe, harmonica and singing in the old Ranch. Outside the sky shows all its stars. I can even see the Milky Way. Damn I'm dreaming or what! Tired and thinking about the next day when it will be time go up, I'm going to bed after having checked that there was no scorpio in my bed.
It's morning! I swallow a few cereal bars and an orange, I refill all of my bottles and I begin riding with Glen. We take a different path. It's already too hot and my legs ... but the scenery makes me forget the temperature and my legs. On the way I meet Jose a Spanish guy and Liviana a Chinese woman who also met each other on the road. We continue the hike together and we meet Boon from Texas. We chat, we walk we take pictures and arrive exhausted at the park after 8 hours walking. We say goodbye to each other with a cold beer well deserved. Jose takes me to Flagstaff where we'll spend the night at the hostel. The next plan is to go to Vegas where I can take the bus to San Diego and where he can fly to San Francisco ...
End of the Grand Canyon episode which was first apparently not doable but then became an unforgettable experience.
Let’s make a plan: If I go deep down then I have to leave early in the morning a little before the sun rises because as we are going down the temperature increases and can reach 50 degrees Celsius in August. So I need to spend the night in the National Park where starts the hike. Once I am at the bottom it is basically impossible to go back the same day because of heat and fatigue. So I also need to spend the night as the bottom (It was part of my goals anyway). It also requires me to go the National Park from Flagstaff. I call back the Phantom Ranch, the only place where we it is possible to spend a night at in the canyon when you don’t have any tent. I whish I can spend the night tomorrow. Damn! tThe guy on the phone tells me there is no vacant place because people book months in advance, sometimes a year .It was expectable. But he also says that sometimes people cancel their bookings. He therefore put my name on a waiting list because two people are in the same situation as me.
"Ok thank you, when do I get an answer?"
The guy: "it depends but you can call tomorrow morning after 6:30"
"Ok, but I planed to leave earlier than 6:30..."
The guy: "I cannot really do anything for you ... but where are you right now ? in the park?"
"No, I'm still in Flagstaff I might arrived this afternoon in the park"
The guy, "Okay, do you expect to spend the night? "
“I’m not so sure. Anyway I have no intention to do it unless I am sure to have a room in the Phantom Ranch for the next day. I cannot really cover a night in the park. Is it possible to have an answer sooner?
"the guy:" It would be surprising but you can call early in the afternoon around 2 "
" Ok ... I'll try. What’s your name?
The guy: "Glen"
"I’m Antoine"
Glen: "Ok then Antoine I talk to you later."
I hang up.
Well… It doesn’t go so well. I have no room at Phantom Ranch, but in the case one becomes vacant, it should be already in the park, which costs $ 25 per day and I will also have to spend the night in an expensive hotel ... No pain, no gain! I try, I am going to the park. I leave my big bag has at the hostel and switch with that a small backpack with a t-shirt and a bottle of water. Then I ask my direction in the first bus driver I see that tells me which bus will brings me to the main road to go to the park. In the same time the same driver gives me a bus ticket that someone dropped. Not too bad ...
As expected, the bus stop just before Highway 180 but does not go to the park. I get out and begin to hitchhike. When I start to lose hope, I see that old van that was to be originally white stopped in front of me. Within a guy about sixty years old I would say, hair and beard as long and white, glasses and a colored bandana around his head to hold his hair. hahah the cliché of the hippie! it's so obvious that I can hardly believe it. I don’t remember his name but he tells me before, hitchhiking, was the best way to travel but nowadays nobody stops. He was an archaeologist in the Grand Canyon until Bush cuts funding for using money in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Married 3 times he has 7 children including a daughter who is studying "anthropology space" which is the relationship between Man and his conquest of space (not very common isn’t it?)... He shows me where he lives, a little white house in the middle of nowhere without power, miles of forest surrounding fields. This is also where he drops me, in the middle of nowhere ... I start to hitchhike again. An old pick up very dirty stops after a few minutes. I can notice a woman behind the big wheel, fifties, greasy hair and interesting tooth geometry. She speaks very quickly and explains she lives here, that her job is there and needs to get her mail somewhere else. She takes me as it is on the road to pick up her son she forgets somewhere ... I don’t have time to understand why that I'm already out. At least I have a signal on my cell phone. I call the ranch and asked for Glen.
"Hi Glen ! Antoine speaking!"
Glen: "Oh Antoine are you in the park yet?"
"Not really ... but almost there. Do you have good news for me ?
Glen: "No one has yet canceled … When wil you be in the park?
" Euhh I'm not sure it depends on the people on the road ... "
Glen:" What, you hitch-hike? "
" Yes, it’s the only way I found"
Glen: "Ahaha! You are crazy Antoine!
"Ahaha, yes maybe but I wanted try "
Glen:" But you know, where you'll sleep tonight when you get to the park? "
" Not really sure ... I'll be back in Flagstaff tonight if I can not go to the Ranch tomorrow"
Glen: "Ok if you want I have plenty of room in my house, this is my personal phone number. Call me when you're in the park if you can not go to Flagstaff tonight"
"It’s really cool! Thank you very much Glen, I note it. "
Very exited that I don’t have to worry about the night in the park I take over the road. After a while waiting, a red car stops. Unlike the previous two it is pretty clean and the interior smells good. The driver is an American Indian. His name Olivier Dejoli. Surprising for an American Indian but his name is a tribute to the best French friend of his father with whom he fought in Korea and his last name due to a french teacher who decided the last century from the U.S. give a French surname the Oliver’s grandfather. Anyway, he is really nice and he brings me to the Park where he used to work some time ago, allowing us to enter without paying ... Very well. Finally! I am in the park! Olivier leaves me, I thank him warmly. I walk a little and I see it, my heart beats. I see Grand Canyon, right in front of me. It is huge. I don’t know if everyone who saw for the first time are like me but I am still amazed at its greatness.
After a half hour of contemplation I call back Glen to tell him I am in the park. We decide a meeting place next to a souvenir shop and I describe myself. After several minutes, a man approaches me and asks "Vous parlez Francais?" . It is Glen, the second Indian American I met in my life and also in the same day.
Glen: "So you still want to descend into the Canyon tomorrow morning?"
At this time I hope for nothing and says: "Yes of course but I realized it was not possible"
Glen:" We will make it possible"
Actually Glen is the person in charge for the people staying overnight at Phantom Ranch. So I accompany him to the desk where he works and makes sure to write my name among those who will sleep at the ranch tomorrow evening. Then he shows me around the park hw knows perfectly. He also shows me the remains of a car from a man who decided to end his days by jumping into the canyon. He also told me all these stories of people who are not prepared enough get lost, dehydrated and died in the canyon. Last week they just found the body of a 9 years old kid.We do some groceries and I fill my backpack of granola bars and bottles of water. Then we dine and slept in Glen’s house.
The next morning I wake up determined to confront the “beast”. Glen decided at the last moment to come with me because it is his days off. We began the descent. The weather is clear it’s still early, it’s warm. It's pretty disturbing to begin a hike going down. It’s even easy first. As we descend the sun rise higher in the sky. It is getting hot. I drink a lot, I eat, we descended again. The scenery is simply amazing. The pictures I took are flat compared to reality. 3:30 later we arrive at Phantom Ranch. It is an oasis deep within a huge chasm arid and extremely hot. I spend the day to rest along the Colorado River. Night falls and the temperature also but slightly. We eat then spent the evening with the staff of the ranch that Glen knows very well. Guitars, jumbe, harmonica and singing in the old Ranch. Outside the sky shows all its stars. I can even see the Milky Way. Damn I'm dreaming or what! Tired and thinking about the next day when it will be time go up, I'm going to bed after having checked that there was no scorpio in my bed.
It's morning! I swallow a few cereal bars and an orange, I refill all of my bottles and I begin riding with Glen. We take a different path. It's already too hot and my legs ... but the scenery makes me forget the temperature and my legs. On the way I meet Jose a Spanish guy and Liviana a Chinese woman who also met each other on the road. We continue the hike together and we meet Boon from Texas. We chat, we walk we take pictures and arrive exhausted at the park after 8 hours walking. We say goodbye to each other with a cold beer well deserved. Jose takes me to Flagstaff where we'll spend the night at the hostel. The next plan is to go to Vegas where I can take the bus to San Diego and where he can fly to San Francisco ...
End of the Grand Canyon episode which was first apparently not doable but then became an unforgettable experience.
More pictures / Plus de photos: Click here
