Day 48

Lazy start to the day ... but had a good sleep. Get ready and push bike back onto the road ... Oh! No ... a puncture in the rear wheel again ... must have picked up a cactus needle or something ... Aagh! Let's get to work and change the onside tube. As I'm working on the bike a cyclist comes done the hill from the opposite direction. It is Yoshi Shada, hard to determine his age, from Japan. He stops and offers to help. Yoshi has a battered old bike that he picked up in Chile!


He has been travelling all through South America and is now exploring some of the remotest parts of Utah and Arizona. He's as tough as nails but has a very gentle and noble manner. We have difficulty communicating but still get on well. I would like to have spent more time with him. The run from Cameron up to Grand Canyon is the hardest cycling I've had on the whole trip. You start at about 4000' and rise up to 7300' ... it's relentless, the road surface is good but the incline never ceases and I start to get angry ... with what? This is part of cycling ... you take the road as it comes. I know that, but I just wasn't expecting such a hard day ... it's the most difficult part of the whole trip by far ... and the heat doesn't help either. The view of the Canyon better be good after this ... after all it's the ultimate in natural features and I do want to enjoy it ... but the effort that I'm being asked to put in seems a bit unfair!


Paid $12 entrance fee at the booth ... the park ranger hives me a few mice words of encouragement and I hold my breath in anticipation of what I'm about to see. This is the eastern part of the south rim at Desert Point ... Wow! It's amazing ... Yep! This is very grand indeed. Much better than all the photos that you have seen before. There must be a forest fire over on the fat side because there is a smoky haze enveloping the area but it doesn't take away from the granduer of the place ... outstanding! My plan is to stay here tonight and move on to Grand Canyon village tomorrow ... still no Wifi access. Phoned Paul and Calum to let them know where I am. I went down to the approved campsite ... charging $18 for an RV or for a single tent! What! No showers but there are toilets. No way ... I return to the main road and cycle a few miles along the road ... one side of the road is strewn with scrub and cypress trees ... what's wrong with that? I wait for a lull in the traffic and make a dash into the outback ... get in about 100m and look around. I see evidence of deer. Seems like good snake country but I think I can pick a flat clear spot where no one, including the park rangers can see me. This will do ... I'm very tired despite only travelling 35mile (all uphill) and I won't be looking at any stars tonight. I'm whacked. Night, night.


Another view of GC looking west

Location:Grand Canyon, AZ