We waited for the sun to hit Havasu so we could swim without being cold...it was still cold. Then packed up and left at noon, packs resting heavy on our shoulders. This Friday was apparently a 'payday' friday for the natives in Supai so a helicopter buzzed in and out like a giant insect every 10 minutes. What took the copter an average of 15 minutes round trip would take us nearly 5 hours one way. We were pretty tempted to pay the $20 for the chopper to carry our packs, but a lack of cash dashed this idea and saved us the twenty bucks.
The hike passed pretty quickly and about 50% of the canyon was already in shade due to the October angle of the sun so it wasn't ridiculously hot. I had small blisters on a heel, my shoulder muscles were painful and my back seizing, but by the time we started to climb the final mile, everything had settled into the rhythm so I hardly noticed. A mercifully cool wind kept us from getting too hot, but man that was a climb. It took us about 45 minutes to go the final mile and when we finally took the packs off, stretched, climbed into the car and downed some gatorade, I still felt fairly nauseous for the first while on the drive out.
We were headed for the nearest town to get some food...unfortunately 'Peach Springs' was little more than a community with nothing commercial or public in sight. 'Kingman' 55 miles. This seemed a long ways, but zipping along route 66 was pretty quick and we entered on a motel strip. Days Inn was the random one we chose and it was much better than expected: comfy, clean, fridge, micro, free breaky, pool, hottub, etc. To be honest, all I really cared about was a shower and a bed. You cannot imagine how dirty Bry and I were by this point after 4 days of camping, swimming in lime-saturated water and having hiked 30 odd miles in the past handful of days.
As a further treat, we found a steakhouse and got Bry some ribs.
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