April 16, 2012

What a cold night! Woke up to frost on my tarp and frozen water. When the sun finally hit me it felt amazing. D=rt prides himself in finding spots to camp that have the sun hit earliest. I am less picky and generally just find a spot that is somewhat level!
  Started hiking by 8. This trail is amazing. We saw pretty much all of Bryce Canyon National Park's backcountry the last 2 days. Funny, we did not see a single person further than a quarter mile from a road. It was solitude in a place that it would not be expected. I would guess that less than .005% see the backcountry of Bryce. Granted we did see pretty much all that the backcountry has to offer.
  We got to Rainbow point in time for lunch. It was beautiful. The sun was shining and it felt so good! We spread our gear out and let things dry up from last night. I will never get sick of seeing peoples reactions to thru-hikers. So many will walk the long way around. Some ask questions, not many fully understand what we are doing. Which is completely okay. This is America, and it can be seen many different ways, on foot or by car, the important thing is to see it!
  We left the point and headed down towards Riggs Spring. The water there was terrible. There is a very strong iron taste. So strong that when I first smelled it, I almost tasted lunch the second time.
  We talked a lot more than usual today. Talked about hunting season and where we want to hunt this Fall. Talked about politics a bit. Also talked about going into Kanab, Utah on Wednesday. We have some very easy miles to the Grand Canyon, and can’t enter it until April 24th, as the permit requires. So we could take it really easy at 10 miles a day, or keep going our speed and then take a day off. It’s so hard to decide what to do, and being on a permit makes it very hard for us. So we have decided to go into Kanab on Wednesday. It will allow me to buy some new boxers, possibly a new GPS, and get a good meal. It will also allow us to enter Buckskin Gulch on my birthday, which offers world class hiking, and I could not imagine a better way to spend a birthday, if only all my friends and family were there as well!
  We are camped in Bullrush Gulch, and completed a 24 mile day!