We drove up to the Canyon early on the day of the hike and had a nice breakfast at the El Tovar Hotel, before taking the shuttle bus to Hermit's Rest, to begin the hike. We ended up starting down the trail around 9:15, which is a little late, but it was a nice day and was not expected to get that hot, and I thought it was only going to be 6 miles. Even at one mile per hour, and a long rest at Dripping Springs, we should be out by 4:00 at the latest. Adding another mile-and-almost-a-half would push that to 5:30, still not a problem. And, one mile per hour is a pretty relaxing hiking rate, for me anyway.

We had a nice hike going down but it was taking longer than expected. I should have been a little concerned when we arrived at Hermit Basin and it was already after 11:00. That is only a little more than a mile and it had taken almost 2 hours. We took a short rest break at Hermit Basin. When we arrived at the Dripping Springs Trail it was almost noon, about 2.5 hours to cover 1.5 miles. I was still hoping for the best.

We made a little better time on the Dripping Springs Trail since there is not a lot of elevation change there, and we arrived at Dripping Springs a little after 1:15. So a little more than 4 hours to cover what would end up being 3.6 miles. Not quite the one mile per hour I was hoping for in the worst case but only slightly off the mark. The problem now was I knew we would not make even close to one mile per hour on the hike back to the rim.

My left foot held up fine until the final stretch to Dripping Springs, but then I was starting to feel that burning sensation. I was very anxious to get there and to be through with the hike down and was pushing it a little too fast, on a section of trail that had a slight uphill to it. One thing I discovered with the foot was that slower was better. I took off the boots and massaged some of my NeuropAway gel into the problem spot on the left foot and hoped for the best on the hike out. A rest would also be good for it.

We rested, drank some water and ate some snacks and it was around 2:15 by the time we left Dripping Springs. If we could manage one mile per hour on the way up, and that was a big IF, we would get back to the rim around 6:15. Sunset was supposed to be right around 7pm and I just hoped we would make it out before that happened. We would have some daylight left for around a half of an hour after that but then it would get very dark. Another thing that started to worry me on the hike out was the shuttle bus, our only way back to Grand Canyon Village. I knew that the shuttle bus ran for about an hour after sunset but I was not sure that it would come all the way out to Hermit's Rest, which was not really a place people would go to for sunset. I knew it went as far as Hopi Point and perhaps Mohave Point but even Pima Point was not really a location for sunset, it was mostly those close to the village.

It took about 1½ hours to get back to the Hermit Trail, and looking back up at the rim from there, and knowing that it was already closing in on 4pm was not encouraging. The trail junction was already in shadows. We took another short rest break at Hermit Basin but I did not want that to go on too long. Not sure when we actually started up the switchbacks on the Hermit Trail but I am sure it was already after 4pm.

I was pushing myself because I was getting very concerned about that shuttle bus and Jim was lagging further and further behind. I knew he was obviously reaching his limit but I needed to stay a little ahead to keep him moving. I took a long break at what I call "the Rest Tree" which provided the first bit of shade I had seen since leaving Hermit Basin. That was right around 5pm. I waited there until I could at least see Jim coming up that section of trail and he was moving slow but he was still moving and looked okay. I continued on up the trail, checking every so often to see where he was.

It was a little after 6pm when I lost sight of him. I called out and he answered but he was not moving, and didn't seem to have any intention of starting to move again. I waited a while and tried to get him moving again but eventually I had to turn back to find out what the problem was.

He had missed a turn on the trail at one of the switchbacks, stumbled over some rocks, fallen and hit his head. There was a bruise and some blood but it did not look serious. He was conscious and talking but he was pretty much out of steam, and not anxious to continue. This day hike was proving to be too much for him. I finally got him moving and told him I was getting very worried about the shuttle bus situation. He tried to get me to go ahead and take the bus back to the village but there was no way I was leaving him. There was probably nothing I could have done back at the village and no way I wanted him out there alone overnight.

We trudged up the trail together from there and luckily we were very close to the top at that point. After a few move switchbacks the trail started to level out as we approached the trailhead. It was slow going but we were at least moving.

We got back to the trailhead just a little before 7pm and by the time we got back to Hermit's Rest the sun was just starting to set. As luck would have it there was a shuttle bus waiting there for us. The driver said it was not the last bus and there would be two more, so we had probably another 30 or 40 minutes to play with. The sun set over the west rim as the bus drove away from Hermit's Rest.

We had planned to go to the Cameron Trading Post for dinner after the hike but that was out of the question now. It was almost 8pm by the time we got back to Grand Canyon Village and we headed over to the Yavapai Lodge beer garden for dinner. Jim had a beer but was not much in the mood for eating. I was starving devoured my veggie burger.

It was still a long drive back to the house in Flagstaff and I think we got there around 10:30. It had been a very long day.