- 620 meters down and up again on the South Kaibab Trail
- Sunset with a crowd of people at Hopi Point
After a cold night we wake up to the warmth of the morning sun. We have a leisurely breakfast and stock up on enough water for the upcoming hike. Since there is still free Wi-Fi available there, we linger a moment and talk to home. We want to descend into the Grand Canyon on the South Kainab Trail. The weather is splendid again and we start to sweat in the early hours of the morning. We begin the steeply sloping hiking trail with 3 liters of water in our luggage and food for the journey. In serpentines it goes back down towards the Colorado River. Again and again steep cliffs line the path. High fir trees and cacti can be seen here and there. After a good 1.5 hours of rapid descent, we take a longer break and let our gaze wander over the canyon landscape ahead. Gouda, salami and bread give us the energy we need for the return journey that follows. The climb will be tough, especially when the temperature is over 30 degrees and the sun is scorching. We are setting a remarkable pace, to which we will soon pay a little Triput. Nevertheless, we make rapid progress and only need a little time for the ascent, albeit with a few longer breaks. When the three liters of water are running out, we are back at the starting point. According to the map, we covered 9.6 kilometers and 620 meters in altitude. Instead of the specified 6 hours, however, we only needed a little over 4 hours. Our legs and shoes are stained red from the sand on the path. Logically we are now pretty exhausted.
At the General Store we take another break, charge our energy tanks with a cool drink and use the WiFi. The urgently needed shower gets us going again. We make salad and cook the remaining chicken schnitzel from the day before. The sun will set soon, so we take the shuttle bus out to Hopi Point again. There was even a larger crowd here than the day before. Again, unfortunately, no clouds can be seen in the sky, only a small forest fire on the north rim clouded the sky a bit. After some pictures and the last rays of sunshine, we take the shuttle bus back to the village. We would like to drink a cocktail in the bar of the lodge there, which is unfortunately not possible in the USA without a passport. So we leave the bar annoyed and buy a drink in the general store. We sift through a selection of our previous top pictures. Then I write a diary before going to bed.
