Day 28: Mules and Fumes

I woke up early and had a minimalist breakfast of a pear and a blueberry granola bar because at 7am the breakfast room was packed and the Jacob Lake lodge seemed quite understaffed. I then jetted off to Cape Royal on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I started the day w/ almost a half tank, figuring that would be enough for there and back again.

Camp Royal was pretty cool, but I was unable to find one of the trails I wanted to hike, so my stay there was pretty short since the nicely labeled trail was only about a mile total. There were some excellent views which I'll be sure to post once I find a bigger series of tubes.

When I got back to the lodge, I sat in on a forest firefighting review session. It was very interesting. One of the arguments is that since the average temperatures are going up, the plants that would normally be moist are dry and brittle, making for better fuel. Fifteen years ago, a large forest fire burned 45,000 acres. Now we are seeing multiple "mega" fires each year that burn 200,000 - 500,000 acres. Remember, your life is more important than your property, especially if you have insurance and your home is $1M or more.

Next was my half day riding a mule down into the Canyon. For those of you that don't know, a mule is a male donkey bred with a female horse. Mules cannot reproduce themselves due to horses and donkeys having a different number of chromosomes, which seem pretty sad for the mules as sex is probably the best part for your typical labor animal. The mule ride was pretty darn slow, which I suppose is good since we were four foot wide trails, the outer edge being a pretty quick drop off. Overall it was fun, there were only a few picture worthy shots and I could have hiked the trip faster with more benefits.

So I had less than 10% of my fuel left as I started my 45 mile (or is it 52? I'm not sure whether the sign was to the lodge or the entrance to the park) journey home, I realized I'd already gone about 280 miles, which is 40 more miles than I had gone before on a full tank. I made the gas station on fumes, putting 6 gallons into my 6.8 gallon tank. I have no idea how I could have put another .8 gallons since the tank was almost at the overflow point. Needless to say, I was pretty worried I was going to be walking a few miles...

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm off to the South Rim to see why so many more people go there than the North Rim. I'm guessing (hoping) they have more and better hikes. I'm pretty sure they have more crap to sell. Raise your hand if you like Silver and Turquoise!