Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 11:30pm : Flagstaff
It has been a very long day. We left camp a little after 7:00 and arrived at the junction with the Bill Hall Trail around 7:30. We took a short break there before starting up, another on the way, and arrived at the small cliff around 9:00. We waited for Mary and Robert to catch up there and then finished the Coconino climb and started the traverse between the cliffs to the final climb out. We took another short break above the Bridger's Knoll saddle before starting up the final stretch and then arrived back on the rim a little before 10:30. We got back to the parking lot a little before 11:00.
We stopped at Jacob Lake on the way back to Flagstaff for a rest stop, gas and cookies and then stopped at the Vermillion Cliffs Café at the Marble Canyon Lodge for lunch. They didn't have ribs on the lunch menu which bummed me out since I had been bragging about them all week but we all found something else good to eat. They did have BBQ pork shanks on the lunch menu and Janice and I both had those.
After dinner we said our good-byes with Mary and Robert and then stopped at the Navajo Bridge in Marble Canyon so John and Janice could see that.
We got back to Flagstaff around 6:00pm and after unpacking, checking in with people and freshening up, John, Janice and I went out for a nice Mexican meal at La Fonda.
After dinner I started uploading photos to my laptop and also did a couple of loads of laundry. People starting fading away quickly though and just wanted to go to bed. The last of the laundry is done now and I am heading to bed as well.
Tomorrow morning we are going up to the Canyon to have breakfast at the El Tovar and then say our good-byes to the Canyon herself. It has been one of the best trips ever!
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