I successfully completed the Hermit, Tonto, Bright Angel trail combo as a day hike... 24 miles. It took just about 13 hours. I started down the Hermit Trail around 5:15 this morning and topped out on the Bright Angel Trail at 6:38 this afternoon.

I feel okay, no problems, but my legs felt really weird during the ride back to Flagstaff... didn't want to be sitting... wanted to just keep walking I think. I spent a little time in the jacuzzi when I got back here and they feel a LOT better now. My left shoulder is little sore for some reason and my only guess about that is it's from the pack. The day pack does not have any waist belt so all of the weight from that was hanging on my shoulders. It was not a heavy pack but I carried it for 13 hours. Why only the left shoulder though? The right side feels absolutely fine.

Everything seemed to go just perfect today. I got up at 3:00 and made the 4:30 shuttle to the trailhead. I really thought I was going to be alone on the trail since there was no one else on the bus but then I heard someone calling my name as I was walking for the trailhead, one of the guys from my backpacking club. He was actually doing the same hike as me, but spread out over 5 days. We started down the trail together at 5:15 but I only walked with him for about 15 minutes. He was carrying a full pack and was going way too slow for what I needed to do.

Once I left him behind I headed down the trail at a pretty good pace, only stopping for photos and the occasional sip of water. The trail was in pretty much constant shade for the entire morning and there were only 2 or 3 short stretches where the sun managed to peek over the rim. Even the final descent on the Hermit trail through the Redwall to the Tonto was in shade and the sun was just hitting the trail marker sign when I arrived down there. It was absolutely perfect and I really lucked out.

The Tonto portion on the other hand was bathed in constant sunshine all day. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was just the perfect shade of deep Arizona blue. There was a light, gentle breeze from time to time that felt more like a caress than anything else. This was usually a cool breeze, probably coming down from the rim but going across some of the larger side canyons it felt a lot warmer.

I arrived at my first stop, Monument Creek, right on time at 9:30 and was out of there just a little before 10, after filtering water and refilling both of my 1-liter water bottles. From Monument I just kept walking and crossed the second marker, Salt Creek, at 11:30.

After crossing Salt Creek I just started looking for any spot that would offer enough shade for me to sit down and have my lunch. There is not much shade on the Tonto and even the big blocks of rock one would normally use don't have much in the way of shadows at noon when the sun is almost directly overhead. I did finally manage to find one that was leaning to the north enough to create a fairly sizable patch of shade. I took off my boots and socks to give my feet a break while I munched down on my leftover pizza for lunch. Surprisingly the pizza was still cold and heat had apparently not penetrated the backpack. It was a fabulous lunch. Before taking to the trail again I put on the fresh pair of socks I had brought with me.

I was just about a mile shy of the halfway point when I stopped for lunch so I was making pretty good time. Shortly after lunch I felt myself starting to hit a wall. It was very weird because all of sudden my body just started to feel very, very tired and even the slightest uphill sections were becoming increasing difficult. That continued for about an hour and honestly had me extremely worried since Indian Garden was still about 6 or 7 miles away. There was not much to do except push forward and I took a couple short rests in other patches of shade and sipped water. Luckily it seemed to disappear as quickly as it started and by around 13:30 I was fine again. All I can figure is that the digestive process kicked in right after lunch and needed a while to absorb those calories. Once it did start working on them though there were probably plenty to go around. Another problem is there was a lot of cheese in that meal which probably isn't the easiest thing to digest.

I crossed the eastern arm of Horn Creek, the next checkpoint, just a little after 14:00 and then arrived at Indian Garden just a little after 15:00... right on schedule. Making it to Indian Garden felt wonderful as I pretty much knew I was home free at that point. There was only 4.5 miles to the rim at that point and almost all of it was going to be in shade again. There was plenty of shade at Indian Garden and also plenty of cold water. The water in my water bottles was quite warm and although it probably doesn't make any difference internally, sipping warm/hot water does not seem to do as nicely for quenching thirst. I sucked down about a liter while I ate some more food and rested in the shade for about 45 minutes before starting the hike out.

I ran into my ranger friend, Chuck, just as I was coming off of the Tonto Trail into Indian Garden. This surprised me at first because from what I knew he was doing backcountry patrols and was not stationed at Indian Garden any longer. I think I surprised him as well as when I called his name at first he looked around and then kept walking. The second time I called he had to do a double take but did finally recognize me. Seeing me coming off of the Tonto Trail with only a daypack surprised him as well and he seemed a little shocked at my choice for a day hike. We talked for a while and it was nice to catch up on things. Apparently there was a personnel shortage so he had been sent down to Indian Garden to fill in for a while.

I was amazed at how well I felt when I arrived at the Garden. When I hit that wall after lunch I was really worried how the heck I was going to do that 4.5 mile hike with a 3,500 elevation gain back out to the rim... really worried. I felt fine when I got there and I felt even better right before I left. I made very good time going up to the three-mile resthouse where I stopped for some more food and water. After that I started to slow down a little but I wasn't worried about it since that always happens on the hike out. The top section of the Bright Angel at Heartbreak Hill had me slowed to nearly a crawl but I still managed to top out on the rim at 18:33... only about 3 minutes after my hoped for goal. Since the upper end of that goal was 19:30 I was not at all displeased and actually quite amazed that I had pulled this day hike off.

This is not a hike I would ever recommend to anyone and quite likely a hike I will never do again. I was beautiful though and I really loved walking along the section of the Tonto again. I had the most incredible day for it and once again I think the Canyon Gods smiled upon me.

I am exhausted... gotta crash. Photos will need to wait until tomorrow.