I spent my last weekend camping at East Rim on the Kaibab National Forest with an Arizona Trail walk.
Bill drove up onto the plateau 85 miles from the heat in Kanab and met me at the junction of SR67 & FR610 then followed me about 5 miles to East Rim on the Kaibab National Forest. We drove past the actual East Rim parking and access to the Arizona Trail about a mile.
Found a sweet place to camp under a shady forest with a fire ring and some thoughtful camper had left lots of wood stacked for later. And not 50 feet away a little view of the Marble Plateau with the jagged cut of Marble Canyon where the Colorado River flows. It was hazy from smoke blowing from southern California fires.
After parking and leveling my rig we took Bill’s truck back to the parking area and headed south on the Arizona Trail, destination, and journey, unknown.
Most of the time we were at least within sight of North Canyon but walked in the forest under the pines and aspen. The trail is basically level and a light breeze made the 80+F comfortable.
Found a nice log with a view to stop and have lunch at while we kept chatting away as we both do so well. Sure is nice to have interesting conversation with a pleasurable companion in such a peaceful environment.
Walked about 3-4 hours round trip but I’m sure we didn’t get very far with me stopping to take photos frequently and Sasha stopping to smell whatever it is dogs smell for.
Back at camp I made us dinner, nothing too exciting but one of my favorites, fried potatoes with chopped garlic then add bite-size pieces of pork, kalarabi and cucumbers on the side. Neither of us really Like to cook and I’m admittedly lazy when cooking for myself. Afterwards we watched the last light shine on Marble Viewpoint to the east.
Then the sun settled in the west putting on a bit of a show in some distant smoke from a managed lightning strike fire not far from Locust Point.
A two-point buck crept close to camp twice.
As the temperature dropped to fleece weather I built a campfire and we sat up until I began yawning around 11. I was glad for extra covers by morning.
Because I ran out of propane overnight, and we hadn’t eaten desert the night before, breakfast was angle food cake and Haagen-Dazs White Chocolate with raspberry swirls and dark chocolate bits ice cream, topped with raspberries. Didn’t want to waste the ice cream and ate it too fast to take a photo. We sat outside at first seeking the sun and then the shade talking away and all the time swatting at the very pesky flies. There was talk about walking north a ways on the Arizona Trail but I just felt like relaxing in the forest with good company.