Day 10: Flintstones Campground past the Grand Canyon

I've got a little story to tell, but let me start off by saying the Grand Canyon is beautiful.

We got up around 7-8 in the morning to make breakfast and start the day slowly. All three of us were packed up and ready to go around 10:20, but as we started rolling I noticed a huge thorn sticking out of my tire. I pulled it out and an instant hiss of air told me we'd be there for at least another 15-20 minutes. I switched the tube out for a Duro tube that Brad had and we were on our way.

After about 7-8 miles we stopped to have a snack and were caught by a couple of guys touring from San Diego to Toronto. We all rode together for about a mile before Brad and I realized we wanted to up the pace. We had to make a detour into Grand Canyon Village to pick up a package from my dad and still wanted to cover some distance, so we said goodbye to Dave and the other guys and started flying down the road. Unfortunately my tire popped again after about a minute (flat count at this point: Arin - 9, Brad -1). All those guys passed us again as we were forced to make another tube change. This time the problem was a faulty tube, where the valve base had separated from the body of the tube. The same thing had happened to Brad before so I'm convinced that Duro has some poor QC. After a quick tire change we were flying, passing everyone and making it fairly quickly to the Grand Canyon National Park. From there it was another 4 or so miles to the visitor's center and a lookout point. We hung out around throngs of people for maybe an hour looking at the canyon before heading to El Tovar Lodge, another mile or two down the road, to pick up my package.

Inside the package was a gold mine; the rain covers I had ordered for my bags, six tubes, eight Honey Stinger waffles, and some chamois butter. We divvied up the stuff and headed to the little grocery mart. There we topped off our water and grabbed a bunch of free condiments from the condiment bar at the cafe.

We were finally back on the road. Riding out of the village we saw 5 young moose on the side of the road.

Brad and I soon got back into a rhythm, and the miles were flying by. But with scenic views of different parts of the canyon, we couldn't help but stop and take photos periodically.

As we zoomed down the road, we saw someone up ahead. Who else could it be but Dave? We were reunited for another night, as he had just kept riding down the highway when we were detouring around the village for a couple (few?) hours.

We rode together for the rest of the evening/night, making one stop before finding our place to camp. That stop was at the historic tower on the side of the canyon, where we had possibly the best views of the whole day.

We rode on into the dark, past the closed campground. Dave had heard from some guy that there was a spot in the national forest that we could camp for free. It got darker and colder so we had to stop and put on warmer clothes. Finally we arrived at a place that matched the guy's description, but there was a trailer with lights on way in the back and an address on a pole out front. The three of us sat there thinking for a while, too sketched out to enter, when a man came walking out with a lamp. It was the guy that Dave had talked to earlier and he showed us in to a good spot to sleep. After some dinner we all hit the hay. 

Now it's morning and Brad and I are heading off towards Tuba City and beyond, while Dave will continue along the rim of the canyon towards Zion.