There are all measure of animals and creatures that you can run into while traversing the canyon, and right outside of Phantom Ranch we ran into this little lady. Evie made us promise to take pictures of any animals we saw and honestly Bob and I were thrilled that we could make it happen.
These guys have literally no fear and are fairly unimpressed by the myriad of runners and hikers it sees on a regular basis.
The Box Canyon was AMAZING. I think it was my second favorite stretch of the canyon. Right out of Phantom, our group was one runner short. Jill had come into Phantom, but we simply couldn't find her. There was a moment of ill ease and then all of us, knowing that Jill is absolutely one of the fittest among us, kept moving forward certain that she kept moving forward.
Sure enough, 20 minutes later we ran right into her and all of us were back together.
The Journey from Phantom to Manzanita seems relatively flat but it is actually gradually uphill culminating in the brutal climb that is the North Rim. From outside of Phantom to the top of the North Rim is around 13.4 miles. There's a sign. I remember doing the math on my watch knowing that I was going to reach the North Rim right around the 25 mile mark. Whew....its go time.
The Box is a peaceful place, You are surrounded by rock walls and a running stream rushes next to you. There are about 3 bridges you cross and the trail is just so beautiful.
After about 3 miles the box opens up and the trail meanders ever so slowly up towards the base of the North Rim. This section is hard because it is the most sun exposed and just a long rolling slog.
It was amazing to stop and look behind us. Way in the distance we could see the South Rim. Very humbling, and very empowering. At this point even though my toe and feet were talking I actually felt very good. I was going to do this thing.
We got into Cottonwood Campground, filled up our water, and the trail slowly started to get steeper and steeper. It was time to start climbing.
The group was together as we came into the Manzanita rest area. We had been heading up for the past several miles, but now.......it was time to climb.
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