May 1 -- The Grand Canyon

After breakfast, I hiked a lovely 3-mile trail along Lake Havasu to a camping area that is accessible only by boat or foot. It was early in the morning and very few boats were on the lake, so it was still peaceful and quiet. A man hiking back along the trail warned me that there was a nest of Africanized honey bees around the bend. "They're the deadliest thing in the desert," he remarked. "More deadly than the rattlesnakes or scorpions or tarantulas?" I asked. "Oh, yes," he said. "If you get stung out here, you won't make it." Nice, I thought. Nothing like a stress-free hike among nature.

I found the hive he had mentioned. There were bees buzzing around, but none bothered me. And I made sure I did nothing to bother them. Unfortunately, they (or their cousins) were everywhere. I heard bees buzzing during my entire hike. I made a point not to stop and linger anywhere until I got to the campsite, which was my destination.

Conveniently, there was a picnic table at this walk-in campsite, so I sat there alone quite awhile and enjoyed the solitude and scenery. It was truly picturesque. It made me think of that Nature Valley granola bar commercial where they film a girl hiking or bicycling through some scenic paradise and proclaim, "This is Jane Doe's nature valley," as she rips into and munches down on a granola bar. If only I had brought one, I would have done the same, but alas I had not. Oh, well.

Following the hike, I drove into Lake Havasu City and found the library. It was awesome. Very new and nice. I like libraries. I went to one in Borrego Springs and bought three audiobooks for $1 each, so I've been listening to some murder mysteries while I drive. They didn't have any for sale at Lake Havasu City, but that's okay. I'm not even half-way through the ones I have. I did manage to upload all of the photos I've taken so far. I hope you enjoy them. It took me awhile to upload and caption them. I'm taking video with my camera, too, but haven't yet figured out how to upload that and post it on my blog. I know that I can, I just haven't taken the time to figure it out. Maybe someone can investigate that and let me know? I think I can upload to YouTube and then install a "gadget" on the blog to link to the video, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, I hit the road about 11 am and drove through the desert wasteland of Arizona. Wow was it desolate. The road was bad, and the traffic was worse. I finally made it to Williams, AZ, which is about 50 miles south of the south entrance to the Grand Canyon. I stopped for lunch (even though it was after 2 pm), then went by the visitor's center and got some materials.

I'm now staying in a Kaibab National Forest camground about 5 miles south of the entrance. I'm about 6,500 feet up, so it's cold and windy. It's supposed to be in the upper 20's tonight, with a high in the 50's tomorrow. There's a 30% chance of snow. They had snow two days ago, but it has all melted.

This is the opening day for this campground, so there's only about 5 people camped here. There's no one within sight of me. The camp host told me that Elk roam through occasionally, so I'm hoping I see one (or two). It's starting to get really cold. My hands are freezing typing this, so I'm about to sign off.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to see the canyon. There's so much to see and do. I'm thinking I might stay several days here. We'll see.

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