Down the Canyon

Today me and Joe had a 12 mile hike planned. Steve couldn’t join in because of his blisters from the Smokies. Probably a smart move considering what this hike involved. We started off around 8 in the AM and it wasn’t too hot at all. Once we started down the canyon, the views were awesome. As you could imagine most of the trail had some pretty steep drop offs, but it just added to the whole experience. Originally, we were going to hike down one trail, out another, and then go across the rim to where we started. That was the plan. Once we got down to the bottom, I started looking for our other trailhead. I couldn’t find it. We kept hiking down and still couldn’t see it so instead we just hiked out the same way we came down. It was about this time, Joe took a turn for the worse. Some sunburn that he got from the car, had begun to bubble up. He thought it was sun poisoning and I couldn’t convince him otherwise. He then put on a thermal cotton long sleeve to cover his arm. The t-shirt then went around the head to block the sun from the back of his neck. In the end, it was a sight to see, and an amount of clothing that almost gave him heat stroke. We barely made it out, and then we got a ride back to the lodge from a very nice gentleman. I think they felt bad for us when Joe was cramping in every muscle possible and was covered in dirt. We got back to Steve, grabbed a shower and headed off for Buckskin Gulch.