Miles: 9.2 Steps: 23,883 Vertical gain: Strava Knows! Liquid consumed: 100 oz. Wildlife: A coyote in the middle of the road, some birds in the Canyon:ravens and birds flying at river level Faith in Humanity: Met a great guy from Boston on the Tanner Trail,I have him the trail name “Short Poles”. Not sure if he’ll take it but he was cool to talk to for a bit! Crazy that I’m right beside Tanner Rapid at the bottom of the Grand Canyon! I had initially planned to be out of the house by 7am. Left around 8:15,but what can you do? I hit the supermarket then drive to the Backcountry Office at the South Rim. I got the exact permit I wanted almost instantaneously and was on my way. Drove the 30 miles to Lipan Point on a fairly icy Desert View Drive, did some final packing and was on the Tanner Trail a bit after 11. Nervous for my knee, I started down the snow covered trail. The canyon was quite shaded so the snow lingered for quite a while as I headed down. I tried to take my time the whole way to the river as to avoid re-injuring my knee. I love it here! I truly love the Grand Canyon. A place that has captured my heart perhaps more than any other! It feels so good to be on a backpacking trip again! This is the same trail I climbed a few weeks ago and met the amazing Brazilian family who adopted me for a bit. I felt a bit nostalgic at Lipan Point where I begged for a ride and was rejected for a couple of hours before meeting them. I only passed one gentleman and we chatted for a good 10 minutes or so. Really cool guy:enjoy the rest of your trip! I took a couple long breaks on the way down, enjoying the view and hydrating. I was a bit apprehensive that any moment the sharp, shooting pain would return to my knee. I was attempting this with no Ibuprofen even. Thankfully (knock on wood), this never came and all is well! I arrived at the river with an hour and a half of daylight remaining due to my late start. I found a preexisting site near the river and set up my tent. Ate some food. Relaxed, enjoyed the view. Enjoying the sound of the rapid right next to me. Kind of crazy I’ll be boating through the rapid in only a few short days. I wrote a big catch up journal entry about the crazy past few weeks, and now I hope to be back to regular journaling. I’ve really been enjoying podcasts lately about a wide variety of topics. Adventures, Serial, how brains work, optimizing social media, and more. Love it! Very excited for the upcoming Escalante Route tomorrow!