Sister's visit, flat tire

My sister Susan came to the North Rim for a visit. We had a good time during her three day stay. Dinner at the Lodge, an evening at the Cookout and an excursion to Point Imperial and Cape Royal highlighted Susan's visit. I am pointing out land marks in the canyon from Bright Angel Point.

While we were having lunch at Cape Royal this storm developed on the South Rim and came our way. We were able to finish eating before it caught up to us.

This past week Anthony, Sherri and I headed out through the forest to hike from Swamp Point to the Powell Plateau. About half way there we heard a hissing noise and sure enough the right front tire was going flat. A pointy rock punctured the tire. Anthony and are finding the best place for the jack.

After changing the tire we didn't want to continue as far as Swamp Point without a spare, so we found a remote side road and bushwhacked up to the ridge-line. It was a good hike near Quaking Aspen Spring.

On the way back to the North Rim we stopped at the entrance station to hike up to a fire lookout tower. It was about a mile and a half up an old road. The tower is a historical site built in the 1930's.

This was the tower where Edward Abbey spent many summers with his dad, girl friends and wives visiting often. He also did a lot of writing in the top of the tower. The house is supposed to be worked on at some point, but now it is in very bad shape.

The climb to the top is a little scary, as the railings aren't much at the landing areas but that wasn't going to stop us from making it to the top. Except the door was locked to get into the observation area, still a nice climb with great views.

Despite the flat tire, we got in a couple of good hikes and enjoyed our day off.