High and Dry

Today, I survived the hair-raising, white/knuckle 12 mile, 158 curve drive up Rt 89a to Jerome. A two-lane road that climbs up to the "mile high" city---5000 ft elevation---with such sheer drop offs and tight switchbacks that my heart was in my throat. And I wasn't even driving. Probably a good thing as I might have been so freaked that I would have driven us Thelma and Louise-like off into oblivion. Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?

Jerome is a very cool town. Lots of galleries and shops. A total tourist mecca, but worth the horror of the drive to see all the historic 19th century buildings that survived (and the ruins of the ones that didn't) the bust of the local copper mine industry. 15,000 people used to live here, but now the population is around 450---mostly shop owners, innkeepers and old hippies.

Walking up and down the steep streets of this town, I felt the altitude; and I'm wondering just how much of an impact it will have when we're hiking in the Grand Canyon. We'll be at over 8000 ft for the beginning our hike.

Besides the lack of oxygen, the air is so dry up here that I've got the high altitude nosebleeds I remember from when I skied in Colorado. And although the temperature up here in the high desert has only been in the mid-80s, the sun feels HOT. We bought extra sunscreen today. Chugging lots of water, too. A vast difference from humid NJ to arid AZ! And since just about everybody we talk to here about our Rim to Rim hike says, "You're really brave," or, "I hope you've been training!" All of which leads to the question I've been asking myself all summer: Are we doing enough? We'll find out in a couple days!