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I felt every year of my age this morning. The calve muscles, thighs, and one knee are all complaining. It would take close to 10 days to work all the aches and pains back out. So we planned an easy day. After breakfast, we watched them load the pack mules with today’s outgoing stuff, including duffles and trash. They even sent an upright vacuum cleaner up for repair!! Every weekday, they run two mule trains down, then up, the trails with supplies and duffles. Each train consists of a wrangler riding a mule and leading four pack mules. Once the packs are full, that’s it. The rest has to wait for the next set of pack mules, 24 hours later. Of course, duffles and fresh stuff has priority...
After watching the mule train pack up, we explored the immediate area, reacquainting ourselves with the features of Phantom Ranch itself, then looking over the campground that’s nearby. The two photos above were taken in this area. The photo on the left above shows Phantom Ranch's view of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The photo on the right shows Bright Angel Creek as it passes by the campground.
Then over to the boat area, where the boats and rafts and kayaks tie up during the summer months. The two photos above were taken from this boat area and show the Colorado River and the Kaibab, or Black, Bridge.
We walked back over the Kaibab (Black) Bridge, up a couple of turns of the South Kaibab trail, which is no easier going up than it was coming down, and along the River Trail, which connects the two bridges over the Colorado. The three photos above were taken where the South Kaibab Trail and the River Trail intersect. The photo on the left shows two fishermen fishing from the banks of the Colorado River. They're hard to see. The center photo shows two hikers coming through the tunnel at the Kaibab Bridge, either exploring the area as we are or on their way back to the South Rim. The photo on the right shows the sign at this intersection.
Lunch was on this trail, watching the water flow by. Then it was over the Bright Angel (silver) bridge, which still sways appallingly, and back to Phantom for a cold lemonade. Just enough to loosen the muscles. An enjoyable day.
We found that three large groups had descended on Phantom that day. Two were groups of hikers from the Phoenix area, up for an extended weekend. The third looked like Mennonites, little white caps, long skirts, those beards that keep the face itself bare - someone told me that they weren’t Mennonites, but another sect. I forget which.
After dinner, all three groups descended on the social hall. What a cacophony of noise!!! The Phoenix groups were both very rowdy. The sect members weren’t noisy, but they all wanted to crowd around one table. The dining hall has four long tables bolted to the floor. Each can seat about 10 people. They had crowded enough chairs around the centermost table to hold all 18 members of their group... The noise level got so bad that we fled after just one game of cribbage. Note to self - next time, don’t schedule a trip to Phantom Ranch which includes a Friday or Saturday!!!