February 21
February 22
February 23
February 24
February 25
February 26
February 27
February 28
March 1
March 2
March 3
March 4
March 5 - 7
March 8 - 11
We had an early breakfast again, but this time it was scheduled that way on purpose. It’s hiking day!
We put our duffle in the outbound area, after weighing it (26 pounds for the trip up). Duffles must be weighed and have the weight displayed prominently on the bag. That allows the mule wranglers to balance the panniers more easily.
Carl was curious, so he also weighed the pack he was carrying out - 32 pounds, mostly water. He had 2 liters in the pack and another liter on the belt. I had a much lighter fanny pack with a liter of water on the belt. We left Phantom Ranch just before 7 am.
I had forgotten how nice the Bright Angel Trail can be. We saw several waterfalls along the way, something the South Kaibab Trail doesn’t have.
The three photos above show three of the small waterfalls we found on Pipe Creek, along the lower portion of Bright Angel Trail.
The three photos above show some of the other sights we saw as we were hiking up. The photo on the left shows the South Rim high above us. The center photo shows a view out over the canyon from the Devil's Corkscrew portion of the trail. The photo on the right shows some of the cottonwood trees that announce a hiker's arrival at Indian Gardens.
Back to the waterfalls! The two photos on the left above show two more waterfalls on this trail. They're both located on Garden Creek in the Devil's Corkscrew section of the Bright Angel Trail. Carl took the photo on the right during one of our rest breaks. There's a waterfall just over there (probably the photo on the left above)!
We got to Indian Gardens, the halfway point, at noon, just in time for a long lunch break and to watch the mule riders load up for their trip the rest of the way down the trail.
The trail was uneventful, unlike last time, when we ran into several patches of slick ice. The Grand Canyon has had almost no snow this winter.
The three photos above were taken on the last half of the trail. The photo on the left shows a mule train waiting while their riders had a lunch break at Indian Gardens. The other two photos show the canyon vista at two of our rest stops as we climbed.
We arrived at the rim (a little after 5) to find a brisk wind blowing. We snagged a passing tourist (she works on a lobster boat in Maine most of the year) to take our picture (left) at the top, then grabbed out the jackets that were packed away after the first hour of hiking this morning...
We dropped the packs into the back of the car, then walked to the hotel lobby to check back in. The lobby was crowded and overheated - the worst experience of the whole day.
We finally got our room assignment and keys and Carl took off to pick up our duffle at the stables. While he was doing that, I unloaded the car and started getting the room settled.
Once he returned, we retrieved the four bags we had checked with the porter four days ago, grabbed dinner, and crashed. The lights were turned out well before 9 pm...
Our Bright Angel rooms (both of them) were nicer than we expected. They were located right on the rim! In the past, we’ve gotten cabins that were just off the rim. Quiet, but no view. With these, all we had to do was open the drapes and there was the Canyon in all its glory! Very nice.