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Sunday, January 13, 2013
We got up about 6:30 and went over to breakfast at the Lodge. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, juice, and tea. Not bad! The low was -17 this morning!
We stopped in the lobby afterwards to talk with the people at the Phantom Desk. We asked about upgrading to a cabin, but the people at the desk didn't have the authority to approve such an upgrade without a supervisor's approval, so we stood there and visited with them for a while. We stood there long enough for the supervisor to came in and, yes, we have a cabin for tomorrow night! Now, we just have to ask at the people working at Phantom Ranch itself every day about a cabin upgrade each day. But it's nice knowing we'll have a cabin the first night, at least.
So, we returned to the cabin (that's it in the photo to the left) to rearrange the duffel contents and get the other stuff organized for tomorrow. Once the duffel was stuffed, we took it to the lobby to see if it was still under 30 pounds, the limit for the mules. Just over! Shuchk! So, out came the tennis shoes that we had thought to wear around the camp. We'll just stick with the boots. Also out came the cribbage board setup we had put in.
We took those items back to the cabin to reevaluate. We wound up breaking down the cribbage board, which came with a carrying case. Half the weight was in that metal case, so it's staying on the rim. The board and cards will be in the backpack...
Then Carl carried the duffel across the train tracks to the mule barn and we got it checked in. Half a pound under the limit...
Then we got in the car and drove over to the parking lot recommended for leaving cars while hiking to make sure we knew the setup for tomorrow. On previous hikes to the bottom, there was enough room near the trailhead to leave our car. However, they are upgrading that trailhead and the parking lot is completely off limits. The backcountry parking lot is large, however, and only about a 20 minute walk from the trailhead, so that's not too bad.
From there, we went over to the market place to pick up a couple of things, including a couple of new t-shirts.
We then drove by the camping services building to remind us where the laundromat is. We'll need that next Saturday.
Then back to the cabin to park the car and have lunch at the Lodge. Corn chowder for both. We needed something lighter...
After lunch, we roamed the gift shop, then went back to the cabin to drop off the purchases that stuff.
Then we walked the rim trail for a while, trying to glimpse the Bright Angel Trail from here to see how the trail looks. It looks like there will be packed snow and possibly ice most of the way to Indian Gardens, the halfway point.
We plan on starting the day with the crampons on our boots and leaving them on for most of the first three miles. Snow flurries are in the forecast through 5 am tomorrow at the rim and through 11 am at Phantom. We may get a few flakes while on the trail. We'll see.
I went back out and took a couple photos on the point and shoot, just to have something from the rim.
The photo on the left shows some tracks in the snow and shadows that I found interesting. This was between two of the buildings of the Bright Angel Lodge. The center photo looks across the small side canyon that stands between Bright Angel Lodge and El Tovar. El Tovar is the oldest hotel on the South Rim and Bright Angel is only a couple of years newer. The photo on the right is looking across the Grand Canyon. The canyon on the far side is Bright Angel Canyon. Phantom Ranch is located right where this canyon meets the Colorado River.
Then we had beers in the bar again before dinner while checking email and catching up on the notes I keep for this journal.
For dinner, we split an order of tortellini and added house salads for each of us. Much better quantities than last night!
Then back to cabin for an early night.