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Tuesday, November 7
We got up a little before 7 am. The weather forecast says light rain until about noon. Definitely wet out there this morning.
After breakfast at the Bright Angel Lodge, we rode the buses (really nice transportation system here at the Park) to the Marketplace where we did some shopping. Energy bars and apples for tomorrow, flashlight (mine's pretty anemic), some tee shirts, etc. Then rode the buses to the Visitor's Center.
The photo on the left shows the train tracks we'd cross every time we walked between the room and the lodge. In the distance, you can see the Grand Canyon Train at the station. It makes the trip between Williams, AZ, and the Village area of the Grand Canyon just about every day.
The photo to the right shows me approaching the bus stop for the next bus to the Marketplace. We let the one in the background go without us and took the next one. They ran every ten minutes or so.
After poking around the Visitor's Center for a while, we rode a couple of buses back to hotel (We got on the wrong one at one point). After stashing our purchases, we walked back to Bright Angel for lunch. Weird salads...
Then we rode the bus back to Visitor's Center to catch shuttle to Yaki Point. We walked part way down South Kaibab Trail.
The photo on the left shows me at the South Kaibab Trailhead. The photo on the right shows Carl part way down the trail, taken from the trailhead itself.
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The three photos above were taken from a spot just a short distance down the South Kaibab Trail - just after the first switchback from the top. The photo on the left shows some hikers coming up the trail, returning to the rim. The center photo shows the switchbacks immediately below this point. There's quite a few of them. The photo on the right shows Carl taking a photo of the canyon from this vantage point.
There were two elk at the South Kaibab Trailhead, getting a drink from a leaky faucet. They were shy about photos, however, and the view out the bus window wasn't very good, so no photos...
From the South Kaibab Trailhead, we boarded the next bus for the very short hop over to Yaki Point. I swear, there used to be a good trail between these two spots, but that was many years ago. Now, taking the bus is about the only option. Yaki Point has always been one of my favorite viewpoints at the Canyon.
These three photos show three different views of the Canyon from Yaki Point.
Three more photos from Yaki Point. The photo on the left shows Carl enjoying the view and the photo on the right show me working my way along the rim.
And one more photo from Yaki Point before we worked our way back to the bus stop.
This has always been one of my favorite views of the canyon.
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We continued to use this bus as a tour bus, getting off again at Pipecreek Overlook.
This photo was taken at Pipecreek Vista and shows the other side of O'Neill Butte. Portions of the South Kaibab trail can be seen if you look closely.
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Then we rode back to the Visitor's Center where we walked out to Mather Point.
The photo on the left shows Carl looking out at the Canyon from Mather Point. The center photo shows a bunch of people at the main overlook from Mather Point. The photo on the right shows the lengthening shadows across the Canyon as the day draws to a close.
While we were at the Mather Point overlook, we spotted these two young women out on a point that's not a normal Canyon overlook area taking photos of each other from this rather precarious perch....
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Then back onto the Village bus for the return trip to the Village. We got off at El Tovar and saw the same six mule deer grazing nearby.
We walked across to Bright Angel Lodge. There weren't any clouds for sunset so we had beers at the tavern.
However, that didn't stop me taking photos of the sunset colors in the Canyon. The photo on the left shows our sunset tonight.
On the way to the tavern, I saw the sun shining through a cholla, so stopped and took a photo of that, too.
We had dinner at the Lodge again. I had trout (yum) and Carl had turkey.
Then we walked back to room. It's been a busy day... Time for bed...