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Wednesday, November 8
I slept in til 7:15 after a restless night.
We walked over to Bright Angel Lodge for breakfast, taking our hiking stuff with us.
I found out that I've almost worn out a pair of hiking sticks!!! Maybe Santa will bring me some this Christmas. (He did!)
The photo on the left shows the large fireplace in the lobby of the Bright Angel Lodge.
We headed for the Bright Angel Trailhead. The plan is to walk down to the 1.5 mile rest house, then turn around.
We started down about 9:30 and arrived at the rest house a little before 11:30. We had lunch there (energy bars and apples) and started back up about noon.
The photo on the left shows the Canyon from near the trailhead of Bright Angel.
The photo on the right is a sign that appears a short way down the trail, just to confirm you're on the correct trail!
The photo on the left shows Carl silhouetted against the Canyon. The center photo shows me about to enter the second tunnel on the trail. The photo on the right shows the switchbacks still ahead of us on the trail descent.
The photo on the left shows the thermometer at the 1.5 mile rest house. All the way up to 39 today! The center photo shows the view of the inner Canyon from the railing of the 1.5 mile rest house. The photo on the right shows a pack mule train causing a minor traffic jam on the trail. They had stopped to rest between the rest house itself and the restrooms at this level. Mules have the right of way and you DO NOT pass a mule train on the trail, even if it's standing still.
We topped out at 2:30. We did it again!!! I felt fine until the last bit of the walk back to the room when my back started acting up. Tylenol and child's pose and heating pad and it felt much better.
The photo on the left shows the fancy new sign at the trailhead. This area was all under construction the last time we visited - almost 5 years ago.
The photo on the right shows me resting in our room with the heating pad firmly in place....
I took some time and downloaded and labeled photos before we headed out again.
We stopped by Maswik Lodge just to see what was in the lobby besides checkin. I got a couple of things at the gift shop. The cafeteria looked okay. Pizza pub looked okay, too. Maswik consists of a large lodge area with checkin, a couple of places to eat and the gift shop. The rooms are located in a cluster of smaller buildings with 4-10 rooms per building. I think we'll stay here again next time.
We went back to room for a few minutes, then walked over to Bright Angel Lodge for beers and dinner. I had the trout again and Carl tried the spaghetti. Still ate too much....
Then we walked back to room to crash. I sure wish the bubbler (our hot tub) was here....