Stopping in a pastrami-crazy Wasco for lunch on the long drive to the Grand canyon from San Francisco
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It's a dive but the food was good and cheap! Our rental Durango barely squeezed in (packs loaded on the top)
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Hmm...food theme! Dinner in Williams, an hour from the Grand Canyon
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Mmmm....margaritas and beer.
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We spent the night at the Yavapai Lodge on the South Rim It's a gear explosion as I try to sort out what I really need
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Paige and Dave talk to the ranger and pick up our backcountry permit.
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Everyone has to be honest here - they have a scale for pack weights! Should have weighed them on the way out, too. Lots of the weight was food and drinks. My pack felt half empty on the hike out.
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Waiting for the shuttles We left the car at the Bright Angel trailhead where we would be exiting in six days, then took the shuttle to South Kaibab for the hike down
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On the bus - it's a beautiful spring day on the rim.
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We had been warned about ice on the trail and were carrying crampons and shoe chains
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Finally on the South Kaibab trail and heading down into that big hole in the ground Many people here, but the further down you get the fewer people you see
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The views as we dip below the rim That's the Tonto Plateau - we can't even see the bottom of the canyon yet
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Looking back to the start of the South Kaibab The switchbacks came down the gulley in the middle of the photo
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Our first mule-train encounter.
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Traffic jam at Ooh Aah Point Many dayhikers turned around here
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Tonto Plateau and Zoroaster Temple on the north side of the canyon We'll be seeing a lot more of Zoroaster in the next few days
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Looking back up the South Kaibab from Ooh Aah Point
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Still can't see the bottom of the canyon, although the big crack running down the middle of this photo is close
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The Cedar Ridge rest is coming up O'Neil Butte also
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The S. Kaibab is wide to accomodate the hikers and mules
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O'Neil Butte
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David photographs the canyon below
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John spots for us as we come down an icy stretch of trail
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Cedar Ridge - time for lunch!
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Cool tree at Cedar Ridge
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The gang at lunch Paige, Dave, John, and David taking advantage of a small piece of shade
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I can see the Tonto trail below us The tonto trail runs along the relatively flat Tonto Plateau
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O'Neil Butte and the second mule train of the day
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We're not even half way down and it's getting warmer - david is in shorts now.
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Tonto Plateau and Zoroaster Temple
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Wildflowers - to be identified
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Skeleton Point
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Our first view of the Colorado We can also see the trees where Bright Angel Campground is, our destination for the night
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Paige explores a cave along the trail
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Down, Down, Down My calves hurt for three days after this trail
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Below Skeleton Point (and the cave)
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We're about half way there, still over 2000 feet to descend.
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Typical cliff-hugging trail
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We drop into the Redwall layer of rock See the teeny hikers on the trail? The scale of this place is mind blowing
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Getting closer to the Colorado and Bright Angel But there is no such thing as as-the-crow-flies distances here - we still have a lot of zigzagging to do to get down there
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The trail hugs the canyon walls
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Rafts at Boat Beach
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The Colorado, Silver Bridge, and Phantom Ranch outbuildings The Bright Angel Campground is in the Cottonwood Trees
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Paige and Zoroaster Temple
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The Black Bridge, the one we'll cross on the South Kaibab trail today
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Colorado and Silver Bridge
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David, still heading down down down.
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