Grand Canyon 3

Enough of the laziness.  Being Sunday, Cathy dropped me off at Hermit’s Rest, 10+ miles from camp and she went to church.  It was 8:30 and windy and cold.  Did I say windy? Yes.

By dropping me off at the trailhead, it basically puts it on me to make the distance.  I began on this trail through the woods and cliff side.

I took some pictures of the canyon, trailside just after sunrise.  I had a clear view of the Pipe Creek Rapids on the Colorado River, just below the “Silver bridge”, the suspension bridge where the Bright Angel/North Kaibab Trail crosses the river, and a good early morning view of Crystal Creek where it joins the Colorado.  These can only be seen from the trail.

The trail had some very steep drop offs into the canyon at points, like the one shown here.  If you were lucky, you could catch a tree before the cliff, just ten feet on a very steep downhill before the drop.

Sometimes, it was just straight down…  I brought my gun boats along in the event I fell into the river. 

Sometimes the trail was hard to follow.  I had to backtrack on several inclines as I met dead ends, which is not good in the canyon, by yourself, alone, in the morning.

This is a “one and out”.  One bounce before you are out of sight.

I hate selfies but, just in case .

It was cold and it had snowed for two days ago.  Portions of the trail were solid ice.  A slip here could be bad, but this was part of the fun and challenge.  I had run about four miles at this point without seeing a single person.  Yes, shear drop offs were always on the left.

Looking back at the trail.

After making the round at  Powell Point (and seeing the first human in five miles) I ran directly into a group of mule deer.  I was looking down at the path to keep from stumbling on the rocks (a bad habit on mine) and felt kinda like I was being watched.  I looked up and into the faces of about ten of these guys.  They continued on, unabated until a couple of hikers came down the trail, about ten minutes.

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There is a pretty neat crack in the rock trailside, between Maricopa Point and Trailview Overlook.  Midway up the crack you can barely see the Bright Angle Trail cutting across the landscape, about 1,000 feet below.

And here is another trailside view, just beyond Maricopa Point.

After ascending about 1,000 feet during the distance, I ran through the village, past Bright Angel Lodge, the Train Depot, El Tovar Hotel, the Visitor’s Center, the McKee Amphitheater, the Park Headquarters, the Yavapai Lodge and through the woods back to camp, but Cathy was already there, waiting.  One fun way to really see the park!