Day 8 Thursday Grand Canyon

  Grand Canyon, Arizona
Saturday, May 23, 2009

Woke up to a wet pillow as it had been chucking down with rain since 10pm last night and the rear window beside the bed appears to be leaking! Sky still full of clouds and occasional rain. We had to put the duvet on the bed last night it was that cold!
 
Another yomping into the Canyon day, this time down the Bright Angel trail. We met a couple on the bus last night that had hiked to Indian Gardens, They started at 8 in the morning and didn't get back till after 5 and they said it was really hard going.
 
We aimed to go for the 1.5 Mile Resthouse anyway. As we drove in the transit bus, the mist was thick, basically the top of the south rim was in the clouds! To get to the start of the Bright Angel Trail, get off at the stop to change over to the Hermits Rest shuttle as this is closer to the start of the trail than Bright Angel Lodge stop.
 
We had more water and bars with us than yesterday , and jumpers/hoodies as it was still quite cool. We started off down the trail at 0855. We didn't see much for the first 10 mins as we were still surrounded by cloud, but as we descended down the trail it cleared and we had our first view down the trail - whose bright idea was this! I'm sure the 1.5 Miles is the distance direct, certainly not by the length of the trail with the amount of switchbacks on it.
 
We continued down, the trail in parts is in a bad way. This is due mainly to the Mule Train tours that go up and down here every day, their hooves really dig up the trail and the amount of "organic" droppings and pools of vile smelling liquid makes it quite hazardous (and stinky!) in places.
 
We worked our way down, zig zagging as we went down the switch backs. We could see a toilet block which we thought was 1.5 Mile Resthouse, but it looked so far away. Luckily we were seeing the 3 Mile one and as we turned a corner we seen a fabulous site, 1.5 Mile Resthouse! We arrived about 10am, pretty good timing. This location is 1000ft below the start of the trail.
 
As we were walking down, we seen a helicopter come into the canyon and head almost directly towards us, it dropped down and landed somewhere between us and the base. Helicopters are not allowed in Grand Canyon National Park, these people who do tours from Vegas in them only get to fly over the western edge of the Canyon. The only ones allowed in are rescue and Medivac. In this case it turns out it was to evacuate someone who had broken a leg on the trail (we were told by others coming up the way).
 
We used the facilities at the Resthouse, the toilets at these places use no water, they are "composting" meaning you crap into a big hole! As it was only 10am we decided we would try for 3 Mile Resthouse. We departed 1.5 Mile at 1015 and made our way down. Parts of the trail were quite steep compared to the first part. We arrived there at about 1115, we seem to be doing great time (not surprising when it's downhill!). We have now descended 2000ft from the start. The temperatures were still not too bad but things had warmed up.
 
We sat and rested for a good while, eating our sandwiches and snack bars while taking in the views which were spectacular. We could see Indian Gardens down below, but it would have been foolish to try and make it that far. We stayed there till we watched the Medivac helicopter take off.
 
Now for the hard bit. We headed back up the trail, leaving as 1240. Maybe it's my imagination but it did not seem as hard as yesterday. Don't get me wrong, it was hard! It's not that the trail is strenuous, it's just long. Imagine climbing stairs for an hour or two. Looking up, we could see where we had started off, it looked MILES up above us, did we really come down that (or more to the point do we really need to climb all the way back up it!)
 
We huffed and puffed and stopped for lots of photo opportunities on the way back. There was the occasional smattering of rain which was welcome. We were overtaken by two mule trains that were on their way to the top after being delayed due to the "congestion" on the trail because of the Medivac. We arrived back at 1.5 Mile at 1300 which was great! 
 
We stopped again to eat bananas and trail bars plus fill up on water. 1340 we were off again to head back up. The going got tougher of course. We were overtaken by more Mules and it started to rain again, but finally the end was in sight and we arrived back on the top at 1445.
 
To celebrate we bought a large hot chocolate and ice creams from the shop by Bright Angel Lodge. There were a few rumbles of thunder in the distance, and rain. We got the shuttle back to the campsite, sitting on the bus we started stiffening up. Gonna be sore tomorrow.
 
Back at the RV, we prepared tea - steaks, mashed potato, coleslaw and sausage. The weather had begun to clear so we went out to Yavapai Observation Point to watch sunset. Well, that was the plan, we got a good view of clouds and some rain. I headed for Bright Angel Lodge where I discovered you can sit in comfort in Reception and get free Wifi while Catriona went off to do the last of the laundry before we head off,
 
Tomorrow it's leaving here and on towards Death Valley. Hot Hot Hot!