Grand Canyon: Tuesday

Tuesday morning, before coffee or anything, we took the shuttle out to a point to watch the sunrise.

The temperature was 26 degrees until the sun rose.

When the sun peeked through the clouds, the rocks lit up.

"We're at the Grand Canyon, Baby!"

 This is the trail that follows the rim for miles.

 Sunrise beauty.

 The moon was setting as the sun rose.

The Bright Angel Trail trail head was close to our cabin. A small group of city slickers on mules are heading off to the canyon floor to spend a night or two at the Phantom Ranch.

The trails are a little scary just to walk on.  How would it be perched up on a mule?  We are, however, considering doing this trip in the future.

After breakfast I went with this crazy lady on the shuttle out to the south Kaibab Trail trail head.

At the top of the trail, after ditching the crazy lady. Hah!

This part of the trail reminded us of last year's trip to Zion.  We decided to hike down a couple miles, have lunch, and hike back up. 

Big canyon, little camera.

 

 

 

Mules coming up meant we needed to stand on the inside of the trail and wait for directions from the leader.  We have to learn more about mules, where they come from, do they mate, etc.  Hmmm...

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for lunch just before that pinnacle in the middle of the photo on Cedar Ridge.

 

Joining us for lunch was this ground squirrel who came up behind me and almost stole my lunch.  Here, he realizes he is not a flying squirrel.

 

This is looking up the canyon through my telephoto lens.

 

Re-fueled and ready to start the trek up.

 

Heading up the canyon wall..

 

when suddenly, tragedy struck.

 

Maybe we should have taken the signs more seriously.  Miraculously, Gail brought me back in moments!  I think she used her bird rehab skills.

 

Another look back before reaching the top.

 

This is the view of  Bright Angel Canyon, which cuts its way up to the North Rim on the other side.  We took the shuttle back to the Geology Center before returning to our cabin.

 

The Geology Center has a great observation window where you can see some of the Colorado River, the Phantom Ranch, and the suspension bridge crossing the river.

 Another sunset as we walked along the rim trail.

No, this is not a cow liver. It is a rock.  There is a wonderful time line called The Walk of Time along the rim trail.  It incorporates rocks from the differnent layers of the canyon in the sequence in which they were formed, starting almost two billion years ago.  The canyon itself is a little less than six million years old.

We found it amazing how often we saw people posing on the edge of precipices.  I guess it is one way to improve the gene pool.

 There is also beauty in the small things like these feathery flowers.

 Before we made it back to the cabin, we stopped in at the El Tovar Lodge for a look see.  It is the upscale historic lodge in the park.  Later, we went for an exciting night walk to get pizza. 

to be continued