Great weather, good company

As I mentioned, this was the best rim-to-rim ever. Every other crossing has had it’s own little patch of adventure. This year was notable for what there wasn’t: no blisters, no sunburn, no heat exhaustion, no fractures, no lightening, no cuts or scrapes or bleeding, no flash floods with rock slides, no beavers, no hiking out with flashlights, no food allergies, no little critters snacking on our snacks (not that one didn’t try a couple of times). This picture is looking back as we start up the last 3 1/2 miles to the South Rim

The weather was pleasant. The inner canyon- aka down by the river and everything else at the bottom- was in the low 90s. We have trudged through when it was 115 in the shade, so this was really nice. There was also frequent cloud cover. When you combine all that with the tall cliffs and the angle of the early autumn sun, we were in the shade at least 50% of the time. With all that shade we were able to move along fast enough to be off the trail on the first day before it even reached the high temperature for the day.

The trail was in great condition- no rock slides extending down multiple switchbacks, no mud, no scrambling and no places where we couldn’t find the trail. Last time we finally gave up in one spot and pushed our way through the rushes and undergrowth at the beaver habitat, climbed down into Bright Angel Creek and waded down the creek until we finally came to the trail again. This time there was a lovely little foot bridge through the beaver habitat. Nice!

On the second day the hike out was also good. We were on the trail by 6:00 a.m. after a hearty 5:00 a.m. breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes, peaches and juice. That’s one thing about sleeping and eating at Phantom Ranch- you don’t go hungry. We stayed ahead of the sun until almost to the top of Jacob’s Ladder, a tough stretch of switchbacks that becomes grueling if you are in the sun (you can see part of it in this picture). After a snack and a change of socks under the trees at Indian Gardens we headed out again and enjoyed a partly shady trail the rest of the way up to the top. The higher you get in the Canyon, the cooler the temperatures. The temperature in the shade that day was below 80 degrees at each shade house. We still sweated plenty because it is a strenuous hike out, but the shade and frequent breezes were welcome relief and we reached the top earlier than we ever have before.






Evening shadows move across the canyon as we walk over to the El Tovar Lodge for an early dinner before a good night's sleep.

"Now the day is over, Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening Steal across the sky.

Jesus, give the weary Calm and sweet repose;
With Thy tend’rest blessing May mine eyelids close."