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These photos were taken by Ali at the Grand Canyon. Ali walked to Phantom Ranch on the Bright Angel Trail with Kate and Denise on Sunday. She had a little hike on Monday at the bottom of the Canyon. Then the long treck back to South Rim on Tuesday.
While the ladies were walking down Bright Angel Trail, the guys used South Kaibab trail to reach Phantom Ranch. This is a shorter steeper route on a ridge. Kate was concerned about her knees ability to take the bone crunching descent on Kaibab.
The two trails are remarkably different. North Kaibab Trail has wonderful vistas - especially on the ridge. Bright Angel Trail hugs the wall of the canyon and although beautiful is less spectacular.
The mule trains descend on Bright Angel and return on North Kaibab. The trail is quite narrow in places and I imagine it's difficult for them to pass in opposite directions. So I think that's why they operate a one way system.
The trail is in quite good condition and while there are locations where the mule 'droppings' and liquids are quite revolting - it's not as bad as I feared.
Unfortunately, I deveveloped a cold. I had to spend Monday morning at Grand Canyon in bed. I lost my voice for about 4 days. I'm hardly ever sick. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I was able to do the walking without any difficulty. Bright Angel is quite a long trail - however it is quite easy. North Kaibab's very steep in places. I'm sure it's much easier to descend than to climb that one.
On Monday afternoon, we attended the Ranger Talk about the California Condor. Ranger Pam gave a great presentation. Very very interesting. These huge birds (wingspan 10 feet) were almost extinct about 20 years ago and the remaining 24 birds were taken to San Diego Zoo to preserve the species. They've been reintroducing them at different places, and there are about 50 living and breeding once more in Grand Canyon. We saw them on our return to South Rim - they like perching and gliding on the bluffs below the Artist Studio. Showing off to entertain the tourists!
The food and accomodation at Phantom Ranch is basic and adequate. We stayed at Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park in 2004. Sperry is much better. Kevin, the manager makes dinner most enjoyable by getting everybody to introduce themselves. There's more community spirit at Sperry. None the less, it was an awesome experience to stay at Phantom Ranch.
It poured with rain overnight before we left. And there was 6 inches of fresh snow on the rim. It never snows at Phantom Ranch. So we had a dry, cool morning for the climb. The clouds and snow on the rim were very spectacular from the bottom. So we saw lots of different conditions and weather at the Canyon - and we didn't experience the incredible heat for which the Canyon is very famous.
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