Day 5 of our Grand Canyon Trip. Hiking the Bright Angel Trail! This is the trail that most people attempt to do when they want to go to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Once again there are many warnings about how long it takes to come back up the trail and how much water is really needed to make it. The day before we had talked to a ranger on the Kaibab Trail and he said there had been 3 rescues on the Bright Angel Trail the day before, 1 for dehydration, 1 for Hyponatremia (a result of low sodium in the blood from drinking too much water and not replacing it with salty foods.) and 1 from a turned ankle. So our goal was not to be a statistic.
We woke up early and had a cold breakfast this morning. We needed to get on the trail early to beat the heat and the mules on the downward trail. On the trail Mules have the right away and they leave a trail of dust, pee, and poop, which is not a pleasant experience. When we started out at the top the Mules were just getting saddled up and the riders were getting instructions, so we quickly had our picture taken and started on our way.
About .4 tenths of the way down is the first Tunnel, where they actually advise some people to turn around at this point.
The trail in the middle of the picture with the point that goes to the edge of the Plateau, is Mark and Ian’s goal for the day, it is considered extremely difficult and not advised at all to do and is a 12 mile round trip hike.
This is the turn around point for us girls, it is the 3 mile Resthouse, it is a 6 mile round trip hike and considered difficult. So we rested, ate our salty foods and refilled our water bottles, and said good-bye to the boys! We gave the camera to them, so we don’t have any pictures going back up, but I was very proud of the girls, we made it back to the top, just after 12, so we made the round trip in a little over 4 hours and the time they say to allow is 4-6 hours, so I figure we did pretty good.
Mark and Ian liked to take pictures of Lizards instead of flowers!
Another Lizard!
Ian down past Indian Gardens out into the desert part. They didn’t quiet make it to the point they wanted to, by the time they got down there it was about 110 degrees and they had another 1/2 mile or so to go, so they decided to turn around. They still feel like they accomplish a huge goal.
Looking back up the way they had come.
They made if back to the top around 2:00, it took about 6 1/2 hrs and from Indian Gardens it was supposed to take 6-9 hrs, so they also did pretty good!
End of the day, back at the campsite, enjoying the evening after a long day of hiking! This is our last night on the South Rim.
Ian leaving his mark on our campsite!
Tomorrow we pack up and head for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! See you tomorrow with the next update on our trip!
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