Hello Old Friend... our third visit to the Grand Canyon

Hi Blog.  Today is Friday, May 17, 2013.  This was our first full day in Tusayan, AZ - Gateway to the Grand Canyon.  After getting Eddie and George up this morning, we took the shuttle bus into Grand Canyon National Park.  After arriving at the Visitors Center, we hopped another shuttle to take us over to the Backcountry Permit Office.  We are going to try and get a camping permit for the Indian Garden Campground, which is about half-way to the bottom of the canyon.  We have to go back tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. to see if we scored a permit.  Wish us luck!

We wanted to do a day hike today to get ourselves acclimated to altitude and dry conditions.  Since this is our third visit, we had already done some of the big trails - Bright Angel and South Kaibab.  We picked a hike at the very western end of the South Rim which we had not visited before.  The shuttle bus took us out the 8 miles to Hermits Rest, a small tourist shop and snack bar.  It was time to leave the tourists behind and drop down over the rim.

The Hermit Trail began as an old Indian route.  It was improved by the prospectors looking for gold, and then further improved by the Santa Fe Railroad.  The railroad would bring in visitors to the canyon rim and then bring them down to the river on mules.  There are remnants of the old Hermit Camp about 7 miles down from the rim.  It is another mile and a half to the river from the camp.  That was a little too far for us today.  We set our sights on a shelter about 2.1 miles down known as the Santa Maria Spring.

The weather was windy and overcast, but that actually helped us stay cool during our four hours of hiking.  No matter how many times we see the Grand Canyon, our first impression is "this can't be real." It is like a movie set backdrop.  It is just too huge to comprehend.  It looks like a giant matte painting.

Here we go.  There were definitely times you felt like the trail was just going off into thin air.

Sometime we just had to stop and take it all in.  The colors were constantly changing.  When the sun went behind the clouds, the bright reds turned to a deep purple.

We had to watch our step, not just because we didn't want to trip and stumble over the edge, but to avoid stepping on the little lizards sunning themselves on the trail.

Here is one section of trail that still shows the improvements made by the Santa Fe Railroad.  The cobbles were laid to make traction for the mules.  However, they are horrible to hike on.  You slip on the way down and get blisters on the way up.

The trail levels out a bit as we get closer to the Supai Formation - the really cool red formation which you can see to the right.  If you look closely, the trail goes under those large rock outcroppings.

Every once in a while, we can get a peek further down into the canyon.  Actually, Dave gets to look because Kathy won't get that close to the edge of the trail.

Now, if you look real close, you can see Kathy looking up from a few switchbacks below.

It look Dave a few minutes to catch up, so Kathy just plopped herself down and enjoyed the view.

Here is Dave checking out the cave area formed by those large rocks hanging over his head.

Just as we went around the corner, we could see our destination.  There is a hiker saying that if you can see your destination, it takes you twice as long to reach it.  We tried not to look, but we couldn't help it.

Yeah, we made it.  While the spring is barely a trickle, the old tub the railroad installed to catch the water still works.

The best part of making it to the shelter - the double rocking chair!  It says "restbit," and we did.

After cooling down, having a snack and chatting with fellow hikers, it was back to the rim for us.  By this time, it was getting pretty cloudy and we got sprinkled on a couple times.  We didn't take many more photos.  All our attention was focused on getting back to the top.  Our reward was a Fat Tire at the Bright Angle Lodge.  We love hiking because it makes beer taste that much better!