Last Day in the Grand Canyon

Hi Blog!  Today is Wednesday - our last full day at the Grand Canyon.  We were originally going to bicycle the greenway bike trail to the east view points, but it was so windy (25 to 30 miles gust), we opted for the shuttle bus instead.  Our first stop was the South Kaibab Trailhead.  We had hiked this trail down to the Colorado River back 2002.  It is just as steep now as it was then.

We began hiking along the Rim Walk back to the village.  We noticed a crowd had gathered at a bend in the road.  It was weird. They were not looking out at the canyon, but rather back toward the woods.  What could have possibly drawn that much attention?  Now some of you might find this next photo rather disturbing.  WARNING - THE FOLLOWING PHOTO IS RATED "S" - NO ONE UNDER 18 SHOULD READ ANY FURTHER.

There by the side of the trail were a pair of gopher snakes doing the nasty right out in broad daylight for the whole world to see.  You have no idea how many copies of this photo will be circulating the internet tonight.  In just a matter of minutes, it will be all over the globe since among the various tourists were Germans, Chinese, French, Canadians, Italians and many others that I could only guess (not to mention all the Americans).

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.  While today was bright and sunny, the wind picked up a lot of dust and made it difficult to see across to the North Rim.

Here is the arial view of the Bright Angel Trail we walked down.  You can just make out the switchbacks in the haze.

This is my favorite photo since it shows the whole hike that we did.  The green section in the middle of the photo is the Indian Gardens Campground we stayed at.  The trail heading out to the point is Plateau Point where we had dinner.

After 4.8 miles of rim walking, we treated ourselves to a drink and snacks at the El Tovar.  If you ever get to the Grand Caynon, do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to enjoy the El Tovar Hotel. It really is an amazing building and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The park is beginning to fill up now that the summer season is upon us.  Memorial Day Weekend is when all the new summer employees start.  They could have used a few of those extra bus drivers today.  We had a very crowded ride back to the transportation center.  The mood was lightened a bit by "Amber," a beautiful Golden Retriever being trained as a service dog.  She was learning how to ride crowded buses and she picked a great day.  She spent the trip licking all the suntan lotion off the tourists' calves as they got in and out of the bus.  It tickled.

That's it for now.  Tomorrow is moving day.  The next blog report will be filed by Eddie and George.