The Grandest Canyon - Part II

Brian was awakened in the middle of the night by footsteps 10 feet from our tent. Then a loud knocking sound commenced and he opened the screened "window" of our tent to reveal the giant elk banging its antlers against a nearby tree. According to him, it was snacking on pine cones as they fell.  He stayed awake for an hour watching the creature (and making sure we were not trampled in our tent) until the elk moved on...

He relayed this story to me when I woke him at 4:30 AM to get to the canyon in time to watch the sunrise. Included in the $25 per vehicle park entrance fee is transportation via a network of shuttle buses powered by natural gas that make it very easy to get around.  We drove to the bus terminal in the dark and hopped on the Orange Line to get to Yaki Point.  

From Yaki Point, we watched in awe as the sun crested over the East Rim of the canyon. It was truly breathtaking to see the orange glow gradually stream its light into the depths of the canyon below. Granted, most of the sunrises I've seen lately were not for pure pleasure, (on the way to the airport to catch an early flight, or competing in a triathlon) but this one was like nothing I've ever witnessed. I am still learning to use my Canon EOS Rebel T3 in unfamiliar lighting/circumstances, and I don't think it is possible to capture the true beauty, but I had fun trying.

We returned to camp to cook some protein for breakfast and prepare for a morning hike.  We took the shuttle west and made our way to the Bright Angel Trailhead to begin our decent.  We had decided to do the 3-mile round trip, a decent of 1,140 feet.  The switch-back trail was gentle for the first 1/2 mile, then became moderately steep.  It was a pleasant journey on the way down, and we stopped to admire the scenery and take pictures along the way.

Being inside the canyon felt like a different world, more up close and personal, even though we could still barely make out the trees at the bottom.

The trail cutting down the right wall of the canyon

Just before we reached our turnaround

We reached the mile-and-a-half rest house, our turnaround point, in about 40 minutes and stopped to eat a protein bar and refill our water bottles.  It was 8:00 AM and only 70 degrees, but the elevation change had us short of breath so we rested a few minutes before beginning our ascent back up to the rim.  We were mentally prepared for a challenge, but in a matter of feet we were breathing hard and sweating profusely.  So we took it slow and rested when we needed to, hydrating along the way.  Step by step, we climbed back out of the canyon.  When we reached the top around 9:40, we were both exhausted and exhilarated!!!

Thanks to my sister Jenna for letting me borrow her boots!

The next question was... now what?  We had a reservation to stay at our campsite another night, but the canyon had beat us into submission, so more hiking (or physical activity of any sort) was pretty much out of the question, and it was only 10:00 AM.  We decided it was probably time for us to move on, so we broke camp and much to our surprise, when we checked out they refunded our money for that night!

Now the question was, where do we go now?  The next stop on our itinerary was supposed to be Moab, Utah, but I had not showered in three days and the thought of driving five and half hours and camping again made me want to cry a little.