Life Notes in the Margin

We spent an interesting two nights at the campground. We saw a ring tail cat, skunk, many deer and a scorpion that visited the ranger talk. The park rangers were excellent, very friendly and helpful. The second night's presentation about bats was entertaining. We saw many of those each night and were more relaxed after the ranger said the "bats in the hair" thing is a myth. We headed for the south rim on Tuesday morning about 830 am. 9.5 miles to go and about 5,000 feet uphill. Goodbye mighty Colorado. Devil's Switchback behind us. Ouch! The worst is yet to come. Most of the last 3 miles was like this. Steep vertical switchbacks that just burn the lungs and the legs. My shoulders were killing me at this point and we still have 3 miles to go. We walked right behind these bighorn sheep. Finally, victory! 9.5 miles, 5,000 vertical feet in 4.5 hours of walking time, 5.5 hours with rests. The ranger thought it would take us about 6 hours with rests. Some people...

As you exit The Box, you enter desert terrain. It was in the 80's at the canyon floor which is very similar the climate in Phoenix. On the way to Ribbon Fall, we passed through this jungle. I believe these are Tamarisk plants. This is a non-native plant species that is choking the tributaries of the Colorado. The Park Service must come in with manual labor and remove these plants every year. This is man's influence on the canyon. Read more about this issue at the NPS website . But the heat and distance were worth it. Here are some pics from Ribbon Fall which cascades from about 500 feet above.

We started our day hike from Bright Angel campground, headed to Ribbon Fall about 7 miles north. These are the cabin rentals at Phantom Ranch, not far from our campground. Fairly deluxe. $100 per night. These are some amazing shots from a narrow canyon called "The Box." This was my favorite part of the entire trip. The canyon walls are about 2,500 feet above the creek at some points. Fantastic beauty! We walked along the creek for about 3 miles in this kind of scenery.

Getting ready to step off! 6.5 miles to the bottom from this point at the South Kaibab trailhead. We packed only what we needed, carried the latest lightweight backpacking gear but these packs are still full! The weather was beautiful. High in the 60's at the rim. I think this is the mule train hauling the waste from the composting toilets along the trail. After 3 years of stewing, it's pretty ripe. Or maybe that's just the way mules smell. Continuing along Cedar Ridge (O'Neill Butte in the background) we ran into one of several mule trains carrying those who don't carry themselves or their gear to the bottom. A lot of dust and fluorescent green land mines. What are they feeding these mules? Rest stop #1 (Cedar Ridge). About 1.5 miles into the descent at this point. Lots of day hikers go down this far. We got the rock star treatment from the kids who asked "are you going to stay overnight at the bottom?" The adults didn't care. Rest stop #2, ...