We flew to Phoenix early last Friday morning. We had a delay at Budget when the air passenger seat bag would not become engaged and got upgraded twice in the process. We headed north in an HHR which proved to be great on gas mileage (and the cruise control was welcome!). We stopped for lunch and bought drinks and snacks for the week and arrived at the Grand Canyon Bright Angel Lodge about 3:00. We checked into our cabin and started exploring around the rim. The weather was sunny and windy, in the mid 60's. We walked around to Hopi Point for the sunset and ate dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge. We packed up our backpacks for the next two days and went to bed early (after narrowly avoiding a cabin fire caused by my backpack on the baseboard heater when Emily turned up the heat!).
We woke the next day and started gathering up last minute things. We used daypacks which proved to be big enough, but just barely. We stuffed them full, packed up the car and hurried to the last express shuttle to the trailhead. The day was gorgeous, sunny and cool, high expected in the mid 60's again.
We headed down the South Kaibab Trail, eventually descending about 4300' over 7 miles. It was a beautiful hike with spectacular views. We stopped twice, once for a quick snack and again later for a longer lunch (bagels, peanut butter, apple and M&M's which became our standard hiking meal). Emily got inspired by some trail runners and did a couple of mile long runs downhill. We arrived at Phantom Ranch in about 4 1/2 hours, checked in, claimed our bunks, had some cheese and crackers in the canteen and set back out exploring. We ended up at the boat beach, where a few river trips were docked. We hung out for a few hours and headed back to clean up for dinner. The hikers stew was every bit as delicious as I remembered and Emily polished off a big bowl of vegetarian chili, with cornbread, salad and chocolate cake! We agreed that it was the best meal ever! We enjoyed talking to other hikers and comparing our days. Several people at our table were spending two nights at Phantom and had done a hike to Ribbon Falls that day. Something to keep in mind for next time! After dinner we listened to the ranger talk about the geology of the Grand Canyon and then headed back to the bunkhouse. Asleep within minutes!
Breakfast the next morning was at 6:30 with coffee, scrambled eggs, pancakes, peaches and bacon and then we filled our water and headed out to the Bright Angel Trail for our hike back up. We would ascend about 4400' over about 10 miles. The first 5 miles were easy hiking, a gentle grade with temperatures in the high 50's, the sun was shining and the spring flowers and trees were blooming. We stopped at Indian Garden Campground for lunch and a water refill and spent about half an hour resting and visiting with others on the trail who we would leapfrog the rest of the way up.
The squirrels were everywhere and just waiting for an attack on unattended food. One grabbed the food bag of a guy sitting on the next bench - he looked down and his bag was sliding across the bench, with the squirrel underneath!
We got going again after lunch and the trail became steeper, although the weather kept the hike pleasant. We slowed down on the way to the 3 mile resthouse and took about a 10 minute break. The next 1 1/2 miles were the hardest, it was steeper yet and the trail had steps built in which were harder to navigate than a smoother trail. We stopped briefly at the last resthouse and now there were patches of snow on the sides of the trail where the sun wasn't shining. The last stretch was still slow going and the temperature was falling. There were lots of day hikers in tennis shoes, jeans and sweatshirts. Lots of people and lots of noise but the end was visible and gave us the extra energy we needed. We finally made it to the top in about 7 hours. Quite a different experience than hiking it in 90 + degree heat! We stopped in the lodge for a quick bathroom break, got to the car and took our boots off, and started the drive to Page, Arizona!
We stopped at the Cameron Trading Post about halfway there. We were quite a sight walking in, as we both had stiffened up and had trouble walking :) We both ordered the house speciality, the Navajo Taco and devoured it! The base was a circle of Indian frybread with beans, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream on top. Mmmm!
We continued on to Page and arrived about 5:00. We checked into the Motel 6, got directions for the next day, filled the cooler with ice, set a wake up call for the morning and fell into bed! The next morning we packed up for another day of hiking and set out for the Paria Canyon Ranger Station, about 30 miles away. We arrived at the scheduled time of 9:00 to enter the lottery for permits to hike to the Wave. We were happily surprised that there were no other cars in the parking lot and assumed we would get our permit until we entered and found out that as we had crossed the border into Utah, the time was now an hour later and it was past 10:00. All permits for that day and the next were spoken for but we stayed and hiked along and above the Paria River.
We spent about 5 hours walking and exploring, eating and snoozing, crossing the river and climbing up canyon walls (at one point holding on for dear life spreadeagled on the face of the rock!)
We drove back into Page to the Colorado River Discovery and while the trip was sold out for the next day, we added our names to a waiting list. We got cleaned up and went back out for dinner to the Dam Bar and Grill where we enjoyed a fabulous meal. Em had Fettuccine Alfredo and fries and I had a great Mediterranean salad.
We perused the gift shop for a while but didn't buy anything and headed back to the motel for another great night's sleep. In the morning we found out there had been a cancellation on the river trip and we had our spots! We packed up and checked out of the motel and headed over to river trip headquarters where we enjoyed a great cup of coffee and read a Page/Lake Powell tourist magazine. We boarded the bus to the Glen Canyon Dam which is the launch point for the boats and spent a relaxing day floating down the Colorado River.
We got back about 5:00 and started the drive to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. The trip took about 3 1/2 hours and it got noticeably cooler as we drove north. We started seeing patches of snow that became fields of snow further on. Brrrrrrrr! We checked in to the Best Western, Ruby's Inn about 9:15 and found out that the hot tub closed at 10, so we hurried and hauled our bags up to the room (no elavator, but only two floors!), changed and drove back to the main lodge. We sank gratefully into the hot water and traded hiking stories with two other groups.
We woke up to 35 degrees and SNOW, dressed in lots of layers, and drove a mile down the road to the park. We started out at Sunrise Point and hiked through Queen's Garden, Navajo Loop, and up Wall Street. We spent about 3 hours on the trails and couldn't believe the contrast in weather! The landscape of Bryce Canyon is amazing and we warmed up as we walked.
We headed back to the room, showered and packed up, checked out at noon and started the drive to Vegas. We first had make our way west, over and around lots of hills. It was slow going for the first hour or so, but we finally came to I15 South, the speed limit was 75 mph and we flew down the highway. The weather warmed up and snow disappeared. We crossed from Utah to Arizona and finally into Nevada. Emily used the navigation tool on her phone and got us to the hotel. We walked into the Excalibur to check in and it took me a while to get used to all the noise and lights of the lobby and casino after the solitude of hiking! We checked in, got our coupons, hauled the rest of the stuff up to the room, changed and set out for a walk up and down the strip. We wandered for hours taking it all in and went to bed exhausted!
The next morning we slept in with no agenda but to lay by the pool, which we ended up doing all day long. It was such a good rest! We finally got moving about 5:00, got showered, and used our meal coupons at the dinner buffet. We had a taste of almost everything and then spent the evening walking again. We watched the fountain show at the Bellagio, visited some of the other casinos, the Coca-Cola store and the M&M store, walked through the Miracle Mile shops and spent the last half hour back at the Excalibur casino. We ended up spending a total of $3 and at one point, Emily was up $2!
The next morning we slept in, packed up, checked out and made our way back to the pool. We relaxed there for a few more hours and then used our spa coupons. We visited the steam room and the whirlpool. The showers all had different products inside (shampoo, conditioner, body wash) - I chose Mango and Emily chose Green Tea. The powder room had everything you might need, lotion, deodorant, hair dryers, etc. and we finished getting ready there.
We finished up and made our way to the car rental return building, took the shuttle to the airport, checked in, made our way to the gate, ate a late lunch and boarded the flight. It was non-eventful and we arrived back in Indy about 1:00 Saturday morning.
It's good to be home!
More pictures here
