Grand Canyon

March 22-24

From Canyon de Cheely we headed Northeast to the Grand Canyon.  Talk about going from the refrigerator to the deep freeze.  The rim of the grand Canyon is over 7000 feet in elevation.

We arrived to find the park filled to the brim with spring breakers, with full campsites.  We wound up in a commercial RV park again, 7 miles south in Tusuyan.

We were hoping to get in on a cancellation on a campsite at Phantom Ranch, so we could backpack down to the Colorado River.  At the same time Glen and Cathy wanted to take a mule trip down. Between coordinating the two at the same time, it got too complicated, so we wound up just doing a day hike down the Hermit Trail to Dripping Springs.  It started out seriously chilly at the trailhead,

Connie & Leo bundled up at the rim preparing to hike to Dripping Springs

but it got warmer and warmer as we headed down and down and down into the canyon.

Gang resting on Hermit Trail

Flowers were blooming.

Indian Paintbrush

Leo spotted these fossilized footprints in the rock.

We also saw boulders studded with fossilized clams.

After descending 1300 feet to the Boucher Trail, we climbed up again, then followed along a ???, right at the edge of the cliff.

Our destination was Dripping Spring, which seeps out of an overhang in the canyon wall.

Connie rests at Dripping Spring

It's a green oasis in the canyon, with plants like maidenhair fern growing out of the rock face.

Of course, then we had to hike back up to the rim, in the full heat of the day.

Glen hikes along the edge

The Hermit Trail was built for mule trains so there's some pretty sophisticated trailbuilding involved, including stretches where pieces of shale are laid like bricks.

Cathy on mule trail.

It was a hot, tiring hike back out, but we survived and are grateful that we could experience the canyon.