Grand Canyon-- Going Up

 

It was another early morning getting up at 4am but we had breakfast reservations at the dinning hall at 5am and wanted to have everything packed and ready to hit the trail afterwards.  We had a hearty breakfast which filled us up more than our usual pop tarts to start the day.  We hit the trail about 5:30am which is practically midday hiking in the canyon during the summer.  The trail on the South Rim side was much busier than coming down the North Rim.  Most of the hikers were headed the 9 miles out to the top but we were only going 5 miles up to Indian Gardens Campground so we had a leisurely hike ahead of us.  We started going back uphill which we actually prefer to going down.  The steepest part of the hike was the Devil's Corkscrew, a longer series of switchbacks-- but switchbacks are always better than going straight up.  

We arrived at our destination of Indian Gardens at 7:30am and set up camp under complete shade.  The ranger's station had a small library so we were in luck with reading material for the day.  Our reading included books on astronomy, fossils of the Grand Canyon, and tales of being at park ranger.  We also enjoyed chatting with the gal camping next to us.  She is a ranger at the Grand Canyon and was hiking on her day off.  It was fascinating to hear about working as a ranger and what it takes to becomes a full time ranger.  She also does translation for the State Department since she speaks Tagalog, Swahili, and American Sign Language.  Through the afternoon we napped and watched a few deer wander through the campsites.  On the other side of the trees and stream we could hear all the hikers taking a brief rest while tackling the rest of the trail.  Other afternoon entertainment was another ranger program on safety in the Grand Canyon.

That evening we had our favorite backpacking meal- Thanksgiving in a bag with stuffing, instant potatoes, a pouch of chicken, and a handful of dried cranberries.  After dinner we made our way out to Plateau Point to watch sunset.  It was amazingly still with the only sound being the rushing of the Colorado River a few thousand feet below the cliff's edge.  The hike back was wonderful as darkness set in but with the full moon to light the trail.