The Grand Canyon - Up the Bright Angel Trail

Some people hike down to Phantom Ranch and back up the same day, but we didn't do that when we were young, and we certainly don't want to try it now. Mr. Ranger always says you should not do that, and we always listen to Mr. Ranger!

The sun is coming up, and we want to get an early start. They serve breakfast at 5:00 and 6:30, and we've found that the first breakfast is the best option for us    We can eat and get out of there before it gets too hot.

We've crossed the silver bridge and we're looking back towards Phantom Ranch (on the left between the two bridges).

Another way to get down to Phantom Ranch is to ride a raft. We've never tried that and I dont't want to. Riding a raft in rapids on a cold, muddy river does not sound appealing at all.

This doesn't look like fun to me. I think Bob would like to give it a try, and I follow him everywhere, but not down a cold muddy river on an inflated raft.

Now doesn't that look like fun? No!

I forget the name of this flower, but on one of our hikes down to Phantom Ranch Mr. Ranger gave a talk on how poisonous these flowers are, and why you should not touch them. It turns out that my friend Barb has them growing in her flower beds, and they're not poisonous at all! I guess Mr. Ranger just wanted his flowers left alone.

There are a number of places along this trail where you can get water, and that's why it's a good trail for hiking up.  The River Resthouse is not too far from the bottom of the canyon, although it doesn't have water for drinking, it is a good place to stop for a rest.

Doesn't the trail look nice, flat, and easy here? Don't let it fool you. You are hiking UP the Grand Canyon!

It's easy to see the switchbacks on the trail in this picture. The switchbacks make hiking up a steep trail so much easier, but they also add more miles to the trail.

We're pretty happy here because we've come a long way, but we're still not at the top. Just look at the canyon behind us, and you can see that we have a long way to go.

It was a hot hike, and we stopped often and wet our heads at every water station we came to. We celebrated finishing the trail with ice cream, and we agreed that we'd hike down again the next time we come to The Grand Canyon.  We just love it here! 

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