Partly because I got off to a much later start on this day than most others during my trip (thanks to that 10-hour sleep), I decided that it was a day for hiking along the rim of the canyon rather than “going in” again. Plus, this way I could focus on information-gathering and making plans for what I wanted to do on future days. And since I’d spent the previous morning on the South Kaibab Trail, which is toward the east end things, this morning I decided to ride the shuttle bus out to the westernmost stop (“Hermit’s Rest”). There is a “rim trail” that goes (get this!) along the rim of the canyon, all the way from Hermit’s Rest to the South Kaibab Trailhead, a total distance of 12.8 miles. I figured I’d start at one end, go as far as I felt like going, and—when I decided to be done—just make my way to the nearest shuttle bus stop and ride the bus back to the campground. I brought food so that I could have a picnic lunch somewhere along the way (and there turned out to be picnic tables along the trail in some places, so that worked out nicely). And…I took a bunch of pictures as I went! (And got other people to take a couple of pictures of me, too.)
I had been a little disappointed, on the first day, to discover that in most places, you can’t even see the Colorado River from the rim of the canyon; the inner canyon is narrow, and far off both vertically and horizontally, so that the river is hidden from view. But over on the western end of things, there are many places where you actually can see the river—generally not straight down from where you’re standing, but farther along the canyon, due to its twists and turns and getting the right angle from above. The river looks teeny from the rim. I bet it isn’t, though.
I also really came to appreciate the wisdom of the “avoid strenuous activity during the heat of the day” advice on this day. Fortunately, my plan for the day—though it did involve hiking between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm—was a smart one: I stuck to the rim rather than going into the canyon, and there was the easy out of being able to decide more or less at any time to call it quits and board a shuttle bus. So, I was fine—but I definitely found that I did not have the long-distance hiking stamina under these conditions that I have sometimes mustered at Yellowstone. I still ended up going 7.9 miles—no short walk—but by around the 5-mile mark, I wasn’t really enjoying it much anymore. Just too hot!
I learned, too, that the trail via which I had hiked partway into the canyon on the previous day—South Kaibab Trail—is the second-most-popular trail into the canyon from the south rim. The most popular—with good reason—is Bright Angel Trail, at whose trailhead I ended up calling it quits on my rim trail hike on this day. Bright Angel descends by way of a fault line that makes access into the canyon somewhat easier than it is elsewhere (though it’s still extremely steep and arduous!). It’s also (if I’m remembering the details correctly) the oldest trail into the canyon (from the south rim, at least), with a version of it having been used by Native Americans before white people ever came to the canyon. There are “rest houses” at the 1.5-mile and 3-mile marks, each consisting of a small shelter to rest in, a place to fill up your water bottles (!), an emergency telephone, and bathroom facilities (separate from the rest shelters). The availability of water is huge; water is everything out here, especially when hiking into the canyon! Apparently all the water (including at the campground and in the lodges and store and whatnot, as well as the water sources on the trails) comes from a natural spring somewhere below the north rim of the canyon, and is piped and pumped across and up to the south rim and stored in big tanks here. It’s actually pretty amazing. Anyway, clearly, I needed to check out Bright Angel Trail tomorrow!
Relaxing at my campsite on this evening was extremely pleasant. Despite the campfire ban, this was one night when cooking my meal worked pretty nicely, and I just felt really, really at peace with the universe as I cooked, ate, relaxed, cleaned up, and eventually hit the sack.