Day 5 - Hiking on Bright Angel Trail & Picnic @ Moran Point

  Today we've slept until the decadent hour of 6:30!  We are having an easy morning with no hurry to be anywhere.  The plan for today is to hike the Bright Angel Trail down into the Canyon.  So out come the maps & the GPS.  We pack, then unpack then edit & re-pack our backpacks.  We decide to drive to the trail head so we can carry the coolers to get an ice refill.  Camping really makes you think about two steps ahead on everything you do.

   We have selected Bright Angel even though it is the most popular & therefore most crowded because it is also the only trail with regular water & bathroom facilities.  Since we dilly-dallied at camp so long this morning it is pretty warm when we start.  I have devised my own nerdy version of a sun hat; a baseball hat with a bandanna tucked underneath to protect my neck.  It actually works pretty well & I can wet the bandanna down to cool off.  We decide to hike down to the first rest stop & have a picnic.

   It's pretty easy going at first but after 20 minutes or so it gets a little hard on the old knees.  And we have to keep in mind, "what goes down must come up!"  Ernesto & Bryon have a much faster pace than me but I don't mind being slow.  It affords me some "alone time" to process the experience.  I would hardly call the trail crowded although we do see quite a few others on our way.  I think it would make me a little nervous to be alone down here.  The trail winds around the canyon walls, down through some arches & descends down to the first comfort station.  We tuck in to a shady spot & pull out snack bags of fruit, nuts & individual tuna salad cups.  It feels good to rest & cool down.  I decide to start back first since it will take me the longest to get back up.  Just as I thought, about 15 minutes later Ernesto rounded the bend @ a slow jog.

    As predicted it is more challenging going up than down & I need to stop often to catch my breath.  This affords some beautiful views & gives me lots of photo ops.  

Here's a deer I saw grazing just off the path

   The moment I pop my head back out of the rim an afternoon monsoon comes up & we rush to tuck in the Kolb Studio.  Kolb Studio clings to the edge of Grand Canyon. It was the home and photographic studio of pioneers Emery and Ellsworth Kolb.  Begun in 1904, the building has evolved through two major additions and countless minor changes during its century of existence at Grand Canyon.   The Grand Canyon Association operates an art gallery, bookstore and information inside the building. The bookstore's proceeds go to support the building, and the store features a tribute to the Kolbs’ photographs of mule riders at Grand Canyon.  We buy postcards & books & Bryon & I stumble on to the National Parks Passports.  In all my years of traveling in national parks I've never seen these.  Each park has a special stamp that you use to "cancel" a page of your passport.  Well, here's another bucket list task; getting all the park stamps!!

   The rain was coming in waves so we inched our way towards El Tovar Hotel, the premier lodging facility at the Grand Canyon.  It opened its doors in 1905 and was most recently renovated in 2005.
In the past, the hotel has hosted such luminaries as Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Western author Zane Grey, and many others.  Today, El Tovar retains its elegant charm. Located on the Canyon rim, it features a fine dining room (open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), lounge and curio shop with newsstand. El Tovar is a Registered National Historic Landmark.  I had stayed here many years ago on the trip with my parents.  We thought we'd see about a dinner reservation.  Looking over the menu the prices seem decadently high.  It's funny how I wouldn't think twice about a splurge like this at home but camping really puts me in a different & simpler frame of mind.  It's also packed here & they can't even seat us for a snack.  We push through the throngs of people to the exit & walk back to the car.  Wow this makes me appreciate our little camper & the wide open campground more than ever!!!

   We have a little bit of time to kill & much as I would love to have a nap we could also use some clean clothes.  I pack up a few bags of our laundry as well as all the dead electronics & go to the facility to wash & charge.  Ernesto joins me & has a shower before helping me with the chore.  I don't know how I missed this but Ernesto said there was a French lady right next to us doing her laundry.  She stripped down to her underwear as she fed her clothes in the machine.  Completely topless until her companion handed her a towel & she headed for the shower.  LOL!!!  I guess b/c there was a TV on & I haven't seen one all week I was distracted & missed the REAL show.

   We decide to pack another picnic & go to Moran Point for the sunset.  This area of the park gets its name from the landscape painter Thomas Moran who came here for the first time in 1873 and helped popularize the canyon, leading eventually to its incorporation as a national monument in 1908 (and a national park in 1919.)  We make a quick stop in the grocery store to grab ingredients for my favorite simple meal; toasted baguette rubbed with a slice of garlic, drizzled with olive oil & topped with freshly sliced tomatoes & proscuitto.  As I was paying I noticed some beautiful Grand Canyon Pendleton blankets at the exit.  I handed off the groceries & grabbed one as a fabulous souvenir of our time here.

 I hastily prepare the meal & it's off on the Desert View Drive again.  We arrive @ our destination about 30 minutes before sunset.  We dive in to the sandwiches & cold drinks & wait for the show to begin.  This afternoon's rain has left a double rainbow in the eastern sky which we try to capture.  One thing about Grand Canyon sunsets (to me) is it's more about the canyon & less about the sun.  It is actually prettier to put your back to the sun & look at the shadows & light on the canyon walls to the east than to try & stare through the glare.  There is a soft haze that settles below.  Bryon & Ernesto hop the wall & scramble around the edge snapping photos.  This makes me too nervous & I sit happily on the wall, a safe distance from disaster!!  My vocabulary is insufficient to describe what we are seeing, experiencing.  I am just so grateful to be here.  God is really showing off in this part of the world!!!  Soon the sun is down & it's time to head back for our last night in camp :(

  The sky is crystal clear & we can see stars like I haven't since I was a child.  This is what ilife is all about!!  We lit a fire & had one last round of s'mores & off to bed.