July 23, 2016

When we get ready to head back, there’s more mules!

There’s a couple of gals leading the group up.  They obviously know what they’re doing.  These mules are a little lighter in build and a couple of them don’t seem to be too happy to be carrying people up.  We’re going to wait for them to start up before we go – you’re supposed to let them pass you on the way and that trail isn’t exactly wide enough to give both you and the mule plenty of room.

And now it’s our turn.

Following the mules up.  We actually kept up with them pretty well for most of the trip.

The steepness is starting to kick in.  Not the hardest hike I’ve done before, but combining this with the sun and heat and, well, it’s time to start in on the gatorade.

For you, KL.

JA hikes up.

And up and up.  A lot of trudging on our part.  Every now and again we’d have to wait for the mules to continue on – I’m not sure if their stopping was planned or just a consequence of passing people.  This time of the day, not a lot of folks are on the trail – and most of those are heading back.  It is pretty hot now, we’re sweating a lot (but it evaporates quickly), but it still hasn’t been anything JA and I couldn’t handle.

The mules on the switchbacks.  That looks like a lot of fun.

Taking a break in the shade on a switchback to look back into the canyon.

And we’re back at the top.  Overall, we’re a little tired, and down on fluids, but not nearly as tired/hot as we thought we’d be by what everyone was telling us.  Overall, it took us between 2 and 3 hours roundtrip.  Both JA and I really feel like we could have made it to the 3 mile marker, Skeleton Point, and come back up without issue.  But I guess we’ll have to leave that to another trip.  We followed the guidelines – if you look up a map of South Kaibab trail, it says to not go past Cedar Ridge on a summer hike – and now we know that it’s not as bad as they state.

We took the shuttle to Yaki Point, another outlook.

 

You can see Cedar Ridge from here and the continuing Kaibab Trail.

We ended up back at the Visitor Center looking for information on where the showers are.  We’ve been at this a couple days without one, so it’s about time.  Showers were at the Mather campground and cost $2 for about 8 minutes of water.  It felt great to get all the dust and dried sweat off.  We planned to spend the afternoon resting at the campsite and then head over to the Desert View Watchtower to watch the sun set.

Our lovely little campsite.  I was really happy with this one.  Large sites away from other folks, a fire ring, stuff to sit on, and perfect trees for hammocks.

Our afternoon consisted of this.  And occasionally reading while in this position.

About 45 minutes to sundown, we headed over the Watchtower, which was right next to the campgrounds.

 It’s too late in the day for us to go into the tower, but we’ll do that tomorrow, before we leave.

It was already a bit crowded by other people with the same idea, but JA and I managed to secure a nice spot along the cliff to watch.  No clouds tonight!

Guess who just learned what HDR is?

There are no sunsets prettier that desert sunsets.

With that, it’s time to head back to the tent.  It looked like we might get rained on, but thankfully, it ended up being a dry night.

Back to Grand Canyon Day 2 Part 1 ::: On to Grand Canyon to Temecula