Kaibab Trail and Hermit's Rest

Serious hikers and mule riders set off very early at the Grand Canyon, to get a good way on their treks and rides before it gets too hot. We are not as a team early risers I find, but that's fine, we work around this. One thing we are blessed with so far is perfect Arizona weather. It can be quite cold at night and rises to temperatures in the seventies in the afternoon. Park officials tell us we are extremely lucky to be here now: perfect weather combined with a slight lull in visitor numbers now that the Easter season is over. It's true. There are lots of other visitors, but not too many: we've not had to queue for anything, we've been able to get seats on all the shuttle buses we chose to get on, our chosen walking trails were not crowded with other people.

We sorted ourselves out with water and granola bars, and recalling how cold Canyon de Chelly had been, we all packed what proved to be redundant, warm clothing in the one backpack we shared. Once we'd parked our car at the South Rim Visitor Centre parking lot, we caught a shuttle bus to South Kaibab Trailhead, and set off into the canyon ... for a little way. The South Kaibab trail is a well maintained trail, used by parties of mule riders to go further into the canyon. You descend very rapidly, about 600 feet down a steep path, arriving after about 2 miles at Ooh Aah Point, with fabulous views of the canyon East and West. We elected to turn round at that point and climb back up - as it is so steep, you are advised to allow about twice the time to get back up as it took you to get down, and I certainly did with relish, stopping here and there to sip my bottle of water and pause in the shade of rocks. It was a memorable worthwhile walk, and we might have done a bit more, had we come with proper walking gear. We had taken advice by the way,and been assured that we could easily trek to the first point in trainers. On getting back up to the rim, we stopped at Yaki point and then took the shuttle bus to the Market Plaza where we purchased a picnic lunch and ate it on a picnic table nearby.

For the afternoon, we decided to hit as many of the scenic viewpoints on the Western end of the rim as possible, so we took the shuttle bus to Hermit's rest, stopping off at a few places like "The Abyss" ( we couldn't resist it when the driver said: "Next stop, the Abyss." Then we walked along the rim trail for part of the way back to the car park. By this time it was nearly 6:00 pm. We went back to the hotel where I went to the Exercise room for a short workout and then we went out for a cheap dinner. We are now all ensconced in our room, drinking beer from our cold box and watching TV. We all feel we've given the South Rim of the Grand Canyon the best go we could in the time available. Now to peep at the North Rim ... and then Utah, here we come.