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5:54 am - Saturday - March 3rd - Grand Canyon - 30º F, 49% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the southwest......forecast is for windy and sunny skies with a high of 51º F.
The last time I hiked was the day I had my first stroke symptoms. On that day we hiked the Bright Angel trail down to Indian Gardens and back....about 10 miles. That was the last time I hiked until Friday......
......of course there was the initial week or so spent recovering from the effects of the stroke, but the rest of our off days since then have had snow, rain, wind, ice on the trails, or a combination thereof, which is not conducive to hiking.....at least for us. Other days we were heading into Flagstaff for doctors appointments, or to shop, or both. At any rate I was really looking forward to hiking Friday.
We left Desert View around 10:50 am to make the drive over to the Village to wash our sheets at the Mather Campground laundromat......since our dryer is not working right now it is easier, and faster to take them to a laundromat. While our bedding went through the wash cycle we ran over to the Marketplace to do a small shopping, and get a couple of salads for lunch. We ate our salads and shopped, and were back at the laundromat just as the wash cycle ended. We put everything into a couple of dryers and waited 25 minutes for them to finish.
Once we had finished our obligatory duties for Friday we headed over to the Bright Angel Trailhead to find a parking place and then spend some time walking more of the Rim Trail. We have hiked about half of the Rim Trail previously from Yaki Point to Bright Angel Trailhead, so it was time to see more of it. We set out on the paved path not really having any idea how far we would go.....we just wanted to walk and enjoy the wonderful weather and scenery.....I'll let the pictures and videos tell the story......
Walking the Rim Trail from Bright Angel Trailhead to Maricopa Point
El Tovar Hotel in the distance on this beautiful, crystal clear day
You can see a portion of the Bright Angel Trail below.....all in shadows and still covered in ice and snow
San Francisco Peaks towering above the horizon
.......by the time we reached Maricopa Point we had covered 1.6 miles and it was approaching 1:30 pm so we decided to turn around. We were back at the Bright Angel Trailhead by 2 pm and decided to continue our walk on over to the Bright Angel Lodge which was also designed by Mary Colter, whom I have written about previously. We noticed there was a cocktail lounge just off the main lobby and decided on the spot to go in for a couple of brews and an appetizer......
.....we both ordered New Belgium 1554 draft brews, and them a plate of jalapeno poppers......what a nice interlude!
By the time we finished it was 3 pm and time to head for the barn, so we walked back over to the VW to make the return drive. True to form we arrived back at the Newell by 3:30 and were hauling our laundry and store purchases inside.
What a very, very nice day......just 15 days until we haul our anchor! Thanks for stopping by!
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I liked walking the rim trail.
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