We are loving the white columns of rock that we see at the top of the canyon. As we go deeper, they change in color.
As you can tell from that beautiful blue sky, we are enjoying great weather. The car thermometer registered 25 degrees when we left it in the parking lot this morning. We started out in jackets, but Mark has already warmed up enough to take off his coat and roll up his sleeves. At 8:00 this morning, the parking lot was already full so we left the car on the side of the road. This is a very popular hike here at the North Rim.
This first section is unusually "fragrant" as this is also the route for the twice-daily mule tours. When Denisa saw puddles or poop ahead, she would hold her breath. It made the trail smell like the elephant barn at the zoo, and that's not her favorite nature aroma.
By 9:30, we had hiked two miles and arrived at Supai Tunnel. That's where the mules turn around, so we were glad to have the trail back to ourselves.
We have descended 1,400 feet now, and the rocks around us have changed from white to brown. You can barely see Denisa in the sunshine on the left side of the picture, but our focus is on the tiny bridge at the bottom. That is supposed to be our destination for the day.
If we look up, we can see that white layer of rock is getting further away as we go down this steep section.
We had hiked almost 3 miles and made it to Redwall Bridge by around 10:00. That's a steep trail when you go close to half a mile down in elevation in that short distance.
We can still see the rim of the canyon, but the white rocks at the top feel very far away now. We must say that the shape of this side of the canyon makes this hike much different when we compare it to hiking down from the South Rim.
We included this picture in yesterday's blog, but it seems a good explanation for today as well. When hiking from the South Rim, you immediately get grand views as you are already in the deepest part of the canyon. But from the North Rim, there are hills and valleys that keep the biggest expanse of this grand canyon hidden for a while.
As we looked across the bridge, we saw that the trail flattened for a while. Maybe we should go just a little further? To continue further, we actually had to hike uphill after the bridge. Then we found ourselves on a narrow ledge with a tall wall at one side and a tall drop-off to the other.
We're so glad we hiked this extra mile, as the views kept getting grander as we got further into the canyon.
We definitely haven't hiked to the bottom of the canyon, but we can see it a long ways down from that ledge.
We just kept hiking, still wanting to see what was around the next corner as the canyon was opening up more around us.
This was the last picture we took as we finally decided we better turn around. We had walked around 4 miles, and we got the grand views we were looking for in this below-the-rim hike. You can barely see Denisa on the ledge, as she is wandering inside another of God's wonders.
It was 11:00 by the time we hiked back up to the bridge and surveyed that next long and steep section. Because we are blessed to get to hike almost every day, we think of ourselves as pretty seasoned hikers. But we found out we are hiking wienies compared to many of the people we saw today. We met up with about a dozen different people that were hiking rim to rim to rim today. That means they started at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, hiked all the way to the North Rim, and immediately hiked back to the South Rim.
For example, we heard about this guy from his Father, who was waiting on the North Rim for his son. Dad was just the support team, with food and water ready for a quick refueling stop at the half-way point of this very arduous hike. The guy pictured below had left the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at 4 a.m. and made it to the North Rim at 9 a.m. That's traveling 20 miles--down 4700 feet and then back up 5740 feet in just 5 hours! We can tell you that he didn't take long to rest and chat with his Father, because we saw him 3 miles back down on the return trip at 10 a.m. By the time he finishes, he will have traveled 40 miles on some of the steepest trails in the country. Suddenly we are feeling very out-of-shape.
We have to admit that we were huffing and puffing to get back up the trail towards the top. There were lots of breaks to stop and enjoy the scenery and catch our breath.
Sometimes we invented reasons to stop and take a breather. Denisa had to stop hiking so she could take this picture of one of the friendly canyon birds.
It was about noon when we passed back through the tunnel. The good news is there are bathrooms here, as well as a hydrant to refill our water bottles.
The bad news is we are now back in mule territory. We met the second mule train of the day just up the trail. It looks like we are about to be assaulted by masked marauders. But some of the riders have figured out this is the best way to breath with all the dirt in the air. These mules sure kick up a lot of dust, and their hooves have turned the dirt in this top section to the consistency of baby powder.
We didn't take as many pictures on the way back out of the canyon. We were too busy trying to breath to use the energy to get out the camera. But we were sure glad to see those white rocks that signaled we were getting close to the top again.
We like the Grand Canyon motto that declares that going down is optional, but hiking back up is mandatory. We completed the mandatory part and rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge. It sure felt good to sit down and eat! As we drove out of the national park, a large herd of bison came out to celebrate our hike down past the rim.
We were blessed with another fun adventure as we have now seen the wonders of the inside of the Grand Canyon from both the south and north rims.
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