Grand Canyon Photo Blast of Day 2

We arrived at a little after ten o'clock today.  It was much warmer and the parking lots much more full than our last visit.  Thankfully, there weren't as many people in the areas that we went to today.  First, we took the shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead and hiked down into the canyon.

We like to rename things that we find in nature.  Here, we have the deadly porcupine plant.

I like to read about trails before we hike them.  I use Trip Advisor for this sometimes, but have noticed that reviewers sometimes rate trails as harder than they actually are.  We have done a few "hard" trails that were actually pretty easy, and that's not because we are in stellar shape or anything.  All that to say, I do read up to make sure we are prepared, but don't put too much stock in warnings of something being too challenging.  

After doing this hike, I can tell you that this is hard.  Not going down, but coming up.  It's also dangerous, with cliffs, sliding rocks, and loose spots for feet to slip on.  I don't think this is much of a worry for able-bodied adults, but definitely something to consider when taking kids.  

Also, my kids like to hike, but there were definitely some groans on our ascent!

"Break!"

Ha ha.  Poor Jax was ready to be at the top already!

Don't worry--we took this guy's advice and turned around when we got tired.  Didn't want to end up like he did!

It's neat to see how many different color palettes there are in different parts of the canyon.

THIS is what takes my breath away.  I love the colors and textures of these walls!

We made it back up!

When you've finished hiking South Kaibab and you just can't even.

After our hike, we took the shuttle to the Yavapai area, which was noticeably colder.  Heavy coats were pulled out of packs in a quick hurry!

We had about 30 minutes to wait until the ranger talk at the Yavapai Geology Museum, so we walked the rim trail until we found a quiet place to sit and rest.  If you look closely, you can see a little sliver of the Colorado River in the bottom left of the photo.

Before we left, Jax went through his packet with Ranger Sarah and got his badge for the Grand Canyon.  She laughed at his answer to the question, "Compare what you hear at the Grand Canyon to what you hear at home," and said it was the funniest response she's ever read.

In the blank, he had written, "I hear my sisters no matter where I am."

I probably don't even need to tell you, but Creepy Baby had a rotten day.  She didn't care for the Grand Canyon one bit.  Maybe she'll like our next stop better???

We had a wonderful day.  A day to remember.  I am so thankful to the Lord for the better weather, and that we chose the hike that we did.  We hiked back out of the canyon alongside a family from Huntington Beach and commiserated with them about our altitude issues.  We agreed that an oxygen tank would be great, but the added weight in our packs wouldn't be worth it.  And I'm glad we took the shuttle, too!  I got to talk to a nice young girl from Los Angeles who was camping at the canyon with a group of her friends.  She told me about camping in Yosemite and her time near Brookings.  I'm thankful that we were able to go at our own pace and enjoy our time at the canyon.  It didn't feel like we were crowded in like before, because we weren't in the most popular locations.  It made a big difference!  I thought I got a picture of everyone toward the end of the day, but can't find it now.  I remember saying, "Okay, I've got to get a picture to caption, 'When the Cato's finally lost it.'"  Jeff had the kids laughing pretty hard and it was total silliness, which seems to happen a lot after we exhaust ourselves hiking.  Ha ha.

The drive home tonight.  Rumor is that we may wake up to snow tomorrow morning.  I hope so!

The sky is on fire!  Jordan said that the sunsets here look Apocalyptic.

Our long weekend at the Grand Canyon is over, so tomorrow we will head back south to our camping spot for one more work week.  This was such a nice little trip.  In the evenings, we played games, read together, and watched a movie.  Jeff and Jackson have been enjoying quite a bit of Xbox time together, too.

Our "plans" are to head east after next week, but things are always subject to change.  I'll keep ya' posted.  ;)