After saying goodbye to Steve and his dog Pepper, we were on our way to the South Rim. I drove the rental Tahoe with 4 participants, tents, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads. I was surprised to see pine trees appear in the desert as we neared the Grand Canyon.
We followed Josh to Grand Canyon National Park, where we got in for free since we had been doing volunteer work at Lee's Ferry with Josh. We stopped at Desert View for our first look at the magnificent Grand Canyon. It was really beautiful, but some of us were slightly put off by the many visitors (which apparently are significantly less than during the summer).
First views of the Grand Canyon at Desert View
First views of the Grand Canyon at Desert View
Then Josh took us to Shoshone Point, which is technically open to everyone but requires a decent hike if you don't have a key to unlock the access gate. I enjoyed driving the Tahoe off-road on the dirt trail too!
Josh unlocking the gate to Shoshone Point
Shoshone Point was incredible. Such a great overlook, with no tourists or human-touch in sight. So amazing. We took group pictures, a guides picture, and individual pictures here. The panorama was marvelous.
Our group looking around at Shoshone Point
Emily chilling on a ledge at Shoshone Point
At Shoshone Point
Group picture at Shoshone Point (photo by Malika)
Guides picture at Shoshone Point (photo by Jena)
Then we said goodbye to Josh. He's a really cool guy, and having him on the trip was a huge asset. I wish I had been less sick and fatigued each night, and had been able to sit up and talk with everyone more.
Bye Josh! (photo by Joao)
We arrived at our two campsites on the Aspen loop of Mather Campground around 1:30pm. We prepared lunch while everyone set up their tents and settled in. Somewhat interestingly, all the participants set up their tents in the site containing the kitchen, while all the guides set up our tents in the other site. Lunch was pitas with peppers, hummus, chicken, salmon, and sausage, as well as cookies and Sunchips.
After cleaning up lunch, we had free time for a couple hours. I drove the Tahoe to the general store, where I bought postcards, a magnet, a tee-shirt (a Grand Canyon Life is Good shirt!), and a mini bottle of milk. Then I wrote and mailed the postcards at the Grand Canyon post office.
Then I decided to walk out to the Rim Trail while chatting with JT. After walking a short while, I decided to just sit off trail a bit on a piece of rock sticking out into the canyon, and relax and blog. As I was sitting there, it began to lightly snow! So cool!
The view from my perch just off the Rim Trail
Then we all took the park shuttle bus to watch the sunset from Pima Point (recommended by Josh). Some people said it was the best sunset they had ever seen.
Grand Canyon at Pima Point
Grand Canyon at Pima Point
Sunset at Pima Point in the Grand Canyon
Once we were back at camp, I started preparing my quesadilla meal. Lots of people helped by chopping vegetables. Emily and I grilled the vegetables, and then let everyone prepare their own quesadillas. We had corn and beans, grilled peppers, zucchini, and onions, chicken, sausage, and cheese. The cheese ran out too quickly since the cheese for this meal was not in the cooler and we instead took the cheese from Thursday's lunch. We're not sure if it was never bought/packed, or if it was used in another meal. Everyone liked the meal, but it left me somewhat hungry. I worked the grill the entire meal, but Emily prepared me a quesadilla so I did get to eat. After dinner we had smores and discussed plans for hiking the next day. We decided that one group would leave at 6:45am and hike quickly all the way to the Colorado River, while the other would leave at 8am and hike slowly to Plateau Point. Emily, Diana, Andrea, and I opted for the shorter hike. Emily and I finally got into our tent at 10:30pm. Since it was going to be a very cold night, I used two sleeping bags.
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