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Sun, 3 June
We left Jacob Lake, heading for the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We drove past the beautiful Vermillion Cliffs to the Navajo Bridge crossing the Colorado River at Marble Canyon. The river is a striking green color here as it passes through the red canyon. We saw rafts on the river and wished we were down there doing that. At Cameron we turned west toward the Desert View/East entrance to Grand Canyon National Park.
After setting up camp in Desert View campground, which didn’t take long as there are no hookups, we went to Desert View visitor center and the Watchtower. After a few pictures we drove west toward Grand Canyon Village, stopping at several overlooks along the way. In the village we managed to find the kennel so Bob could make arrangements for Milo to spend the day there tomorrow, leaving both Bob and Gena free to see the sights. We went to the visitor center in the village for the mandatory stamps in our national park passports before heading back to camp, 25 miles away.
Mon, 4 June
Monday morning we enjoyed a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon and
cheese along with sliced oranges; a good start for a busy day. We dropped Gena and Kerry off at Bright Angel Lodge (I don’t know why there are bright angels at both rims) and Bob and I took Milo to the Kennel. We then found parking and made our way via shuttle and shoe power to the rim. Gena and Kerry had agreed to hike a ways down the Bright Angel trail, and when we finally got to the rim, they had just found the trailhead. Bob and Gena both had walkie talkies so we could keep in touch. We wandered west down the rim trail looking for a good spot to view them, found an overlook to see part of the trail, but they were already past the furthest point we could see. We spotted two California condors sunning themselves and pruning their feathers on the rocks above the trail. We finally got a glimpse of our hikers when they were on their way back up the trail after having gone down a mile or so. Once they were back at the rim, we were pleased to see they were still breathing and neither was limping. Kerry said there
was lots of heavy breathing on his part, but luckily no heart attack.
We ate lunch in the lodge then headed for the shuttle stop to ride to the western overlooks, only open to hikers and shuttle buses. It was getting late in the day by then, so we had to skip a few overlooks, but the haze does get heavier in the afternoons, making the vistas a bit murky. We rode out to Hermit’s Rest, the end of the shuttle line, then had to hurry back for Milo. As it was, we were a little late, but Bob had called to advise them we would be a little behind schedule. Boy, was Milo happy to see them! We were all happy to get back to camp and relax a little. Early to bed for all of us.
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Peggy
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wonderful, brings back good memories of past trips. love you both