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Published: April 26th 2009
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o'neill butte Saturday April 25th
We made it out to the Grand Canyon 2 days ago. This is the first time we have sat down to get on the internet since we have been here. We are camping while we are here and luckily have had decent but chilly weather. The low tonight is in the high 20’s… We are currently sitting in the cafeteria in the local market place. It is nice, it reminds me a lot of the café from college, as do the camping showers and bathrooms (this is all while I was in the dorms). Culver says the showers are way better than UMASS.
We made it in Thursday afternoon, we set up our camp site and rearranged the car. Afterwards we watched the sunset over the canyon then went over to the Shrine of the Ages auditorium where one of the park rangers did a presentation on constellations and what you are seeing in the Canyon sky. There was a brief questions session where you get to hear great questions like ‘how many people fall in each year’. The park ranger was very excitable as he loves anything to do with rangering including body rescues. We
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the long trail were then shown outside where he used a laser pointer to outline constellations. It was pretty cool and informative. That lasted about an hour before we headed back to our campsite. Like city slickers we neglected to bring a flashlight with us to the auditorium, as it is a new moon which means no moon which means it was very dark.
Friday morning we woke up and got ready for the day. We packed some sandwiches and snacks and water and went for a hike. We hiked for about 6 miles around the South Rim out to Hermit’s Rest. The views were amazing and we were able to have a picnic looking out over the canyon. When we were tired we were able to jump into the shuttle which took us back to the campground. We got some showers and went back to the auditorium for another talk by a different ranger this time on the “Harvey Girls” for those who may have seen the movie with Judy Garland you will know all about it. Although the speaker wasn’t the best (she had spent two weeks at Phantom Ranch in the canyon and was a bit off due to
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hermits rest elevation), the idea of the young girls coming West and ‘taming it’ was really interesting. We headed back to the campground (this time with flashlights) and turned in for the night.
This morning we woke up pretty early and came down the café for some hot breakfast. It was mediocre food and a little over priced, what do you expect? After breakfast we decided to go for another hike but this time into the Canyon. We hiked the South Kaibab trail and saw some mule riders. The hike was about 3 hours long and right around 3 miles, it descends into the Canyon 1,000 feet. It was a decent hike we rested a little on the way back up but still kept a brisk pace. It catches up with you pretty quick when you start at 7,000 feet and go to 6,000 feet and back up again. The coolest part of the trail was it lead down to O’Neill Butte. We made it most of the way there but got close enough to take some pretty cool pictures. At one point you are on a ridge line where the canyon drops off on either side, a little freaky when
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top of the world, south rim you consider the gale winds we were having. I (Culver) was very excited to see a corral of mules at the trail head so I was trying to pet a friendly looking one who tried to bite me in the chest so I smacked him in the face causing him to kick another mule who was already biting another one which then started a mule brawl. Word has it these guys are very ornery, and after the mule brawl I would say its much like being a in a bar after midnight. After the hike we rode the shuttle into the village to check out “the touristy” areas. This is where they have the lodges, restaurants, and gift shops. We hung out there for a while then went back to the campground to get some showers, have a snack, get our things together and get here.
So far I (Culver) have yet to find a toilet that tops the “Worst Toilet in Nevada” Red Rock Canyon, NV, or even comes close, but I have used some very clean drop toilets and a tidy outhouse (bring your own TP).
The Canyon has been really awesome, some of the best views you will ever see and the hiking has been really cool too.
Tomorrow we head out. We are going to check out the IMAX movie on the way out so we can see everything we couldn’t see from the South Rim. Our goal is to drive a few hours toward California and get a hotel. Monday we are in Big Sur and will be camping again for two nights then off the San Fransisco. It looks like our hotel in San Fran has internet so we hope to update you again then!
Pete and Culver
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Mallory
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Mule Brawl!?
That's hilarious. I had flashbacks of you wanting to smack that JW horse in the head... actually smacking Navigator in the head... and now a mule. Excellent. Where's that picture? Stay away from Mexicans; they have Swine Flu.