Grand Canyon - Day Two

We rose at 4:30 am in hopes of seeing the sunrise at the Canyon. We dallied a little too long and heard the first bus as it looped by the campground entrance. As we waited for the second bus, the sky became light and we knew we had missed the sunrise. Talking with the driver, we wouldn't have been able to get on the first bus anyway, it had filled at Mather Campground with a large group of students.

 Sunrise crowds and Beth dressed for the brisk morning.

There was still some interesting light by the time we arrived at the rim.

The Orange Bus line took us to different overlooks this morning. We met two students from NC State, where our son will be going to school in the Fall, who were planning to hike down and back up over the next two days on the Kalibab trail.





Able to renew the campsite for another night, we enjoyed lunch and watched the elk and other wildlife.

After lunch we took advantage of camper services to get cleaned up with hot showers at $2.00 for eight minutes. Feeling much better, we parked at the Visitor's Center so we would be central to the transportation system.

Bikes came off the carrier for a leisurely ride over to the mule barn and train station. The Canyon is busiest from 10-3 when the train from Williams is at the station.

If you can't tell I enjoy watching trains.

Sunset was a great time to see the canyon. The differences in lighting as the day progresses are fascinating.

After the last bits of light went away, we attended an interesting ranger-led talk about cougars. Learned all kinds of interesting things, but the two that stayed with me are that they can jump 18 feet vertically and, if they get a running start, they can leap 48 feet horizontally! Another fact he shared was that mules, with the placement of their eyes, can see all four feet at the same time. This should be reassuring to anyone venturing down the canyon trails on a mule train.

By 9:20 we were parked back in our site and ready for another quiet night.