Day 5

Hang tight for lots of pictures today.  How can there not be lots of pictures in the Grand Canyon.  Truly breathtaking!  I keep telling people that it looked like a painting standing on the South Rim.  You can't even grasp how large and vast this place is, even standing there!

There is something about waking up early while you are camping.  Maybe it is the early sunrise at 5 am or that we just go tons of sleep?  We got our day started early hiking part of the famous Angel Trail.  You can choose how far you go below the rim, but most inexperienced hikers do not go farther than 1 mile down and back.  It is no easy hike.  People have died on this trail.  Once you drop below the rim of the canyon, temps soar very quickly.  It could be a comfortable 75 degrees at the top and be over a 100 degrees a mile into the hike.  Hikers spend days hiking to the bottom, stay for a few days and than hike back up.  You can tell the people that know what they are doing.  We would have been called the casual hikers.  The people that hiked just to get some great pictures.  Boy, did we ever!  The kids were champions and never complained!

The paths at their largest points were about 8 feet wide.  No guardrails, no handrails, just a cliff. 

Can you see the trail?  There are people on that trail.  Amazing!

Another view from below the rim.

Looking back the the trail we hiked.  Can you see the people?

Don't back up to far!

Daring to climb out on a rock,.

We would hop on a shuttle bus after a lookout or a hike and they would drive along the rim to the next lookout or hike.  You could choose to get off or just keep going to the place of your choice.  A free service by Grand Canyon National Park.  Air conditioned bus+sleepy 5 year old=nap time!

From the top of the rim.

Colorado River cutting through.

 Carsyn took this.  She got quite good at taking pictures.  You will see lots from Aidan's camera (has the dates on the bottom) and Carsyn got a hold of my camera and took some as well.

 You may see this picture again...maybe Christmas!?!

Another shot from below the rim.

 Looking straight down to the path we hiked.  Yikes!

There is no question that this is one of the 7 National Wonders of the World!  After spending most the day traveling along the rim, we took a bus into town to get some pizza and ice cream.  By the time we got back to camp around 8pm, we were exhausted and off to bed.