Today we headed back into the park and parked near the visitor center. We left the generator running for Dexter and took our bikes to the Green trail heading for Bright Angel trail to hike.
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| You can hike the Bright Angle trail all the way down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We knew that for every step we went down we had to come back up and it was really hot. So we decided to do a few miles. |
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You can see the trail wind down the canyon from this view.
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We had to go through this tunnel on the trail.
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Dylan posing in the tunnel.
We hiked down to the water and rest area where we took a quick rest in the shade then realized if we waited any longer we would be behind the mule tour that was heading back up the canyon. So we made it our mission to stay in front of the mules. We are proud to say we beat them! They kept taking breaks. We would rest for water breaks and skittle treats every mile, but kept plugging along to beat the mules!! |
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| Give Dylan a goal and he is a good hiker! Rewarded with skittles and racing the mules did it today:) |
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It was a hot steep climb back up!!
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Dylan and I got ahead of Madi and Derek...like I said, give Dylan a goal and he is a great little hiker!
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Along the Green trail, as we biked back we saw this elk.
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| It was a little closer than I liked being, but I had to get a picture quickly as I biked by. |
After our hike, we headed for our campground. We got pretty concerned because our campground was called Desert view. And now we have learned we aren't such fans of the desert. Especially when our campsite has no hook-ups! We tried to find a spot in the campground that is more in the center, which seemed to have more trees and I felt would be better, but it was all booked up. So we headed to our campground and much to our surprise, when we get there, there was police tape blocking off the site we were to be in. I walked up to the host site, and he said well you are the lucky ones! We tried to call you, but your site isn't available because we are having an issue with a coyote. Apparently the previous night a lady was star gazing on her picnic table and a coyote came up and nipped her on the shoulder. She wasn't injured but this coyote had bitten another person and killed a small dog, so the rangers and the sheriff were planning to hunt him from our site that night. Lucky for us they were able to find us another site, and I think it worked out for the better. There was a nice bunch of trees that we could sit in the shade and hook up our hammocks. We enjoyed some time reading and relaxing before we went to see the most beautiful sunset.
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| They were hanging out, waiting for dusk when they planned to hunt the coyote. |
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| It was actually pretty nice in the shade with a nice breeze. |
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| Everyone was enjoying some relaxation and time reading. |
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I love laying in a hammock with a good book!
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| Madison and I went for a run along the rim trail before dinner, and even though I tripped on a rock, we had a really nice run! |
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Dylan...well being Dylan.
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| Dylan and I had a long talk today about the way he treats Madison. I commented that |
he won't even let her touch him when they take a picture. We were all shocked when he put his arm around her for this picture. Maybe my speech worked....probably not though! Next national park he will probably be back to his normal self.
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Which is more like this....
or this....
Both kids want to be the one to take our picture...so we get two. This one is croaked, like most teenage pictures...so I thought Madison, but it's blurry so it might be Dylan.
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So here is take two which if we asked them, they would both claim to have taken!
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One thing about staying at a generator-free campground inside the park is that once it's dark it is also quiet. It was so peaceful at the Desert View campground and cooled won enough at night that we did really enjoy it. We also learned from our poor stargazing friend, and we climbed onto the roof of the camper to gaze at the stars. It was pretty amazing and something I really enjoyed doing with the kids. Derek's not a fan of camper ladders so he stayed on the ground and risked the coyote:)
Tomorrow we head back north. We are glad we got to see the parks in the desert, but we are all ready for some mountains, trees, and water in the national parks. Yellowstone is up next!!! With a couple stops on the way.
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