Day 20 - Grand Canyon

Today we stood up at 4:15 in order to be at the Bright Angel trailhead at sunrise. We took the first shuttle bus to the trailhead and arrived there at around 6:00. So early in the morning the temperature was still quite nice and we progressed quite quickly. It was still too dark for making nice pictures and we therefore did not make many rests on our way down. At Indian Garden which is a bit more than half the distance we filled up our camelbacks and made a short pause to eat. Hiking down the canyon we met quite some people who were already on their way up. They were either backpackers who have stayed the night at Phantom Ranch or one of the few day hikers hiking to the Colorado River and back on one day.



























When we reached the Colorado River after about 13 kilometers and 2 hrs 30 we have lost about 1400 meters in elevation.




















The temperature at the river was surprisingly pleasant. We ate a bit and jumped then with all our clothes into the river in order to have it less hot when hiking back.

The first part of our hike back was still in the shadow, but the temperature increased steadily and hhiking got more exhausting. It only took as 1:15 to reach Indian Garden where we filled up our camelbacks again. However, I got a bit tired from the long hike and the heat and we slowed down a bit and reached the canyon rim safely after about 2 more hours of hiking.

Bright Angel Trail - Indian Garden is where the dark green spot in the canyon is














Warning signs can be seen everywhere on the trail. On hot days around 60 hikers have to be treated with heat related problems.














After being back at the rim we got us something to eat and waited for Regina who did not join us for the hike. We then drove to Page where we stayed overnight. On our way back we stopped at several of the view points to take pictures.