More Grand Canyon adventures 4/17/08

First thing this morning we started up the car to see if it would start and it did. What a relief! Then I booked another night at the Red Feather Lodge so I would have a wonderful warm place to sleep tonight. Next we went back to the campground, cancelled the next 3 nights at the campsite and packed up our tent. Then we decided to hike the South Kaibab trail so we decided to eat a big breakfast at McDonalds. I was surprised to see that the McDonalds cost more than the breakfast in the park. After breakfast we took the shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead and started down the trail around 10am. My wonderful husband (who is deathly afraid of heights) agreed to do this hike since he did so well yesterday.

Unfortunately this hike was much different than the Bright Angel trail and had steep drop-offs for most of the trail and Don had a really difficult time on this. He suffered from vertigo a few times but he kept going because he knew I would not do it without him. We went past the “ooh-ahh point” so we probably did about a mile down. Coming up was just as difficult for him but we finished the whole trip in about three hours.

Then came the highlight of my day. When we arrived at the top of the trailhead, we took some pictures and rested. Another couple came off the trail and the woman was pretty upset. She looked tired, and thirsty, and sore and snapped at her husband that she was glad they didn’t go all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. As they passed by me, I noticed that the shuttle had arrived about 50 yards away but I knew we would not make it so we didn’t hurry. But the upset woman had other ideas. She suddenly ran screaming towards the bus, yelling, “Stop the bus! Stop the bus!” but the bus closed its doors anyway. She continued to scream at the bus as it moved around the circle to leave the area. Then she actually ran in front of the bus to make it stop. When the bus driver tried to signal her to move away, she refused to move until he opened the doors and let the couple on the bus. I guess she really didn’t enjoy the hike at all. I couldn’t stop laughing about her all day. I bet her poor husband has not heard the end of this terrible hike and day!

After eating some lunch, we took a shuttle out to see the Bright Angel trail that we hiked yesterday. I was amazed how differently I saw this trail after hiking it compared to the first time I saw it.

We have enjoyed our visit to the Grand Canyon but we have decided to move on. Not sure where we will head next but will make that decision over breakfast.