6/22/07

We woke up at 3:30 am to hike down the canyon. We took the Bright Angel trail which is on the southern rim of the canyon. We started at 4:30 am. We came across 2 big horn sheep. Cathy was able to get within 10 feet of one of the sheep. The park is full of mule deer who have no problem with walking around with people in the area. The squirrels come right up to people looking for food. We arrived at Indian Gardens ( the half-way point - 4.5 miles down) at about 9 am. At this point the crew split up. Jamie, Heather, and Cathy stayed and backpacked at Indian Gardens while the rest of the crew continued their journey down into the canyon (another 5 miles down). The crew at Indian Gardens camped out in one of the shelters they had. They also did a sunset hike out to Plateau Point where you could view the Colorado river down below. It was a beautiful and clear night to view stars from the canyon. We got to meet a lot of great and freindly people along the trail. Thanks to the generousity of two hikers (Mitch & Gregg) - we were given a deck of cards to play with while we backpacked. Their only request was that we pass the deck of cards onto other hiker on the trail so that they might enjoy them (pay it forward). The crew that hiked down to the bottom got there around 12 noon. Andy, Jordan, and Rob built there own dam at Bright Angel Creek. Each camper did some push ups in the creek as well. We all went to bed early in preparation for the hike back up the trail the next day.