Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch -- some photos (May 5, 2014) (last of a set)

This is final post of a set of four (here is post #1; here is post #2; here is post #3).

This final post includes photos of our hike up and out of the Grand Canyon via the Bright Angel Trail on May 5, 2014.  We enjoyed spectacular weather - significantly cooler than on our hikes up this trail in 2004 and 2007.

Breakfast was served at 5:00a.  Though we were up earlier to pack, take duffels to the mule loading area, etc.

All made it up the trail in good order - a fine finish to our little adventure.

[Repeating:  click-to-enlarge photos - you'll lose access to the captions - but it's worth it.]

[Repeating:  immediately following the last photo is a video picking up the day's photos taken on the Narrative Clip camera ("wearable technology" that was clipped to my shirt during the trip and automatically snapping pictures every 30 seconds).  Those photos are running along in the video at a pace of about two per second.  Photo quality naturally suffers on this device, especially in comparison to the other photos - but the Clip does somewhat succeed in providing an alternative viewpoint of the day's proceedings.]

Finishing 5a breakfast in the canteen (still pretty dark outside).  Check out those canned peaches
in CPG's future!  Looks like (almost) all hikers are awake and ready to hit the trail.

All 20 of us - the only time we were all assembled for a group photo.  Locked and
loaded for commencement of the up-hike.  Phantom Ranch.  5:45a.  Pretty
much the last time any of us saw Jon, who skedaddled up the trail.

Another wonderful Jim-shot of "small person set in mighty nature"  (as in similar photo in post #3, Carol is the 
subject here).  Here she is walking along Bright Angel Creek (thus all the trees) at beginning stage 
of the up-hike.  The path ahead looks beautiful - with a hint of the ominous.  Great picture.  

Pat, PJr, Alex approaching the silver bridge, with Colorado River in background.

A great look back at the silver bridge as we start moving along the "river trail" portion
of the up-hike.  I love this portion along the Colorado River.

Sisters.  River Trail.  Along the legendary Colorado River.  Bottom of Grand Canyon.  Nice.

Hikers have now left the "river trail" and are just beginning to head up the 
main section of the Bright Angel Trail.  Luis, K, N, Charlie, Nick.

First rest stop for this group.  Very little elevation gain to this point.  All (especially one
certain hiker) seem to be in good spirits.  

Now we're climbing steadily.  This gives a sense of the switchbacks in this phase.

I love this section of the trail.  Climbing rapidly here, with great views 
of the trail behind, and of dramatic rock formations everywhere.  

See what I mean by "great views of the trail behind?"  What fun to pass through 
this section.  Steep, spectacular climb.

One of the vantage points for photos like the preceding one.  Pausing here provided
a welcome break from climbing  - plus spectacular views. 

How great is this photo (thanks again, Theresa)?  Our crew continues upward toward 
Indian Gardens.  A bit less steep here.  A bit more moisture available (as the plants indicate).

K leads a group across a small watercourse.  We're now coming up
into what we call the "notch.."  (By the way, N's taped-up shoes somehow 
survived the entire hike.)

I like Nick's photo here - we took a rest break here at beginning of the "notch."
It was a great spot.

Ascending through the "notch" toward Indian Gardens.  Water running below the trail; we
are still mostly in shade at this stage.  This is a great picture of an excellent trail segment.
(By the way, note the contrast to South Kaibab Trail (photos in post #2) - that trail does 
not have any segments with running water, trees, shade.)

Maeve, K and N look great in this shot as we near Indian Gardens.  
Even so, Luis "makes" the photo - what an awesome pose.

Only photo in this set of posts to come via the "Narrative Clip" camera.
PJR, CPG, Pat H etc. taking main rest stop of the hike at shady Indian Gardens.

I love this shot of our hiker group ascending past Indian Gardens.  

In fact, I love the preceding shot so much that I'm 
here including another version of essentially the same thing.
Except that I (obsessed with "small persons in mighty nature" 
photos) think this one is even more dramatic.

Luis, Charlie, Alex, PJr, CPG, Nick; me kneeling.

We've made quite a bit of progress by this time.  

The group takes a short break at "one and a half mile" rest house.  Well up the trail now,
I was starting to get a little sad that we were almost finished.

K looking good, keeping up her pace.  (About the only good photo that I took myself.)  

EPG keeping at it, Jim stalking behind.

I really like this look-back - it shows so much of the trail we've completed ("three mile" rest house
perched at right; Indian Gardens is in the concentrated "green" area in the center of the middle
distance; a bit farther back is the "notch" from where the trail drops out of sight).  Nice!

Mike 'n me.  We've almost made it to the top.

Pausing very near the top.  L-R Luis, N, CPG, Alex, Pat, Maeve, Mike, EPG, 
Charlie, PJr, me, Carol, Nick, Theresa, Jim.

Dave and Marlene - with PJ, the early finishers waiting for the rest of us to emerge (not counting Jon, who
was on his own (rapid) pace).  Those three flew up the trail; these two evidently not any the worse for wear.

We made such good time up the trail that we had to wait for the duffels coming up
via mule train.  But at least we had a fine place to wait!

Trip detritus.

Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch -- some photos (May 4, 2014)

This is post #3 of a series (#1 is here; #2 is here).

This post includes various photos giving a glimpse of the group's doings on May 4, 2014.  This day was spent entirely at the bottom of Grand Canyon - a unique, delightful, place.  24 hours entirely without cell phones, TV, news.  24 hours entirely present with fellow hikers, plus what are properly called natural wonders.  Nice.

Early stages of hike along North Kaibab Trail to Ribbon Falls.  Heading toward the "Box."
 Just look at this photo (especially amazing if you click-to-enlarge)!  I love the sunlight and clouds here.

Principal activities for the day:

• Breakfast in the "canteen" (the community building at Phantom Ranch where meals are served; and where, between meals, food/beverage and misc. are available and folks hang out); pick up sack lunches
• Most of our group then did all (or part of) the 12+ mile round trip hike to Ribbon Falls
• Afternoon fun in the "canteen"
• Miscellaneous wandering around Bright Angel Creek, Colorado River, etc. 
• Hiker's stew dinner at the "canteen"
• Ranger talk (focused on those irrepressible Kolb Bros)
• Followed by black light scorpion hunt (OK, only one or two folks went on the hunt (one being Mike))
• Evening fun in the "canteen"
• Relatively early bedtime for most in anticipation of early start for next day's hike-out
• Stargazing for others

Repeating comment from post #2:  "(Click-to-enlarge photos, as always.  Doing so loses access to the pithy captions, but that's definitely the right trade-off.)"

(Immediately following the last photo is a video picking up the day's photos taken on the Narrative Clip camera ("wearable technology" that was clipped to my shirt during the trip and automatically snapping pictures every 30 seconds).  Those photos are running along in the video at a pace of about two per second.  Photo quality naturally suffers on this device, especially in comparison to the other photos - but the Clip does somewhat succeed in providing an alternative viewpoint of the day's proceedings.)

My favorite type of photo:  contrasting the size of our human presence (in this case, Carol) against
 nature's grandeur.  (If that sounds cliched, so be it!)

Another "man persons in nature" photo" . . . my favorite . . . 

Most of the Ribbon Falls hiking contingent.  At the outset we weren't committed to making the 
entire hike (and thus didn't really pack or dress properly in all cases); accordingly, some of this 
group returned to Phantom Ranch after completing about half of the Ribbon Falls hike.

Me 'n Charlie on one of the six bridges spanning Bright Angel 
Creek between Phantom Ranch and Ribbon Falls.  

Might be the single greatest photo from the entire trip.  Outstanding views of 
the canyon, Mike and Bright Angel Creek.
And then Jim adds an entire extra dimension. 

Making our way out of the Box (nickname for the beginning portion of the hike (immediately north 
of Phantom Ranch) due to steep canyon walls on both sides) - here, the canyon is opening up a bit .  
Still a long ways to Ribbon Falls.  But honestly:  who wouldn't want to follow this trail for as long as it goes?

Out of the Box and continuing on toward Ribbon Falls.

This effort turned into some really nice photos.  (Thanks, Carol & Jim.)

Theresa and Alex at the final bridge prior to arriving at Ribbon Falls.

Finally made it to Ribbon Falls.  We had no idea that it would look so spectacular.  Certainly
the falls are tiny on an absolute scale - but the near-shock of encountering this in the desert
on a scorching-sunny day is quite impressive.  In this photo Jon is making his way toward 
the water at center/right; I'm approaching the falls from the left.

The waterfall was unbelievably refreshing on this hot day (as Nick can attest).

Much enjoying Ribbon Falls.  Jon, me, PJ, PJr.

Yes, I like this photo of PJ and me.
Part of the visual impact of Ribbon Falls stems from the access to the back of the falls - from
where one looks out through layers and layers and layers:  water and lush green plants, then rock and 
desert trees, then additional layers of stark, bone-dry canyon walls of varying hues; then blue sky.

Nick had brought along water filtering equipment - without it, we all would have had to turn back.
With it, there was a fair amount of work for Nick, Jon, Paul Jr., Alex here below the falls.
For the record, it was a success:  no one became ill using the filtered water.

Meanwhile, back at the (Phantom) Ranch:  non-hikers plus early returners from Ribbon Falls hike avail 
themselves of the pleasures of the "canteen".  Maeve and Dave share expressions of appropriate caution, if 
not outright disdain, as Maeve starts slicing the sausage, or whatever it is, included in the sack lunch picked up 
from Phantom Ranch every day.  Others are focused on a card game.  CPG is focused on photo-bombing.  

Now the afternoon "canteen" group has moved into "Sequence" battles (these were repeated after dinner).  
Dave has arrayed the fruits of their drinking labors into something that, I think, was intended
to resemble the Canyon itself.  An appropriate homage', I 'd say.

Sportsmanship display.  L-R Dave, EPG, K, CPG, Pat Herrarrarrarraa, N, Luis, Mike.
CPG apparently on green-loser team.

Cooling off in Bright Angel Creek, late afternoon.  Including dam-building efforts.

Hiker's stew!!  With cornbread!  Best meal at Phantom Ranch.  Going around the table:  N, C, Marlene, Pat 
Herrarrarrarraa, Jon, Theresa, PJr (whose pose is a shout-out to absent POC), PJ, EPG, Luis, K.  

Table 2:  Jim, Dave, unknown photo-bombers, Nick, Maeve, Charlie, Mike.
Note eager anticipation, by all, for the famed stew.

The same group - with right side of the table providing expressions charmingly similar to
their expressions in the photo immediately above.  All are celebrating Phantom Ranch's 
chocolate cake - to repeat, it's been served as the dessert at every single dinner served in the 
canteen since it switched from a resort to a place accommodating hikers.

Eighteen of our group of 20 - posing on canteen steps right after being kicked 
out at conclusion of dinner time.  (We would return later for cards, Sequence, beers, etc.)

Mike, Nick, etc. eagerly soaking up ranger-knowledge about the fabulous Kolb Bros.

One of our final steps as the evening wore on:  Charlie stamps three postcards, signed by most 
of the group, addressed to Ernest and Helen Gales, Bode, Iowa 50519.