The five days at the South Rim were more hectic than I expected. It must be something about expanding to a group of four that seems to be busier. This entry in the Speedy Journal is a recap of those days (while I can still remember most of it).
Tuesday we continued the hunt for a bird list. After moving to a new site in the morning, we rode our bikes up to the Visitor Center. Ellen hoped that the bookstore there, Books & More, would have the list she got last time. Alas, it seems to be no more. It was back to camp.
We noticed that we were camped among a bunch of Pinion pines, all full of ripe cones and that there were an abundance of pinion nuts on the ground. After cracking a couple any finding the tasty nut meats inside, we decided to collect them with a bit more earnest while we awaited the arrival of our friends, Harry & Sally. We found a tree right behind out site where a bird or squirrel had knocked or chewed a large number of cones off the tree. They were scattered on the ground with a lots of fresh nuts spilled from them. We scooped them up.
We now had a couple of cups of unshelled pinion nuts. They were a bit hard to crack without crushing the nut inside. We finally figured out that we could use pliers, gently applied, to just crack the shell, after which we could pull it off. After about an hour of shelling, we had about a cup of nuts. About then our friends arrived and took the site across from ours. (We'd reserved them both ahead of time).
Wednesday, we all took our bikes over to the Hermit Road in the morning to ride up part of it. There is a bicycle path, the Greenway, that runs from the Market Plaza near the campground to Grand Canyon Village and ends near the Hermit Road. The road is closed to traffic, except for park shuttle buses and bicycles. We only went as far as Hopi Point as Ellen & Sally were in Pinion nut collecting frenzy. The bottom section of the road was lined with Pinion pines and we seemed to stop at each one to pick up a few nuts under them. We also stopped at each overlook. This is the Grand Canyon, after all.
At Hopi Point, there was a Park Service biologist who was watching a Condor nest in a cave in a cliff across from the point. It was on the South Rim, but still quite a ways away. She had a spotting scope and was keeping an eye on a condor chick and its parents. It is a rare wild birth of a California Condor, so the park service was keeping a daytime watch of the chick and the coming and going of the parents. We could get a view through here scope, but hers eyes were better trained than ours, as we really couldn't make out the birds.
After that highlight, it was back to camp for lunch. Ellen & I made a stop at the library, which was on the way. I'd found a guide online that had a Grand Canyon bird checklist in it. I hoped the Grand Canyon Community Library might have a copy. It did and they also had a copier. We now had a Grand Canyon bird list for Ellen & Sally.
After lunch. it was time to walk the Rim Trail. Harry had never been to the Grand Canyon before, and Sally had been here for about an hour while on a business trip to Arizona. There is a path that runs from the campground, through the nearby market plaza, then out to the Rim Trail. So, walk we did. It was about a half mile to the rim, then we had a half mile long stroll along the rim before it reached the shops and lodges.
While there were a fair number of people out on the Rim Trail, mostly speaking languages other than English, it didn't get crowded until we got to the shops and lodge, especially by the ice cream stand at Bright Angel Lodge. In addition to many stops along the rime to look at the spectacular views, we stopped at the Verkamp's Visitor Center, the El-Tovar Lodge (to look at the log architecture), the Hopi House (to look at the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo jewelry, pottery and rugs) and, finally, at the Kolb Studio, where there is an exhibit of paintings from a recent "Grand Canyon Celebration of Art" event, a week when over two dozen artists are invited to come and paint the canyon. After all that, it was a mile or so walk back along the Greenway to camp and dinner.
Thursday it was time for a hike below the rim. Ellen, Sally and I headed out early to hike a portion of the South Kaibab Trail. Ellen and I had hiked the entire Bright Angel Trail down to bottom of the canyon and back a couple of years ago, but it took us three days. None of us had the gear and time on this trip to go to the river, so a bit of the South Kaibab would do.
Since you are not allowed to drive out to the trailhead and it was two shuttle buses from the campground, we drove to a nearby Rim Trail overlook and started our hike there. We hiked down the South Kaibab as far as Cedar Ridge. It was about 1.5 miles each way and 1000 feet of elevation change. Including the hike along the rim to and from Speedy, it was a great 6 mile hike.
Starting early was the key. There were no crowds. The hike was mostly in the shade and the morning views were clear and sharp. We walked all the way out to the tip of Cedar Ridge, where we had a panoramic view across the canyon and up to the top behind us. Since we still had a fair amount of shade, the walk back up the trail was relatively pleasant (I'm not a great fan of going uphill), even though the trail was becoming a bit more crowded. We were back at camp in time for lunch.
In the afternoon, we decided to go out to a viewpoint to see the sunset along the rim. For some reason, we decided to go east to Grandview Point, hoping it would be less crowded than nearer to the lodges and campground. It was a good sunset, but we were a little too far around to get really good light. We have been told, by a nature photographer, that the spectacular sunsets are much more rare than the published pictures would lead you to believe.
We did another bike ride on Friday. Harry & Sally rode with us to the bottom of the Hermit Road. They then put their bikes on the shuttle bus and rode it to the top. Sally wanted to walk a bit of the Hermit Trail. We decided to ride up the Hermit Road. It is a seven mile ride from the bottom of the road, uphill in both directions. It only seems that way, since it goes uphill from the village, rolls along the rim, then a long grade down to Hermit's Rest. It is then a long grade up from Hermit's rest, the roll and a quick downhill to the village.
We met Harry & Sally at the top. It seems that our ride wasn't a whole lot longer, in time, than their bus ride. Sally had walked out to teh start of teh Hermit Trail and was coming back just as we reached Hermit's Rest. After we took a bit of a rest, we all headed back down (but partly up) the Hermit Road, stopping at each overlook and viewpoint. On the way back, we ran into theh condor-watching biologist again, who was now at Mohave Point, which had a more direct view into the nest. We could see the nest cave more clearly, but still couldn't really make out the birds.
When we returned to the village, we decided to stop for lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge. It was chili in a bread bowl all around—tasty after our ride.
Later in the afternoon, when the others were relaxing, I took my bike and rode out to the Mather Visitor Center, to pick up a bookm and then Yavupai Point to The Geology Museum. As I was leaving the museum, I looked along the rim to see if it would be a good spot for a sunset view. As I was looking out over the canyon, two large birds went soaring by, a ways out. They looked like condors, but I couldn't really be sure and by the time I got back to my bike and found my binoculars, they were gone from sight. As I was getting on my bike to head back to camp, I noticed someone looking up. I also looked up just a a condor soared directly overhead and out over the canyon. Oh yeah, it looked like a good spot foe a sunset view.
We had originally planned to spend four nights at the South Rim with our friends, but we decided to extend for an extra day. They are just starting out on their trip and looping west through the Utah National Parks before heading back east, while we are nearing the end our our travels in a loop in the other direction, having just come through some of the parks they will be visiting. We won't see them again until November.
On our last day, we took a morning bike ride with Harry & Sally back over to the Visitor Center for a last perusal through the bookstore. We also rode up to Yavupai Point. Ellen & Sally were sure the condors would be back...they weren't. It was probably too early in the day. Most of the rest of the day was cleanup. We needed to do laundry, drain our tanks, refill the water tank and showers were a good idea as well.
It was time for one more attempt at a sunset view, so it was off to Yavupai Point one more time. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy, so there was no light on the canyon walls, but at least there was light in the clouds in the west. After the sunset, we stopped at the Canyon Cafe in the Market Plaza for what passes as cheap eats in the Grand Canyon. At least my pot roast was pretty good.
Sunday morning came and we went in opposite directions...east for us, west for Harry & Sally
South Rim Photos
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