Today was our only full day on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, so we wanted to make the most of it. We started out by heading to Mather Point for our first view of the canyon. When we saw it we were awed. It really is impressive! It is so enormous and the different colors in the rock layers are stunning. I talked to someone in the visitor center to get some suggestions for moderate hikes that would be interesting and that Brady would be able to do. He's a good little hiker, but he does have his limits. She suggested that we do the South Kaibab trail down to Ohh Ahh Point, so that's what we did in the morning. The elevation change on this trail is 600 feet, so it does take you down into the canyon enough to really get a feel for it.
We took the shuttle bus to the trailhead, then set off on our hike. We knew Nick and Ryan wouldn't stay with us for long, so we made sure to lecture them about not getting too close to the edge, and no fooling around. After we sufficiently annoyed them we all began the hike. The hike down was really great, with excellent views of the canyon walls. The trail is really winding at first, much like a mountain road, so it is not very steep. As you make you way past the first section, though, there are some very steep edges. That is always a bit nerve wracking when hiking with a five year old, but he has done so many of these trails at this point that he is really good about staying away from the edge. On our way down we did encounter a mule tour that was climbing back up. Now, I know that mules are bred to be smart and sure footed, but I am still not sure I would want to ride one down these fairly narrow trails! We made it down to Ohh Ahh Point and met back up with the big boys. Neither one had fallen into the canyon, so they must have heeded our warnings. This was a really cool vantage point for the canyon, so we stayed for a bit and had a snack before heading back up. The hike back up is obviously more strenuous, but we all managed to make it back to the top. Nick and Ryan were relaxing at the top for about 10 minutes or so before we got there, but I thought we did really well.
We went back to the campsite for lunch and then decided we would explore the other section of the rim for the afternoon. We drove to Grand Canyon Village. It had started to rain a bit at this point, so we went into Verkamp's visitor center for a little while. This visitor center had a lot of information about the history of the village and the people who live there year round. I found it really interesting, the guys maybe not so much! Next Nick and I went into the Hopi house, which is basically a shop that sells a lot of Native American artwork, but also looks like an ancient Native American lodge. Joe took Brady and Ryan back to the car because they couldn't seem to stop pushing and jostling and I didn't want them to come in and break a $200 vase! We then all took a short hike to Maricopa Point where we hopped on a shuttle to some of the other viewpoints.
We returned to our campsite around 5:00, cooked dinner, then went off to the showers. We had another campfire and went to bed looking forward to our rafting trip tomorrow!
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