While the men departed for the long-anticipated trip, Heidi's sister-in-law Lorena and son Kade took off on the bus to ride around the park and then eat and nap. Stacey and I were not about to be completely left behind while the "men" hiked so we plotted a route to hike/stroll.
We hopped on a west bound bus and took it almost to the end of the rim trail and then got off. We began walking eastbound along a gravel trail. The views we saw were absolutely breathtaking and so different than what we have always seen at the Bright Angel Trail. While well marked, the trail is less traveled by folks, so it was quiet and peaceful. We munched on apples as we went and after 3 miles we got back on a bus that would take us to Bright Angel. Unfortunately, my hip bursitis is still an issue and made me stop earlier than I had wanted. It was while we were just sitting down for a salad that Jay texted that they were 90 minutes out! We did not expect them for 3-4 more hours. Stacey and I quickly ate and headed for the trail head to greet them. They looked great, but tired. As you would expect the 30 something crowd still had pep in their step while the 50-60 generation were bringing up the rear.
Showers and an early dinner was the mandate from our hikers and then off to bed. I think they were all asleep by 8:30! The next day the youthful set all said they felt like a 10 out of 10 and Dan and Greg were happy to be an 8 out of 10. Stacey and I were just glad we didn't do it!
On Saturday, we had the whole day to explore so we parted ways with the younger crowd and the Kay's and Pedersen's headed east along the rim. What we thought was going to be another short little walk turned into a 3 mile hike. Stacey and I found that between the 3 days we had for walking/hiking we had covered most of the South Rim.
This was a fun trip filled with the glorious views of the Canyon and the wonderful interaction with family and friends.
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