On the Rim

Day 4 (May 22): The Grand Canyon

Unfortunately, my traveling partner fell rather ill that day, and so we decided to take it easy and do a short hike of the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon.  For some perspective on this, the Bright Angel Trail, the easiest trail into the canyon, is merely labeled “difficult,” while every other trail is labeled something like “more difficult,” “strenuously difficult,” or “certain death.”

We hiked for about an hour and a half (an hour down, and a half-hour back up – a reversal of what the guides said would happen, but then, I wasn’t stopping for pictures at every pile of mule droppings on the way up).  The views were spectacular, obviously.

We stopped several times to play “identify the shrub” with the plant and animal guide I had picked up at the gift shop the previous day.  Apparently there is a great deal of “Utah Serviceberry” on the trail.  We also saw a few animals, almost all rodents.

Obviously people are ignoring the signs and feeding the wildlife, because the local squirrels and chipmunks are rather fearless.  That's MY shadow in the photo.

After dragging ourselves back up Bright Angel Trail, we checked out the visitor center (which had been closed when we arrived the previous day), and learned some things we probably could have looked up online.  We took a last look at the Grand Canyon, and then departed.

We drove for an hour to the place we were staying in Williams, Arizona.  On the way, we passed a wildlife preserve called Bearizona, but unfortunately, we were both rather tapped out for the day, and decided to press on to our hotel.  When we arrived, we both crashed for a few hours.

When we finally dragged ourselves out of bed that evening, we decided hit up a local restaurant for dinner.  We found the following:

It was easily the best Mexican-Irish place I have been to, and if you’re looking for Mexican-Irish cuisine in Williams, Arizona, I would recommend Pancho McGillicuddy’s quite highly.

-Stormshrug