After spending 3 days skiing at Mt Bachelor, we packed in a hurry and left for Arizona. It’s a 11-day trip.

Day 1. Dec 25th, on the road.

Took off around 11. Arrive Redding around dinner time. All restaurants were closed! Found a Sharis still open in Red Bluff. Had a prime rib. Stayed at Zhulin’s house in Sacramento. Saw her newly born baby Jason.

Day 2. Dec 26th, on the road.

Took off from Sacramento in the morning, driving on I-5. Traffic becomes heavy when we near Bakersfield. Rest areas are full of people. Had to wait for parking spaces and restrooms are lined up with people! Had lunch at an In N Out. Traffic becomes severe on Highway 58 in the afternoon. I guess people are headed to Vegas. We were delayed two hours on 58. Finally, after I-40 branches off from I-15, where most people take I-15 north toward Vegas, we can speed up. We arrived at Williams at around 11. Stayed at Budget Host Inn. Very good price ($28 plus tax). Packed the backpacks and got some rest. We found the motel from the AAA tour book, which is proved very useful when you try to find a cheap motel.

Day 3. Dec 27th, let the fun begin.

After one hour of driving, we arrived at Grand Canyon NP at around 9. We got a backcountry permit and took shuttle to South Kaibab trail head. We hit the trail at around 10. Weather was nice. Sunny and clear, a little windy.

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The descent is slower than we expected. At around 1 PM, we came to the point where we can see the river for the first time. It’s a nice view into the canyon. We took time taking pictures and enjoying the view.

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In this close-up picture, the suspension bridges and the trails can be clearly seen:

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The Bright Angel Campground can be seen from this overview:

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3 PM, we arrived at the suspension bridge where South Kaibab trail crosses the river. There is a small pueblo on the north end of the bridge. We came to the Bright Angel Campground (BCG) at around 3:30 and picked a camp site. BCG is next to the Bright Angel creek. It’s a long strip laid along the creek. The campground even has a bathroom with electricity. The weather is very nice and warm in the canyon. It feels almost like spring. After dinner, we decided to take a nap before visiting Phantom Ranch since it wouldn’t open till 8 PM. Our legs were a little sour after the 4600 feet of descending. We got up and climbed out of the tent at around 9 PM to pay a visit to Phantom Ranch. The ranch is quite big and well developed. The cafe looks very nice. They even have cold drinks. I was disappointed to find out they didn’t have ice cream though. There is also a small letter box where people can send postcards and have them mailed by mules. We sent ourselves one and one to Sharon for her birthday. We spent some time sitting on a bench looking at the stars. It was the end of a lunar month so the moon was small. The stars were so clear. It was hard to tell the milky way because the sky was full of bright stars! It was hard to shoot a picture though since I didn’t have the tripod with me.

Day 4. Dec 28th

We got up early and broke camp. We started off at around 8 to head back on Bright Angel trail. Several black deer were having breakfast near the campground.

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We cross the river on another suspension bridge. This bridge is more narrow and less steady. It also supports a pipe for trans canyon water system. The water source for the south rim is actually a spring on the north rim. The water is pumped by gravity along the pipe from the north rim down to the Colorado river and then back up to the south rim. I guess that’d be a big project. As we climbed up, we can view the river from above. The canyon looks very beautiful under the morning sunshine.

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Soon, the river was out of sight and the long and dry hike begins. We arrived at Indian Garden and had lunch there. The trail begins becoming steeper after Indian Garden. The rest of the trail is 4.5 miles long, with a 3000 feet elevation gain. I got very exhausted after about 3 miles, panting and sweating like a pig. But things got a bit better after that when we approached the trail head. The trail becomes much more crowded within one mile of the trail head. We were back at the backcountry office at around 3:30. Then we went to the information center and got a brochure of Supai village.

We strolled around Mather point, the most visited place in the park, which is so crowded that we can hardly find a parking spot. It was a cloudy day. But at sunset time, the ray pierce the clouds and casts on the north rim. The color of the rocks is unbelievable:

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After sunset, we went back to Williams, had dinner at Pine Country restaurant.

Day 5. Dec 29th

We spent a morning driving on the South Rim, stopping at view points. The view makes more sense after we had been down to the bottom.

Bright Angel canyon:

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Bright Angel Trail, on which we hiked up:

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From Desert View:

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We left Grand Canyon after a late lunch. This concludes our visit to the Grand Canyon. We originally planed to stop by Wupatki & Sunset Crater national monuments on our way to Flagstaff. But we were running late and it got dark. But we drove by Highway 395 anyway. We stopped by at a spot of ruins and watched sunset there. Along the way, Painted Desert can be viewed from distance. It’s very beautiful at sunset time. We originally didn’t plan to go to Painted Desert. But intrigued by the nice view, we decided to change the plan to stay one day at Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. We will cut the originally planed one day in San Francisco.

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We arrived Flagstaff and went to an Italian restaurant recommended by the AAA tour book. It’s called Pasto and is located in the historic downtown of Flagstaff. We had wild boar sausage and risotto and they were great. Motels in Flagstaff are a little more expensive than Williams but still not too bad. We stayed at Budget Host Inn for $38 plus tax.