We have hiked the Grand Canyon, visited Sequoia, visited with the Big Texan in Amarillo...Now...it's time to get California Girl married! 

Indeed we did!  The ceremony was beautiful...location, Monterey, California...about 85 or 90 people, from all over the place, met there to witness this wonderful ceremony.  All of our family, (on CA Girl's side) and most of the family from the groom's side made the trek to CA. 

Our newest addition to the family is an avid WA fan...Go LSU Tigers! 

Brother reports this is the last check he will have to write...She is now off his payroll...

We wish the newly weds much happiness...

Better Half and I are ahead of schedule.  We have a few days before California Girl's wedding.  Ah ha!  Sequoia--let's go look at some big trees I said.  Better Half agreed...

We stayed at a small private camp ground outside of the park...As we checked in, it was obvious the owners lived in the office part and were actually having a birthday party...very informal and everyone from the family seemed to work there.  Our campsite was situated right along the creek...

Since it was late afternoon, the campground owners suggested we wait to visit the park the next morning.  We were warned there was road construction going on in the area and the wait might be awhile.

Steep, winding roads take us into the park...
Yep, lots of contruction going on...The roads are being widened and updated. 

Sequoia's claim to fame:  trees -- lots of big tall trees...

The General Sherman just happens to be not the oldest, not the tallest, but the biggest tree in the world...This tree holds the distinction of having more wood in its trunk that any other tree in the world...yep, the world...Pretty cool, huh?

In 1879, a pioneer cattleman and former soldier named this tree after the general he served with during the Civil War.

This tunnel tree fell in 1937.  It is 275' long with the opening 8' high and 17' wide. 

We meandered throughout this beaufiful park most of the morning and into the afternoon.  We did take that hike.  We did not see any bears. The hiking trail took us past Crescent Meadow and onto Tharp Log.

Our park hosts told us about the oldest operational Post Office in America!   It is located within biking distance of our RV Park. 

I don't have the imagination to make this stuff up...on one side of the post office is the post office part...on the other a book exchange part...Yep, pick your mail up and exchange a book with another you haven't read.  Look closely in the first post office picture and you will see the books--to the left.

Sequoia is a beautiful park and we have enjoyed our time here...

Time's a wastin'...We've got to head to California for a wedding...

I need a hair cut, manicure and pedicure...I haven't worn make up since I left home...I have to get myself together for this wedding...A quick call to California Girl and it's all arranged...I have an appointment for a total make-over just as soon as I can get out there...

Dang!  The canteen serves a great breakfast!  Totally delicious! 

My back continues to hurt, Better Half's toe is not working right...OK, it's time to head out of here...We've been here two full nights...We are headed up Bright Angel Trail.  

We started out at 6:30, right at daylight, and I find it is already hot.   Hikers, leaving, were all going in different directions…some were going to the North Rim of the canyon; some South Kaibab and others were heading out with us, up Bright Angel. We didn’t have to carry as much water as we had to when we descended South Kaibab because Bright Angel has three places we can stop for water…that’s why it is so popular with hikers…

We started out by crossing the other suspension bridge…built in 1965…No mules allowed on this bridge…foot traffic only…The first two miles, we hiked along the Colorado River.  Walking in deep sand was very different from walking along the swithbacks on hard rock--in fact, I'm thinking it's much harder walking in sand...Suddenly, the sand ends and the trail leaves the river and becomes steep, steeper and steepest.  No, that's not true; apparently, from what I've heard, the steepest part of this hike is the last three miles, right after Indian Creek.

I'm in a quandry...I don't know what pictures to post, so I'm going to show you some of my most memorable scenes...As beautiful as these pictures are, they simply do not do this place justice...It's millions of times more beautiful...

I found the trip up—although longer—was easier…Better Half thought just the opposite…

 Four hours into our hike out of the canyon, my back had quit hurting, Better Half said his toe felt much better and we arrived at Indian Garden, the half-way point…Steeper switchbacks are yet to come.  

There were alot of people at Indian Creek.  It was very noisy...We realized one of the beauties of the canyon is its silence...Now that we are closer to the top, day hikers appear and they are noisy in their numbers...We were glad to take a quick break here and head on out...

About 1 1/2 miles from the top, we look down and see Indian Gardens.  It looks so tiny and pitiful and I am amazed we were there only a few hours before. As I look down at the tops of the green trees in the sea of dirt and dust and rock, it’s easy to see why this small patch of shade, with its water, has always been a favorite stopping point--even as long as 4000 years ago...Water is a precious commodity in the desert.

 Now the real challenge…the hardest part…it’s true…this is the hardest part of the trek. The next mile is the most gruelling.  It's surreal in that I can hear traffic from the streets above; however, I am still very much in the canyon...Foot traffic continues to increase.

30 to 45 minutes from the top, we met 8 or 10 volunteers using 5 gallon buckets and shovels to fill in holes and smooth out the paths of the hiking trail. All are young and appear to be either high school or college age...It was hot and they were working hard...
 

Once we pass through this tunnel, this hike is pretty much over.  We are going to be at the Bright Angel Lodge. 

One last look at this beautiful place and on up to the top--9 1/2 hours and 9 miles later. 

As is the custom, once hikers have completed the canyon hike, its off to the ice cream shop, at the top of the mountain...Over ice cream, there was alot of high-fiving going on, along with tales with and from fellow hikers…I feel so accomplished…I also feel filthy, hot and  tired…

We caught the blue bus back to our truck and off to the the RV park for showers and pizza…The RV had no hot water (that was broken, too) and so cold shower time...The pizza was hot, though...and most delicious!

This part of our adventure has come to an end...We enjoyed our time here...It's now on to California to get that girl married!

Our cabin was wonderful to behold…I was so tired…I was so surprised…

The inside contained precisely two sets of bunk beds, a chair, a white, small sink with cold water only, and a 2’ x 3’ room containing exactly one toilet. That was it; however, as far as I was concerned, it looked as good as a five star hotel! 

Remember, we took the cancelled reservations of another party; hence, the whole cabin to
ourselves--we didn’t have to share those two other bunk beds! We showered across the way in a communal shower area...

While staying at the bottom of the canyon, hikers have several options—hauling down and setting up tents, staying in a male or female dorm,  (this was our original reservation), or the cabins…The tent people camp on Bright Angel Creek and let me tell you, there were plenty of
tenters…

The big meet and greet area was the canteen…there we had breakfast and supper…Meals are  served in two sessions 1 ½ hours apart. The first night, we had supper at the early shift, 5:00. 
As we sat in front of the cantina, on picnic benches, along with approximately 40 other starving
people, I witnessed a woman faint.  She and her party had just made it down to the ranch and while sitting on a bench, waiting for supper, she, in s-l-o-w motion, leaned to her right side and proceeded to absolutely faint…Her head hit the bottom of that bench and it sounded like a rock hitting!  Her husband called for help…people ran over…Phantom Ranch personnel elevated her feet and gave her smelling sauce.  She promptly woke up, the dinner bell rang and Better Half and I jumped up, much like Pavlov’s dogs, and proceeded to dinner. I hope she's OK.

The next day, we rested, ate snacks and rested and walked to the  river and rested and listened to a lecture on condors and rested…my back hurt,  Better Half had toe and calf problems…good thing I have nine more toes he  said…For some reason, he reasoned, if he soaked his bare feet in Bright Angel Creek, all of his toe ailments would magically disappear--false theory—didn’t
happen—nada…

I was pretty shocked to see all of the greenery...Take a look...

Only one of two post offices in America has mail delivered via mules. Yep, this is one of  them.  I just had to mail some postcards to the kids and other family members…just for the post mark...mailed from Phantom Ranch...

 I also bought the t shirt…can't be purchased anywhere else...It basically says I  hiked to
Phantom Ranch…I will wear it proudly.
 
There is no outside communication at the Ranch….cell phones don’t work.  There is one emergency telephone and it’s used to—yep—you guessed it—make emergency calls only.  We found the phone line, going up Bright Angel…

I had trouble sleeping our second night there…I kept waking up...my mind whirling around with thoughts of being caught down at the bottom of this canyon and being unable to walk out…Dang!  Get a grip I said to myself.  I reasoned there is no way out but up and up I must go!

I'll talk to you about that in my next entry as we hike out of the canyon...I'm scared...I'm excited...Better Half's toe hurts...My back still hurts...It's all good...I'm excited...

At around 9:30 this morning, we left the campgrounds and went to the parking areas inside the Grand Canyon Park.  It's was tough to decide where to park our truck because we knew it would be there for three days.  We finally made our decision as where to park, backed in out of every body’s way, caught the orange colored shuttle which took us to the trail head of South Kaibab and off we went!

Descending South Kaibab Trail and ascending Bright Angel Trail is the most popular and trail of choice for novices...That would be me...The first time I have ever strapped a back pack onto my back was--guess when--how 'bout today!  I have never hiked over a couple of hours at one time in my life!  Have I completely lost my mind?  Has Better Half joined me in my insanity?These questions now seem very relevant...

At the top of South Kaibab Trail the mules hauling supplies to Phantom Ranch are stabled.  They are very friendly, fat, fit and fun...Never seen a camera they didn't like...Here--take a look...

Southern Girl, I have to go down there, you don't--turn back--turn back, I say...He really does seem to be saying that to me...Because I have lost my mind, no I say, I'm going to Phantom Ranch...See you there, Mr. Mule!  OK, I'm being just plain silly...Ready, set, hike!

We hadn't been walking long before out came my walking poles..  The trail was very steep and the poles helped keep me balanced.  There are plenty of very steep switch backs, lots of sun and lots of dry dirt creating lots of dust. 

This is desert, pal...serious desert...

After an hour or so, I realized this is not for the faint of heart…dirty, dusty and hot…We both now realize what was meant as we were advised of the difficulty of this trail...very ruggedly beautiful; however very unforgiving  for the unprepared.  We carried plenty of water, lots of snacks and wore good hiking boots and hats.

We happened upon the mule team at our first stop on the hike…These beautiful animals make Phantom Ranch runs daily...Up the mountain, down the mountain, up the mountain, etc...
They transport everything going in to and out of the ranch--to include food, mail, garbage and humans who do not want to make the hike...

Mules and humans use the same trail; however, mules have the right of way….When a hiker meets a mule train, the mule team leader asks the hiker to face the wall and let the team pass.

I began to realize, during these many hours on the trail, if one is careful and makes no crazy mistakes, it's very possible to enjoy the hike and remain safe and most importantly alive; however, some folks just do not use common sense.  For instance, standing too close to the edge in order to takes pictures, jumping on cliffs and pretending to fly for picture and shock value and--this one is really crazy--hiking with no supplies!  Here's the story...As Better Half and I were resting--about four hours into our hike--up comes a couple, sits down beside us and asks how far is the river?  We told them we had no idea.  After a short discussion, we found out they were from Germany, she was pregnant, they had no hat, no supplies, no proper foot wear and had walked down so he could see the river!  He then told her to rest and he was going to find the river...I hope they made it back to the top safely...

We saw the river, crossed the suspension bridge, (of which I  have no picture, for foot and mule traffic only) passed Bright Angel camping area, (for hikers using tents) go through a tunnel (built in 1928) and were greeted with this wonderful sign...I'm so glad to see this baby....

This sign should have read:  Welcome to Phantom Ranch Southern Girl and Better Half!

6½ hours later, 7 miles of hiking and an one mile vertical drop…here we are…definitely difficult; however, very satisfying…I feel accomplished...

The Colorado River is muddy...Bright Angel Creek is cold and clean...

Better Half soaked his feet in Bright Angel Creek and noticed he has a blister...Uh oh!  Not good, especially since he has to hike back out of here!

It’s cold this morning…we light the stove top, (it works) get some coffee going and with the help of the kitchen stove, the camper warms up pretty quickly.  Better Half suggests we buy a little plug-in heater just to take the chill out...That sounds like a good plan to me. 

We jump on our bikes--after breakfast--and head to the Grand Canyon, which is six miles away. OK, we think, 6 miles…maybe 45 minutes...Well, 45 minutes in my dreams!  We soon discover, in the mountains, biking is not so easy…The trail is gravel most of the way and hills most of the way and hard most of the way.

We take our time…Two hours later, we entered the park.  There was plenty to see on that long gravel road...here's just a few scenes... 

Southern Girl, please take my picture and put it on your blog...Doesn't he seem to be saying that?  This time of the year, we were told, these guys are extremely aggressive...we were careful.

We ate supper at a restaurant with a wonderful view of the canyon called the El Tovar...

We rode our bikes for hours...Today, bike rides--tomorrow, Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon...(cue dramatic music, please)

It's time to hit the road…time to get to the Grand Canyon…time to hike the Grand Canyon…
 
I’m scared…Can I do this? It will be hard… I’ve read about all the bad stuff…people falling off the  switchbacks,  people tripping and falling off the trails, folks getting lost and being found days and days later, folks getting sick on the  trail…some even falling to their death...you name it, I’ve read about it…all the bad stuff…I’m asking myself why do I want to do this?

Ever since my brother hiked the Grand Canyon, way back 15 years ago, I've wanted to do it...

Because of a cancellation, our trek to Phantom Ranch has been  moved two days ahead.  Better Half and I are now going to be able to stay in a cabin instead of a dorm room.  Because of limited everything, we  are taking exactly the same accommodations the people cancelling arranged--down to the meals they purchased. 

Although I’m scared, I’m unbelievably excited.  

The weather is in the 70s as we pull into a not so nice RV park at the edge of the canyon.  The Canyon RV Park (located inside the park) is full and cannot accommodate us.

We were assigned a spot and we pulled in--like we knew what we were doing--got out, hooked everything up in record time, stepped back, surveyed our work and said this is good...

We then stepped into our RV and nothing worked…no electricity, no TV, no microwave, nothing electrical…not one thing...

Better Half sauntered over to the RV office, confidently, to let them know something was wrong with their electricity at our site, knowing it could not possibly be a problem with our
sweet Cameo. Their service man assured him their site was OK…

He must be mistaken…so confident were we it was their fault, we  requested to be moved to another site.  That new site didn’t work either!  Dang!  It may be us, thought we!

After an attitude adjustment and a conversation with the guy we bought Cameo from, we decided we must be the problem!

 So…out came the screwdrivers, pliers, knives and glasses and to the picnic table—along with the electrical cable—we went to work. 

An older gentlemen, who had a camper just two spots from ours, came down to offer assistance…He was visiting the canyon from North Carolina…After listening to his  story--he’s on a feeding tube and has been since 1999 because of a botched stomach operation--we soon realized we didn’t have much trouble…

A couple of hours later, after dissecting the electrical cable and finding a loose wire and putting it all back together, we managed to get some power back into our Cameo. 
 
It’s getting dark now…we have lights, some plug ins are working, some are not, no microwave, no heat, but as we look out our windows, we realize we are in far better shape than the tent
people all around us…

OK, so I think we're set...We are two days early...tomorrow we'll discover Grand Canyon, via our bikes, then hit the canyon for three days of hiking...

Stay tuned...

RV'ing is a sport...some days everything goes pretty well, the rest of the days, things don't go so well...Some days, while traveling, we feel like we didn't forget to blah, blah, blah...some days we know we forgot to blah, blah, blah...Did we turn off all the lights?  How 'bout the hot water heater? (it will burn up, if we forget)  Is the fan running?  How's the oil?  Tires OK?  Sewer?  (well, you know some of our sewer failures)...Anyway...one thing we are not worrying about is running out of diesel...

Better Half has added an extra diesel tank to the back of our truck.  With the flip of a switch, (actually, just plugging in a cable) we can add 65 gallons of diesel at any one time!  Pretty smart, huh?

Every body sing and sing it like you mean it...(Think Willie Nelson)  On the road again, I can't wait to get on the road again...

With all of the dumb stuff we have done on this long trip, (we are now referring to each other as Dumb and Dumber) at least we don't have to worry about running out of diesel--that is, unless we forget we have the tank on the back of the truck and forget to fill it up...

Dang! That is a distinct possibility...

OK, are you ready to see the largest preserved meteor crater in the whole world?  Coming right up... 

It's a  mile in diameter and 550 feet deep...

It hit earth 50,000 years ago...

It's force, when the meteor  hit this spot, was greater than 20 million tons of TNT.

Impressed yet?  Yeah, me too...We traveled from our dog loving RV park (about 1 1/2 miles) to this very desolate place...The sign, pictured above, was about the only thing we saw in the way of signage...This area, around Flagstaff and Winslow, AZ is, apparently, so similar to the moon's surface that lunar astronauts trained here...In fact, there's an actual Apolla NASA test capsule on display.

This is one big hole in the ground!  So big that 20 football games could be played on its floor, all at the same time!

There were not many people visiting...I don't think there are alot of people visiting anytime...That is why I was surprised to see a Subway located right off the gift shop!  If we had bought a sandwich, they would have thrown in a free cookie...

OK, enough...we've got to get ready for our next adventure...a journey to the bottom of the Grand Canyon...

Meteor Crater RV Park is just up the road from--you guessed it--the meteor...I'll talk about the meteor in tomorrow's entry...

Now, about the RV park--we don’t belong here…They’re not our kind or better yet, maybe we're not their kind...I guess it's a matter of how one looks at a particular situation…

We have no dog…Owning a dog seems to be the prerequisite for this RV park—literally, except for the motorcycle guy sleeping in the tent, everyone seems to own a dog!
 

People don’t own dogs, I believe, dogs own people…This RV park has  a doggie park and let me tell you, it’s well used! Our RV is right beside it and as early as 4:30 this morning, we saw the dog walking the owner.

 I think it was 4:30;  however, since AZ does not observe day-light savings time, we are not real sure what time it is…one clock says 5:30, one says 6:30…so we were up at 4:30 (it was not daylight) in order to see the sunrise…It rose two hours later and was too  beautiful to describe.  In those two hours before daylight--and the evening before, right at dusk--that was when we saw all those dogs walking their people.

About that motorcycle guy…He had a picnic table full of stuff.  I don’t really know how he managed to carry all that stuff plus his tent and plus a girl on that tiny motorcycle he was riding!  Just an observation…

This park has trees…big trees…the only trees for at least 20 miles around.  Each tree has its
own irrigation line…literally; this is truly an oasis in the desert.