Sunday, May 20, 2012

After a decent first night in the tent I set out for my first glimpse of the canyon.  It totally took my breath away.  No really!  I was gasping.  In Ohio I reside at an elevation of 823 ft and today I'm hiking at 7000 ft.  Even with several months of conditioning I struggled that first hour but I somehow managed to hike 8.5 miles on the "Rim" trail.  That last hour was a killer, too.  I ran out of water. 

 At the Grand Canyon you can be as stupid as you want to be.  There is absolutely nothing to prevent you from walking off the edge of the earth!

Meanwhile back at the campsite I had an unexpected visitor.  Yes, that's my car in the foreground.

This magnificent bull elk in full velvet was very patient with me while I took his picture.



Besides hiking you can also ride mules. 




They have really cool haircuts but....


They're very lazy.



Or you can take the train.