Our day at Phantom Ranch began with a visit to the mule barn after breakfast. We visited our mules and fed them some more apple from our box lunch.
Then we followed the trail back down to the Black Bridge and the boat beach.
It takes awhile for the sun to reach the bottom of the canyon.
We read about how John Wesley Powell named Bright Angel Creek in 1869.
Bright Angel Creek
Birdie, Diana, and Sandi along the trail.
We watched the mule riders who were not staying two nights start their trip back up.
The path to the boat beach.
We watched the mules cross the bridge from the beach.
The Black Bridge was built in 1928....quite a feat.
Four days after we left there was a planned release from the Glen Canyon Dam, and water completely covered this beach.
Cactus growing on the rocks.
Just below the bridge there are ancient Puebloan ruins. This would have been a winter site for the Anasazis because it is so much warmer at the bottom of the canyon.
A diagram of the ruins. There is evidence of farming and transient occupation here, at Indian Gardens, and on both rims from about A.D. 1100 to 1150.
The deep circular structure in the middle was a Kiva and served a ceremonial function for the community.
On the bridge, showing the tunnel and cables that help suspend the bridge.
That's me.
While we were here, a raft was coming down the river.
Click on the video to watch it negotiate the small rapids.
Our guide coming down pointed out the white substance secreted by the cactus and explained that it was used in some of the rock art/pictographs we saw.
This is a fish weir on Bright Angel Creek.
It is used to capture and remove non-native trout from the creek.
They also catch them from the river at night. They are trying to restore the native Humpback Chub.
The flag flying over the Ranger Station.
We took another trail to see the Silver Bridge. On the way we passed another mule barn, which we decided must be used for the pack mules....just a guess.
The Silver Bridge serves two purposes. It is a pedestrian bridge and supports the transcanyon water pipeline.
That's the bridge we had top pass by on our way down with the mules.
A raven was perched on a cable.
Views from the Silver Bridge:
Hikers using the Bright Angel Trail use this bridge.
You can see the pipeline suspended under the bridge. Water is piped from Roaring Springs near the North Rim, and supplies water to the North Rim, Phantom Ranch, Indian Gardens, and the South Rim.
Birdie and Diana on the bridge.
We took a different trail along the creek to return to Phantom Ranch.
Birdie pretending to be a mule grabbing a snack from the bushes.
Shade provided by the Cottonwood Trees that line both sides of the creek.
The tent campground is on the right.
A balanced rock high above.
I noticed these two hikers were wearing moccasins!
About the origins of Phantom Ranch and its name(s).
A picture of Rust's Camp, circa 1905, before the Fred Harvey Company hired Mary Jane Colter to redesign the area.
Phantom Ranch still looks a lot like it did in the 1920s with the cabins, except the planted Cottonwood trees are now a lot bigger.
Getting this group photo on the steps of the canteen was challenging. I ended up cropping out a lady who was standing just to the right.
We kept getting photo bombed!
Back at the canteen, they are waiting for the pack mules to bring supplies. They also have a load to send back up. Some hikers pay to have their gear packed in or out on the mules.
The mule train has arrived.
Their packs have been unloaded on the right.
While I was watching the pack mules, Diana was knitting. Later she gifted all of us with hand knitted slipper socks! I love mine; they are so soft and warm to wear to bed.
After lunch Diana, Birdie, and I hiked partway out the North Kaibab Trail.
This trail crosses the bottom of the canyon and leads to the North Rim if you hike all the way.
It follows Bright Angel Creek.
We stopped to watch an American Dipper looking for food in the creek.
The Dipper is an aquatic bird that wades and can even swim underwater in clear rushing streams to feed.
Doing what Dippers do.
There were two of them.
Continuing along the trail as it winds its way through the canyon.
At some point, Diana turned back, but Birdie and I continued as far as Phantom Creek which Phantom Ranch was ultimately named for.
This sign warns that there are no visitor services on the North Rim. It is at a higher elevation than the South Rim and closes for the winter in mid October. For those hiking all the way, the North Rim is 13.4 miles from here. There is a primitive tent campground about half way.
There's always another bend to look around.
Notice the curve of this rock and the tree that grows horizontally out of a crack.
The first of two bridges that we crossed. I'm sure there are more farther on than we went.
The old telephone line that the CCC put in during the 1930s.
Birdie on the bridge.
Ahead is a second bridge, and the canyon narrows.
Agave or Century Plant.
That side canyon is Phantom Canyon.
Where Phantom Creek flows into Bright Angel Creek.
We met two hikers who planned to hike up Phantom Canyon.
It doesn't look like there is a developed trail that way. And one should always check the weather report before going there, because they have had some massive flash floods come down that canyon that have swept hikers to their deaths. No rain expected today though.
We continued on around the next bend.
And then we turned back.
Birdie, always birding, heard and then saw this wren.
More views from the trail.
Sun behind the cliffs.
Cactus fruit.
Telephone pole with insulators still on them.
If I had known this trail was so level, I would have started earlier and tried to go to the waterfall.
God's Cactus garden.
This moth is well camouflaged on the rocks.
Back to the Cottonwoods.
I don't approve of defacing the native plants, but this was cute.
We visited our mules again before dinner.
My hat and the canteen they gave us.
The cabins all originally had fireplaces which have since been filled in. There was a heater which we did not need.
That evening there was a crescent moon.
They Milky Way was also brightly visible, but my camera was not able to capture it.
Dinner the second night was beef stew with salad and cornbread.
And we all went to bed early again.
The last post will be about the mule ride up the South Kaibab Trail.
