Our group of four fearless mule riders met for a before picture at the Bright Angel Trailhead where our trip would begin. Left to right: Sandi, Birdie, Diana, and me.
On the morning before our ride we met there to watch the sunrise and watch that day's mule trip start down the trail. This is Thistle watching the sunrise at Bright Angel Trailhead.
Early morning light in the canyon.
Monday's riders getting their instructions and last minute chance to back out before the ride.
Birdie found Thistle's sweet spot.
And the mules begin down the trail. The guide in front is Simon who was our guide on the day we came back up to the rim.
Through the first tunnel they go.
Thistle was watching them too.
We watched until they started down the first switchback.
Then I took Thistle to the kennel where he would await my return on Thursday. The rest of us set off to see some more of the sights. We visited the Kaibab Trailhead which is the trail the mules use to come back up out of the canyon.
The view from the Kaibab Trailhead.
Some of the last switchbacks we will come up on the mules.
Birdie and Diana admiring the view.
And we visited some of the mules in the corral at the Kaibab Trailhead. They are nice-looking animals.
Then we attended a ranger-led raptor talk at another overlook. This is a red-tailed hawk that flew over to illustrate the talk.
This is a migratory route for many raptor species, and there was a HawkWatch migration count site nearby. These people are conducting the hawk count. It was cold and windy out on that point.
We went back to the rim that evening to watch the sunset. But before sunset, we were delighted to find bighorn sheep grazing just below the rim.
There was one ram with big curly horns, but I missed getting a picture of him. All my photos are of the ewes.
And then the sunset was spectacular!
The next posts will be about the mule trip. I think I will do 3 posts: the trip down, the day at Phantom Ranch at the bottom, and the trip back up.
