On the way up to the Canyon I detoured briefly onto one of the forest service roads to get some photos of the fresh snow in the forest. It was a bright sunny morning with a deep blue sky and very beautiful back there.

When I got up to the Canyon it was pretty gloomy looking up there with lots of clouds but it looked like they were starting to break up. The clouds were very close to the Canyon rim and some were even drifting around below the rim. I parked at Yavapai Point and started hiking west along the rim trail, and the Trail of Time, towards Grand Canyon Village.

The clouds did break up enough for some sunshine to peek through and that made for some very nice effects with all of the clouds. Little sections of the inner Canyon would light up from time to time as the sun would shine through and there were some very nice shadow effects.

I saw several elk hanging out along the rim trail, browsing on whatever they could find. I also saw a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches, and also a new bird which I had never seen before, a Juniper Titmouse. Discovering a new bird is always a treat for me. I immediately recognized it as some kind of Titmouse but the coloring was all wrong for others that I have seen.

At Grand Canyon Village I stopped briefly at the Bring Angel Lodge, and wandered through the gift shop to see if there was anything new that I wanted. There was not.

On my way back to Yavapai Point the sky began to darken again, and something was obviously moving in from down Canyon in the west. The changing sky made for some interesting scenery. The temperature fell by quite a bit and graupel started to fall while I was still a short distance from Yavapai Point.

The little hike ended up being just under 4½ miles and I did not have any problems with the foot, which made me very happy.

I was supposed to be starting a backpacking trip over to Clear Creek in just a few days but the problems I had been having with the foot ended up having me give up on that idea. A 4½-mile walk along the Rim Trail was nothing compared to a 10-mile hike down into the Canyon, with 40+ pounds of gear on my back.