We took the 8:15 Kaibab Shuttle from the Bright Angel Lodge and after a couple of brief stops at the Backcountry Office and Yavapai Lodge we arrived at the South Kaibab Trail and started down at just before 9 am. By 10 am we were at Cedar Ridge and took a short 15-minute break there. The sun finally broke over the canyon rim and when we left Cedar Ridge it was already warm enough to loose our jackets.

At just before 11 am we reached the north side of O'Neill Butte and began negotiating the switchbacks that head down through the Redwall Limestone. We arrived at the Tonto Trail junction just after noon and had lunch there. At this point I decided to loose my sweatshirt as well and finished the hike in my T-shirt. It was a little cool to be just standing around in the T-shirt but it was fine once I was moving.

We started down again at 12:20 and arrived at the river at 1:45 PM. The Black Suspension Bridge was a welcome site as my toes were starting to hurt from the final leg of the descent. We arrived at Phantom Ranch at just around 2 PM, checked in at the cantina and settled into our hiker cabin. Robin was very happy to have a cabin for the first night of the trip. We had the 6:30 PM stew dinner at the Ranch that night and then went back to the Beer Hall for a while at 8 PM. We didn't stay long at the Beer Hall, as it was more crowded than I have ever seen it and there was no place to sit. We went back to our cabin and relaxed for a while before going to sleep.