I was up a little after 5:00 took a shower, packed up some gear and headed over to the El Tovar for breakfast. I had a really nice walk along the rim and the colors in the Canyon, as well as in the sky, from the approaching dawn were magnificent. It was a sort of a weird feeling though - more lonely than normal. I am never truly alone here but... it was just weird. The morning was beautiful and I just wished there had been someone to share it with.

I had a great breakfast and ate my entire Navajo taco. It was hard but I knew I was going to need all the energy I could muster today. After breakfast I picked up the rest of my supplies at the general store in the village shopping plaza. I could not find the gas canisters I needed for the stove I brought with me so I ended up having to rent a different stove. I also got my hot dogs and some more gookinade. I forgot to pick up sun screen but picked that up when Mike came to get me.

Now I am just sitting here at Chucks place in the village waiting to get started. It should be very soon. I met Dave, the final member of the party, and he seems very nice. We have some great people and I think it will be a great trip.

16:40 - Phantom Ranger Station

I got down here around 2:30 and had to help Chuck move our stuff from the river ranger station to here because we got bumped from there. This place is nice though and I still get a real bed to sleep in tonight so I don't really care. This place is actually closer to Phantom Ranch itself as well as to the Clear Creek Trail, where we will start our hike tomorrow morning.

We started down the South Kaibab Trail around 11:15 or so and got to Cedar Ridge a little before noon. We took a short rest there and got to Skeleton Point around 12:30. We rested there until almost 1:00 and then didn't stop again until I reached the river. Chuck and I continued down the South Kaibab Trail when we reached The Tipoff but Mike and Dave went down the old miners route to the river. I did not stay with Chuck too long as I stopped a couple of times to take some photos and he kept going. It turns out none of the photos I took came out because I had the camera in manual mode, not automatic mode, and the manual settings were just not correct for the lighting conditions. Grrrrr! Good thing I discovered that when I did though.

I went up to Phantom Ranch and had a beer and picked up some postcards. I addressed them but have not written them out yet.

I also packed up my gear and everything seems to fit and is not too heavy but there is no water in there yet. It should still be OK.

Now were just hanging out and waiting for dinner. Chuck has salad, steaks, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and apple pie for us. Yum!