Our first sight of the Canyon from the overlooks on Desert View drive were fantastic. It was great to see the real thing after years of seeing photographs. We settled into our accommodation at the National Park Lodge which is situated among the south rim pine forest. There is a lot of wildlife: birds, squirrels of various types and deer. It was very quiet and after dinner we had a good sleep. We had planned to do part of the Bright Angel Trail which goes down into the Canyon but I woke at 5.30am with a migraine. I got rid of it fairly quickly but it leaves me feeling very tired so I did not think I could do the climb back up to the rim if we did the Bright Angel. We did a section of the Rim Trail instead. Sunday was the official first day of Fall and the temperature had dropped on the rim. This diversion to the Canyon has given me lots of ideas for future visits: the North Rim, on the South – take the bus to Hermit’s Rest and hike back (this is the quieter section) and take a mule ride into and out of the Canyon, staying overnight at Ghost Ranch. I can ride a horse and have ridden Western-style once before in the Appalachians (and Ladakhi-style in the Himalaya) so am confident enough that I can ride a mule. I would also like to hike the John Muir Trail sometime (takes about 21 days).
