Day 16 (Delayed)

Josh and I woke up bright and early this morning and headed out to do our Ranger led hike on the South Kaibab Trail below the Grand Canyon rim. The hike was a three mile round-trip to a point known as Cedar Ridge. The elevation change from the rim of the canyon to Cedar Ridge was over 1100 feet!

We met up with the Ranger and the rest of the people going on the hike and started out. Along the way, the Ranger was pointing out various things of interest in the canyon, including information about the different rock layers, native plants and other things. We were descending at a very moderate pace.

As we were headed down, some people were on their way back up, and you could tell they were having a pretty rough time of it! I started to worry a bit about the return trip.

We arrived at Cedar Ridge, which was where the Ranger led aspect of the hike ended. Josh and I hung out for a little bit and took some pictures, and then we decided to start hiking back up. We had 1100 feet to climb over 1.5 miles in very hot direct sun for a good portion of the hike. It was a very difficult hike!!! We got to the top and then headed back to the campground to pack up our stuff and hit the road to Albuquerque.

After packing up, we started the drive. It was expected to take about 6 hours, but along the way, we had the option to stop at Petrified Forest National Park. We decided to stop at the park, in part, to break up the trip. As it turned out, it was a good decision. The park was pretty interesting … on one end of the park, there were the petrified trees which were pretty cool to see. At the other end of the park, referred to as the Painted Desert, there were some beautiful landscapes created by different layers of sedimentary rock. It reminded us of Badlands National Park in South Dakota which we had visited about 9 or 10 years ago.

After touring the park, we got back on the highway and finished the drive to Albuquerque. We got there a little after dark and had to set up the trailer in the dark for the first time. It didn't turn out to be a problem.

Since it was so late, we decided to go out for dinner rather than cooking at our campsite. When we returned, we went to sleep. It had been a long day.