Written by Diane Buckley-Maidt
Great Day Off at the Grand Canyon!
June 6 we dipped our rear wheels in the Pacific Ocean at Oceanside, CA. On June 17, 11 days later, we arrived at the Grand Canyon. For 6 days we had been biking through the hot Arizona desert in temperatures over 100 degrees F many of those days. Monday while biking from Wickenburg to Prescott we started seeing trees other than the bushy mesquite and palo verde.
We’re camping for two nights at the Grand Canyon. Last night for dinner we cooked hot dogs for dinner over the camp fire and had s’mores for dessert. Many of us went down to walk along the South Rim and then after dinner went back down to view the sunset and participate in the star gazing program.
Today, we split off into different groups to explore the canyon. A group of 8 hiked all the way down the South Kaibab trail to the river and back up the Bright Angel trail. We were all worried till they got back because it was pretty strenuous. We are going to have a lot of volunteers to be sweeps for tomorrow. Several went into the little town outside the park, Tusayan. A couple of us took a helicopter ride over the canyon. Several went off on hikes on their own. Dave and I did a short hike from Hermit’s Rest. Many of us enjoyed dinner somewhere along the rim.
