The Grand Canyon: Hiking to Plateau Point

Today we hiked into the canyon. Being here, it makes you want to venture lower.

There are two main trails we could use but we decided to walk the Bright Angel trail to Indian Garden rest. Surprisingly for me the trail was in the shade for the downhill part. It was lovely to walk down. The vegetation was desert-like but there were some trees and it was very pretty.

We were trailed by some mules along the way. They smelled and the people on them were very sore when they reached the Indian Gardens. Mules are very well used on the trails. As a hiker I did not like their leavings, however I know how important it is for everyone to see this amazing place.

It was beautiful to walk down through the layers of rock. To walk on them, feel their different textures and to see them. I was amazed to experience the distinct transitions, the colour. What can I say? It was just fantastic.

After reaching Indian Gardens we decided we could go further to Plateau Point, a further 2 mile walk out on a wide ridge. This was very different to the walk down. It was exposed and hot and we began to feel the glare of the sun. The vegetation changed dramatically and went to desert cactii and low grasses. It felt hard and exposed. The point gave an amazing view of the Colorado river. It was worth it.

For me the walk back was hard. Just walking back to Indian gardens was hard. I have lost a lot of fitness! we ate lunch at Indian gardens near a lovely stream. The trees gave lovely shade and the view of red rock walls was beautiful. However I was feeling worried about the walk back up...

It was not quite so bad. I still enjoyed the rock, the colours, the layers and not all of it was in the sun as I feared. It still remained that I found it pretty hard. Eric was lovely and walked slowly, took photos and tried to keep Samuel amused as he was going fine.

Having walked over 20 km I felt pleased but sore and tired. Eric and Samuel fared better than me!

Comments

Inca Trail day 4

This was the day we would arrive at Macchu Picchu so we awoke with a keen sense of anticipation. To celebrate the last day on the trail, somehow the chef had whipped up an enormous cake which was served after breakfast. After a discussion with Marco about the likely weather over the next two days we agreed that it would be best to tour Macchu Picchu as soon as we arrived in mid afternoon rather than wait until tomorrow. Marco assured us that this would mean less crowds and better weather (he was right). We could see the backside of the mountain above Macchu Picchu in front of us as we started out. Unlike the last two days, today was mainly downhill. We would have to descend about 1,000 meters and judging by the first part of the morning walk, most of this would be on steep and slippery rocky steps. After alternating descents and traversing along steep hillsides through cloud forest and bamboo groves we reached the ruins of Intipata. Intipata was a very...

Vatnajökull National Park

Vatnajökull National Park is a must visit destination for any tourist to Iceland. It's also one of the most inaccessable. The main reason for this inaccessability is that much of the National Park is taken up by the enormous Vatnajökull glacier. So you can't just drive in and walk around. To see the interior of the park (the glacier) you need to make special arrangements - like taking a tour in a Superjeep. We booked a Superjeep tour for our first day at the park which was cancelled due to the inclement weather... However the next day we were definitely ready to see as much as we could and fortunately the tour was back on. Our tour guide was Hungarian but very well informed and we learned a lot about Icelandic culture as well as glaciers and volcanoes. The Jeep we were in had been made by the driver (and some friends) and consisted of part of a Chrysler with another van's back end bolted on and modified engine and gears. It had 54 inch wheels w...

Iceland's wild east coast

The east coast of Iceland attracts a fraction of the tourists and has a fraction of the population of the western side. It really is the place for a remote getaway. The hosts of our farmstay near Egilsstadir moved from Reykjavik to get away from the system and the hectic Reykjavik scene 😊. Their farm certainly epitomised the word remote. Samuel loved the farm, especially playing with the two very friendly and intelligent farm dogs. As with much of Iceland, one of the best ways to spend the time is just driving with plenty of stops for photography - in fact it's hard to make much progress in some scenic areas as the urge to park the car and whip out the camera every few kilometers is overwhelming. This was especially the case on the one long day we spent driving from Egilsstadir to Hofn. We started our journey on yet another overcast morning and almost immediately headed down a rough back road off the ring road in search of a waterfall. We...

EE & S Adventures

Search This Blog