Morning Hike

Well, this did not turn out exactly as planned. The original plan was to leave the Bright Angel Trail at the two-mile corner and follow a little known route through the Supai and over to the base of The Battleship. My wife, Robin, was going to wait there for me while I attempted to climb to the top of The Battleship. She really doesn't like heights and was not thrilled with the idea of climbing and I was happy that she was going to accompany me at least that far.

Anyway, about half way along this route we passed by a wasps nest that had been built into a crack in the cliff face. I noticed a couple of wasps near the entrance as I stepped over it and warned her to be careful but it was too late. A second later Robin was in terror as there were dozens of wasps flying all around her. We moved away from the nest as quickly as possible, trying to brush the wasps off of her along the way until they finally retreated. Considering all of the wasps that were flying about she was actually pretty lucky to only have been stung seven times. Some of them swelled up pretty good right away so at that point we decided to abort the trip and returned to the Bright Angel Trail and the rim. Even more amazing was the fact that I was not stung at all even though I was right next to her.

We stopped for a while closer to the top of the trail to watch some mule parties come down and take some photos. By the time that we got back to the rim the swelling on a couple of the stings had already gone down but a couple still hurt pretty bad.

This was actually my second attempt at the climbing The Battleship and I never even got the chance to try the climb. My first attempt was in September, 1999 and I got maybe halfway to the top and then just could not find a way to go any higher. Actually I got to a place where I thought I could get up but I was not convinced I would be able to get back down without a rope. This time I had better directions and a rope with me, just in case. Hopefully the third time will be charmed.

Hermit Road

To kill some time later that day, after Robin started feeling better, we headed out along the Hermit Road. We met a nice couple while waiting for the bus and after we missed getting on the next bus we talked them into walking to the first overlook. We walked from the start of the drive up the hill to the Trailview Overlook, where we it is much less congested than the first bus stop, and boarded the free park shuttle bus. Many of the people who get on the bus at the first bus stop end up getting off at the second one.

We took the bus from Trailview to Hopi Point and then walked from there to Mohave Point where we reboarded the bus. We stopped again at Pima Point, one of the best viewpoints on the West Rim, and watched some thunderstorms racing through the western regions of the Canyon. From there we boarded a bus for Hermit's Rest and from there we took a bus straight back to the village.

We rounded off the day with dinner at the Arizona Steakhouse, followed by the evening ranger program. Dinner was fabulaous as usual. I had the red trout and Robin had the baby back ribs. The program was Katharine Gloistein's The Inspiration of this Grand Canyon, one we had actually never seen before, and was very good.