I had the alarm on my Pocket PC set for 5:45 but I was up before then. I just lay there and waited for it to go off. We needed to have the tents broekn down and the duffel packed up and back at Phantom Ranch by 7am in order for it to go out on the mules. We had our tent down in about 10 minutes and the Max, Ben and Jess followed shortly with theirs. Max and Ben and I hauled the tents and a few other things that came down in the duffel back up to Phantom Ranch and had it there a little after 6:30, in plenty of time. I was a little disturbed when I weighed the duffel on the scale they provided and it came up at 34 pounds? The contents of the duffel was exactly the same as what had come down and it weighed in at 30 pounds even on the south rim. I knew there must be a slight allowance for the difference in altitude but not 4 pounds. I complained to the person who takes care of the mule duffels and he told me not to worry about it. He said they needed a new scale and to just mark it as 34 pounds and he would take care of it. So I did. I was still a little worried that they would try to charge me for an extra duffel when I went to pick it up at the mule barn but that didn't happen.

After dropping off the duffel I ducked into the cantina quickly to pick up a Phantom Ranch T-shirt and then we went back to camp and made breakfast. We had a fairly relaxing breakfast but it went by quickly and we were packed up and on the trail at just about 8am on the nose.

We stopped briefly next to the Silver Bridge to watch some ravens and mule deer who were hanging out nearby. From there we went pretty much non-stop to the Pipe Creek and the bottom of the Bright Angel Trail. We arrived there at 9 and stopped briefly to rest up for the start of the climb out. I discovered a Great Blue Heron down at the beach there and was very happy at that. It was a beautiful morning along the river... chilly but not super cold... perfect for hiking.

We made pretty good time along the lower portion of the Bright Angel Trail and up through the Devil's Corkscrew and arrived at the little rest area near Garden Creek a little after 10:30. We had "second breakfast" there and then continued on to Indian Garden, arriving there just before noon.

I met someone I knew at Indian Garden and we talked a little while before we actually figured out we knew each other. Jerry was actually the ex-husband of a another friend and we had only met once a couple of years back over lunch at Huntington Beach. It's a big canyon on a small planet. I wished we had more time to talk but I needed to get something in me for lunch and then take off for the rim.

I knew I had to leave the party right after lunch as there was no way the entire group was going to make it back to the rim by 4pm to collection the duffel at the mule barn. Ben might have been able to keep up with me but I was not going to chance it and so I decided to go alone. I broke out the stove and boiled water for chicken soup and we ate that along with the leftovers from our sack lunches of the previous day. It was a tasty and very nourishing meal.

After lunch, and cleaning up, and repacking I said good-bye took off for the rim. I left Indian Garden at almost 1pm on the nose and I was at the Bright Angel trailhead just a little after 3:30. I ended up passing Jerry right above the three-mile resthouse a little after 2 and it was just a quick hello and good-bye again. Once back on the rim I headed right over to the mule barn to get the duffel bag. Mission accomplished.

From there I took a shuttle bus to the Visitor Center and from there another one to the South Kaibab trailhead, where the van was parked. This was interesting with 30+ pounds on my back and another 30 in a duffel bag in front of me. I tried but there was no way to manage it with just one hand. To make matters more interesting the shuttle bus does not go to the trailhead in the winter months, because people are allowed to park there and the bus cannot get through. The bus dropped me off about ¼-mile away. Grrrrr. I stashed the duffel in the brush beside the road and went to get the van without it.

On the way back to the Bright Angel trailhead I stopped off at the Yavapai Lodge cafeteria for a quick bite to eat. I had no idea how far back down the trail I was going to have to go or when dinner would be and I wanted something more in me. All I had had since lunch was a little Moose Munch that I polished off at the mile-and-a-half resthouse.

I got back to the trailhead around 5:15 just in time to see the most wonderful lightshow playing off the north rim cliffs. The Kaibab and Coconino formations were all lit up by the setting sun and the effect was simply breathtaking. I met Jerry there again as he was just coming out and we talked some while enjoying the display. I started back down the trail a little before 5:30 and as luck would have it I did not have to go very far. I met the rest of my party coming around the final switchback at the top of the Bright Angel, just beyond the first tunnel. They had done much better than I expected and we were all safely back on the rim before dark.

We had dinner that night at the Arizona Room (a.k.a. Arizona Steakhouse). Yay for traditions! Jerry ended up joining us as well and we had a nice time exchanging Canyon stories.