Chris and I woke up early and took another trip back to The Colorado to check out the two bridges that crosses it. I'm not sure what the official names of these bridges are, but I call this one the black bridge. The beach that we are standing on is where the white water rafters pull off to unload and head over to Phantom Ranch to the Cantina and camp.
So calm and peaceful.
The black bridge is pretty cool in that it connects into a tunnel. This is kind of the Mule Highway. Mule Trains cross this bridge early in the mornings to bring fresh supplies to Phantom Ranch. Wouldn't want to be trapped on this bridge when those guys come shuffling through.
The Cantina! While the boys explored Phantom Canyon, Megan and I hung out in the stream and the Cantina drinking cold drinks and enjoying the cool air. Then we all took a special trip to the Ranger's Station for some blister popping fun! hehehee! Poor Megan!
Boy are we looking pretty tired here. OH and the Cantina... has COLD BEER! Only took half a beer to get to us, but it sure helped us get to sleep at night.
120 Degrees! Yes, you read that right! This is the temp at the bottom of the Canyon where we pretty much are baking in the sun and boiling in the streams. We didn't realize on the trip back out of the Canyon the temperature would drop as low as it did. I don't remember what it was, but thank goodness we had long sleeved shirts with us to keep us KIND OF warm.
Human Stew. Here we sit as long as we can stand being in the water trying to cool off. Notice the rock "wall". Another example of the "pools" built up by campers to have nice cool calm places to soak.
Ah... the Silver Bridge. This bridge is back down where the black bridge is. It crosses over rapids and you can see through the bottom... and it scared the crap out of me! hehehe! I crossed this bridge pretty much to prove that I could. Chris was there as my moral support, while Megan and Steve hid to see if I'd actually do it. So... HA! hehee!
And here's the view from the other side! Yippee! I will tell you that I did scream once when I tripped on the grated bottom... they weren't attached as well as I thought and if you didn't step on the center of the square, the corners would lift up.
Couldn't miss Megan watching us though.... I mean, look at all that pink! ; )
Here we are hanging out to watch the sunset and see if any more Mule Deer will show up for Megan and Steve to see. This is our last night in Bright Angel/ Phantom Ranch. We decided since it took us forever to get down to the bottom of the Canyon, that we'd get up at 4 am Thursday morning and hike out instead of stopping to camp Thurs night at Cottonwood. Honestly, it was the hardest hike I've ever experienced and if we didn't do it that way, then I don't think we would have gotten out anytime early on Friday.
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