"Knowledge for the western back roads explorer..."
 

Trip to the bottom of the:
Grand Canyon

Welcome to our new experimental method of presenting a virtual tour.  This show highlights our trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon atop mules and a hike up Bright Angel Canyon towards the North Rim.  Enjoy!

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Important: Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, each slideshow may take several seconds to a few minutes to load.  So please be patient.  Screen resolution size does not slow Internet playback time.

About this trip

We've always wanted to explore the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but didn't feel we were fit enough to climb out using the trails with the 5,000 or so foot elevation gain.  So we decided to take the easy and most classic way to tour the canyon: riding the mules.

The trip was actually purchased from park operator Xanterra as a complete package.  Our trip started with a night's stay at the old El Tovar near the mule stables and start of the mule trek.  Of course, the package included the down and up trip on the mules.  It also included two nights stay (with meals) at the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon and then another night's stay at the El Tovar after the mule ride.

Riding the mules, we went down the Bright Angel Trail which descends steeply down the South Rim right next to El Tovar.  Along the way, we went through the southern section of Bright Angel Canyon, stopped at Indian Garden for lunch, went deeper into the inner gorge, rode along the Colorado River inside Granite Gorge, crossed on the older suspension bridge and then finished at Phantom Ranch.  The second day, we hiked a total of 11.4 miles from Phantom Ranch to Ribbon Falls and back via the North Kaibab Trail.  The third day, we rode the mule back up to the South Rim via the South Kaibab Trail.

We did the trip in mid-March to avoid the dreaded heat normally experienced at the bottom of the canyon, but risked running into bad weather at the rim.  We lucked out.  When we descended, the temperature was in the 50s and when we arrived later that day in Phantom Ranch, it was in the 80s.  On the day we left the rim for home, it was snowing.

Instructions

In order to view this tour, your computer will need to have the Photodex slide viewer control installed.  When you select one of the two links below to begin viewing the slideshow, you will be prompted to install an "Active X" control.  Follow the directions, which may vary depending on your computer's security setup, and you will see the slide view appear on the webpage.  For more information on the slide viewer, see the following link:

www.photodex.com

There are two ways to view the show depending on your computer screen's resolution.  Many computers users prefer to use a smaller resolution for easier reading of text.  However, this prohibits pictures to be displayed at their best.  We suggest you view your pictures using 1024x768 resolution.  Click here to read how to change this on your computer.

While viewing the show, you will see various buttons and controls.  In the lower left corner of the viewer window, you will see Pause, Stop, Previous Slide and Next Slide buttons.  Click the Pause button at anytime to pause the slideshow.  Click the Stop button to return to the tour menu.  Click Next to quickly scan through the show and Previous to backup the show.  Lastly, click the Exit Slideshow button (or your browser's Back button) to return to the slideshow page.

The Music

After watching the whole thing, I'm sure someone is going to be curious about what they were listening to.  Here is a list of the copywritten material that is heard in our tour: