The Bright Angel Trail


Be sure to click on these thumbnail photos for larger versions.

 1. We left at sunup for the hike out of the canyon using the Bright Angel trail.  Here the red glow from the early morning sun illuminates the walls of the inner gorge.
 2. The first portion of the trail follows the Colorado River.
 3. A raven enjoys the view with us.
 4. The Devil's Corkscrew.
 5. Waterfall.
 6. Workers doing trail maintenance.  These guys were working hard!
 7. Here is the area they were working on.
 8. That's me along the trail not far from Indian Gardens.
 9. The trail is about half way up the wall behind the waterfall in this photo.
 10. Trees growing alone Garden Creek can be seen here rising out of the gorge we just came up.
 11. For some reason I didn't get a shot of Indian Gardens.  Here is one from a previous hike there.
 12. Deer along the trail out to Plateau Point.  We saw quite a few deer this day.  At one point along the main trail, there were several deer playfully chasing each other around.
 13. A panorama of the inner gorge, taken from Plateau Point.  Super Size It!  (238kB).
 14. Heading back toward Indian Gardens from Plateau Point.  The group of trees in the distance is at Indian Gardens.  Behind that is the wall we must still climb to get to the South Rim, another 3000 feet up.
 15. Here is a closer look at the wall we still need to climb.  The end of the trail is very close to the bottom of the V at the horizon.
 16. A pack mule train coming down the trail.
 17. Again we reach workers doing trail maintenance.  These guys were breaking rock with sledgehammers!
 18. There is Jeff at Three Mile Rest House.  Three miles left.  It looks like he's thinking; "Holy cow, we have to climb that?!" 
19. Taken from just a short way above Three Mile Rest House.  The trail out to Plateau Point sticks out like a sore thumb.  Just at the end of that trail is the steep drop into the inner gorge.
 20. Jeff took this picture from very near the top of the trail.  In the distance you can see Bright Angel Canyon on the North side of the Colorado River.