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Finally! Do you have any idea how long it takes to upload pictures this size to Imgur? Boy do I ever! These are a selection of the better images I pulled from my camera: http://imgur.com/a/bt6bN I also grabbed a few with my phone, including a handful of panorama photos! Not quite as good quality or as big, but there's still some nice ones. A couple filler images that were originally intended to be included with the travelogue Odyssey, LOLITS, Day 1, Campground, and Day 2 posts are present as well. http://imgur.com/a/43niK

Well the last entry had no votes and 1 like (thanks Vae!) so I'm going to post more I guess. Both images are from the second day of hiking. In the bottom image, you can see on of the long straight stretches that make up the majority of the middle and very start of the Bright Angle Trail. I'm working on Imgur galleries so I can post full size images with way more than 2 in a single post.

Continuing with the second day of the hike, I figured I'd just give a quick run down of the highlights rather than a detailed story-like entry. I had the foresight to make notes at various points on the trail, so most of the important details are have not been forgotten, even though I didn't get as many pictures on the second day. The imgur pictures will be up either later today or tomorrow. 7:00 am - Up and at 'em! Still majorly sore from the day before, but it shakes of quickly and I'm left mostly with a bit of stiffness and slightly tender inner thighs. Breakfast is freeze dried Apple crisps cereal. Yes, you really want to eliminate even the small amount of weight that moisture in cereal takes up. Plus, it helps long term storage. Like the spaghetti dinner of the previous day, it is re-hydrated with boiling water. Unlike the previous day, however, this was not at all tasty. It was not so much like oatmeal as it was soggy cereal using water in place of milk and heated up. It tasted like chunky snot. I didn't eat much. Today was to be a 9 mile journey back up the canyon along the popular Bright Angel trail. We finished up taking everything down, packing it all up and set off... 9:26 am - And Then It Rained. The rain was a mercifully short drizzle, lasting only a few minutes longer than it took us to get our rain gear on and packs covered. This first 1.75 miles are sandy paths winding along the river with mostly gentle up and down slopes with little vertical progress. I was still quite stiff and going down any level of step was incredibly difficult. Going up was surprisingly easier but still a bit problematic. 10:45 am - Our first little rest stop! We took off our unneeded rain gear and I took out my camera. From here we had about 3 miles largely composed of switchbacks, those zig-zag vertical gaining trails sections. It was the switchbacks of Kaybab that had murdered my knees. Thankfully, going up them really is better than coming down them. At least for your the knees. 12:35 pm - The switchbacks open up into a beautiful, verdant sandstone area! Miniature waterfalls, formed by the mild rain combined with natural streams, dot the landscape. 12:42 pm - We stop for our second break by a large outcropping of rocks, along a small trickling stream in the middle of lush vegetation. Having gladly heeded the ranger's advice, we only had a liter in our camelbacks instead of 3 and most of our water was to be drunk from our water bottles. This is because Bright Angle, unlike Kaybab, has several places where water is available. My dad goes to collect water from the stream using the filter pump. He entirely forgot that the pump is broken and must be held together. Like me, it immediately pops off. This time, however, he isn't able to grab the backflow disk before it washes away and so we're down a pump. Fortunately, he has a back up gravity-fed filter that we can squeeze by with. We begin to enjoy some much needed snacks... And Then It Rained. It wasn't going to be a merciful drizzle this time. I could see it just before it hit us: a wall of water. We quickly got our gear on and our packs covered. We had to cut the break short and move on. Much of the most beautiful parts of the trail were here in the rain, and me without access to my camera. Most of the path here was gentle climbing slopes. The rain lasted maybe 30 minutes, but by the end of it I was in no mood for pictures. 2:04 pm - We break here again for snacks and a much needed 30 minute rest. This is the mid-point of Bright Angel a lovely little campground. I didn't know that the beginner trail was supposed to have an overnight in the middle of it. It was here that I learned about it first and that we simply hadn't been able to get a permit for it. Which is why we were going the whole 9 miles in a day. In the distance we hear soft rumbling. 3:00 pm - We clearly hear thunder. The trail briefly became sharply steep again here. This is the start of last 4.5 miles, most of which will be steep straights and laborious switchbacks. 3:30 pm - We hear thunder again and what sounded like possibly a coyote. Oh how I would love to capture a coyote with my camera! The thought of it brightens me up... And Then It Rained. I had to put away my camera and never saw a coyote. 4:10 pm - The rain subsides and we are left with what will be the remained of the trail: steep, muddy climbs and switchbacks. Lots of switchbacks. We're all very tired and chilled from the rain. I had completely given up on using my camera. At this point conversation had turned to personifying the canyon as being angry that a trio of flat-land midwesterners were tromping up it. I taunt the canyon, asking it show us what it can really do! 4:30 pm - Exhausted, we reach the 3rd break area: a small rest stop wit a roof and water pump with cess-pit restrooms near by. 6 miles down, 3 to go. I'm shivering cold from the rain and feeling sick to my stomach. Skipping the snotty breakfast is fast catching up to me as a bad idea. The last of my salty beef jerky helps settle my stomach as we hydrate with much needed water. We put on our fleeces but I still feel unnaturally chilly, even though it's only 50 degrees. Screw the rules, we pull out our mini-stove and make tea. 5:30 pm - After much needed rest and warmth, I'm feeling better. We're running low on food. We bundle up: The sun will be setting soon. We set off. 6:00 pm - The sun is setting. My father isn't doing so well, either. He's the experienced hiker and he's having to stop to catch his breath every so often. A party coming down the trail warns us they were nearly hit by falling boulders. It's virtually all switchbacks from here on out. 7:30 pm - The sun has long since set. We reach the last rest stop. It sucks. The restrooms sit up a set of steep stairs that may as well be called the Devil's Stairmaster. Water is a distance away, ensuring you have to inch your way over to the rest room after getting your drink. I now know what it's like to be 90 years old: everything is stiff, you can barely move without pain let alone move quickly. I am hobbled on canes that were my walking sticks. It's cold, and pitch black as I weakly trundle off to use the restroom with only my little headlamp. The stench is unimaginable. We take this last water opportunity to refill and to make a small meal. We split a freeze dried chicken and mashed potato. Thankfully it is pretty decent and gives us a bit of a boost. Mice creep round near by and as I greedily guard my pack. The mice in my house over the last year have left a bit of an impact on me, I think. It's hard to give a sense of just how exhausted we were at this point. And Then It Rained. Again. At 40 Degrees. In Pitch Darkness. On sheer-cliff canyon-side switchback trail. The heaviest, longest rain of the day. 9:00-ish - My notes are largely incoherent here. I recall being very jumpy about the shadows cast by our head lamps. Lots of little mouse droppings along the trail made me paranoid about the mice. Being so near the start/end, the ever-present donkey dung along the trail had greatly increased in volume and stench. Around 9:30 we ran completely out of food. I'm told I was quite out of it at this point, but somewhere around here the rain had stopped. I seem to have scribbled something about barely being able to lift my legs up the steps. I recall the next day there was a severe rash on my inner thighs from all the sweat and motion, so this likely a major contributing factor. There were many such rashes, gashes, and pains. 10:10pm - We finally made it out, exiting just by a gift shop that also houses a lovely art gallery. We stumbled into the Bright Angle Lodge after bumbling around the parking lot barely with any senses. We call a cab to take us the relatively short distance to the lodge we're staying the night in. We manage to snag some buffalo wings from the last open bar just before they close around 11pm.

6016x4000 That is what the camera takes these images at... but the image uploader chokes on that and they're nearly all over 10 MB in size, so here are some down-sized versions! Still 3008x2000, though! I took over 500 images on my trip but I expect a number of them won't have turned out well, as I am the most amateur of photographers. If there's any interest in this pair, I'll upload more! Maybe at a lower res, so I can fit more than 2 in a post...

South Kaibab trail: my first real hike. We packed our 65-pound packs and showered the night before to save time. At 5:30am we awoke, dressed, checked out and grabbed breakfast when it opened at 6. We hopped on the 7 am Hiker's Express to the trailhead. My brother and father were in high spirits but I am not so enthusiastic. I jokingly toss out a Star Wars quote: "I have a bad feeling about this." I have never carried a real pack before, but I am greatful for how it is expertly balanced to rest on my hips and tailbone, saving my shoulders from bearing the hefty weight. Much of that weight being in the form of 3 liters of water, accessible by a tube, and an additional 1.5 liters in an ultralight bottle. There are granola bars, high-energy sugery foods like raisens/craisens and high-protein snacks in the form of beef jerky. There are also freeze dried meals for dinner and breakfast and an extra meal just in case. I carry changes of clothes, a bit of cold weather gear. There is a rain cover, jacket, and over-pants should the small change of rain the next day pan out. Other assorted camping equipment iscarried to balance out the weight distribution between each of the packs in our party. Father and Brother's pack contents largely mirror my own. However, they both carry a tent (I will share with my father) and balance the weight out by holding more of the food in my pack. My brother's pack is the heaviest due to his decision to carry both a larger waterbottle and an additional one. By 7:40 we are off. The trail begins with a fairly steep descent in a feature that would ultimately prove to be its defining feature: switchbacks. A switchback is a section of trail that works much like the famous winding road of San Fransisco, whipping back and forth. But they are much tighter and rather than a smooth incline they consist of elongated steps. They allow for great drops in elevation in fairly compact space. What should be a beautiful rising sun in the canyon is marred by an overcast. My brother is excited. This is apparent in the way he pulls away from my father and I, much to my disapproval. We try to explain to him that he will wear himself out, but he argues his heavier pack makes this his natural pace and thus it less exhausting that if he artificially slows his pace. He ignores requests to pause at the corners of switchbacks to wait for us to catch up. I follow the lead of my companions and setup my pair of walking sticks to help my balance. My father has to help me access the poles from pack. In this pause, my brother slips out of sight even to looking down on further switchbacks. By 9am we reach the first break point. My brother has finally decided to wait for us here. This first section of the trail had seen an elevation change of approximately 1,100 feet downward. The cosy little stop provides me some nice opportunities to photograph a squirrel and bluebird as well as a chance to drop the weighty pack and sit. My father speaks to my brother about sticking together while I observe the path we will take past a massive mesa. We set off again after about 30 minutes and the initial switchback gives way to a meandering, sloping path hugging close to the canyon wall. As the grand mesa looms close, we stop at a pile of rocks for a quick snack break and a chance to take off our packs at about 10:20. Continuing on past the mesa, the overcast disappaites to reveal a fully risin desert sun. The path begins to alternate between long swaths of mild descent and sudden clusters of switchbacks. The steps on these switchbacks are not small steps! They are worn and uneven. Their height is more like that of your grandmother's old home. I using my poles to steady my steps down and press on are weight on them. These paths wrap around portions of the canyon that jut out from the wall as the canyon's shape mutates. Now, even the mild slope are increasingly uneven and worn deep enough that I am up to my knees in their rut. There are more rocks on the path and the threat of stumbling looms menacingly. The path is taking a heavy toll on our knees and legs. I am relying more and more on my sticks to serve more like canes. The heat is beats down on us as we at last arrive at a break point. We set down on rocks in the shade of the last set of restrooms until the campground. The plateau of the rest area has a rugged beauty, contrasted against the noxious mud oozing out the lower floor of the cesspit-like restrooms. We stomach the stench of the foul building in exchange for shelter from the harsh light and finish off the last of the shared bag of beef jerky, leaving only the jerky bags specific to my brother and I. We are drinking more water, this time laced with powdered gatoraid. I take a quick hit on the last chance restroom. The disgusting second floor is bare-bones. You excrete directly into the pit of the first floor where bacteria are breaking it down into a "humus-like soil" according to the Phoenix Composting Toilet sign. Without even the hand sanitizer dispenser of the waterless restroom at the trailhead, we use a sort of hiker's wetnap. This has to be stored in a ziplock designated for trash we carry with us. Pack it in, pack it out. I am increasingly weary and ask to extend our stop. It is now that I learn from my father that this is not a beginner's trail. After about 30 minutes with the extension, the noon day stops and I am pressed onward. The descent from here is a brutal series of switchbacks. My canes dig into my palms. My body is tense and I am falling behind my family. They stop to wait periodically before pulling ahead again. My desire to photograph this trip only serves to further my isolation. My teeth grit and my hands squeeze the handles as I hammer the poles into the ground. It's not a beginner's trail? There are easier ways down this dreadful canyon? I knew this path was steeper yet shorter than the path chosen for the next day's ascent, but why had my father chosen this path at all? The aching pain fuses in these thoughts to burning resolve. I resolve to be done with this whole mess. Steeled and numbed by my focus, I catch up to my compatriots waiting around a corner. Sensing my increasing frustration, my father asks if there is anything they can do. A terse "keep walking" is my only reply. They are beginning to feel the weariness I already know as I begin to pull out ahead on a series of mostly smooth downward stretches. I know we are past the halfway point on this 7 mile journey. All I can think about is it ending. My eyes behold a muddy, ugly torrent in the distance; our first glimpse of the river. Moving forward, the brief respit of the straight path gave way to a vast series of even more brutal switchbacks: the devil's staircase. My picture-taking is increasingly a token effort. The descent into hellish red rocks pairs well with the descent of my thoughts. I know who I'm mad at. I know who is to blame for this. I have let myself be herded into this, spending a thousand dollars on equipment for a hobby I have little interest in. I let others decide the path to take and set the pace. I am to blame for my predicament. It is my fault for not expressing myself. I am mad at myself for failing myself. The staircase takes its toll on all of us. Steely resolve degenerates into machine-like procession; my program is dictated by the path. The sight of a suspension bridge over the river gives us our goal. The repititious stepping sears our knees and legs with pain. My pack is malaligned, digging into my clavicle, and has been since the last break. Only now do I notice it but my desprite desire to see this end keeps me from stopping to have it fixed. The diabolical path melds flesh to mindless mechanistic motion, granting it again a painfully organic inconsistency. When at last we reach the tunnel before the bridge, my walking sticks have fused with me. I am a great lumbering beast, hunched over elongated forelimbs. My camera swings below my neck as misplaced, grotesquely oversized testicles meant to ward off competitors. Exhausted, my descent is complete at 2:45. The wretched beast continues a mindless pursuit across level terrain for another 35 minutes. At last, its den is found in a sandy space by a creek, zoned out by stones. We setup camp.

I was led to believe that trail was a beginner's trail with a overnight camp in the middle. I was misinformed. What I actually just experienced was a moderate difficulty trail and a beginner's trail with an overnight camp in between. South Kaibab, the moderate trail, was 7 miles with no water but what we carried with us. We then camped at the bottom of the canyon at the Bright Angel Campground. The beginner's trail, Bright Angel trail, was 9 miles with water available and is generally not as steep as South Kaibab. Bright Angel trail nominally has a campground in the half way to the end at the canyon floor. That's what makes it a beginner's trail. We didn't use that midpoint campground. I am not a real hiker. I'm just a cubicle dweller who likes to go for a walk on his lunch break. I am not a fan of camping and I've never carried a real pack. My father is the real hiker. I prefer more of the LOLITS type trails. This was my first real hike. I'll be doing full write-ups soon. I am at last again in civilization with a useable internet connection as we spend the night in the diamand suite of the Sedona Hilton Spa and Resort (my father gathers quite a number of points through business trips). I took over 400 photos (I'm not a real photographer, either, so don't expect anything spectacular :P). Most of them are on my Nikon 3200, so those will be uploaded later. A few of them were taken with my phone camera and will be used as where appropriate.