Sunrise, hiking into the canyon, star party, disperse camping

The stars were amazing last night, but no northern lights. Sunrise was around 5:15 am. The sun was already above the horizon when I got to the canyon.

After breakfast, I drove the 25 miles to the main visitor center, which is near the Kaibab trail I planned on hiking into the canyon today. The ranger suggested taking at least 4 liters of water, as it was a warm day. There is no parking at the trailhead. A shuttle bus runs from the visitor center to the trailhead, but I opted to park along the main road and walk to the trailhead instead of taking the shuttle. I hiked the Kaibab trail from the rim down to a small shelter named "Tip Off" and then back up to the rim. The trail down starts with some switchbacks.

The scenery was beautiful, and I even had to wait for a stri g of horses and burros.

I turned around just below the Tip Off rest stop. I wanted to get a closer view of the river before heading g back. This was as close as I got. It would have been fun to see the footbridge at the river crossing, but I had gone far enough, and I still had to hike back up to the rim.

I met several nice people along the hike. It is enjoyable getting to know people along the way. As an example, I met Jona at the Tip Off shelter. He is from Germany and was familiar with the small town of Freckenfledt, where some of my ancesters lived. Jona likes climbing, and there are some places he likes to climb near there.

Some of the other people I met and talked with today were a man named Gabe, from Rancho Cordova, California, near where I live in Rocklin, and a couple of soccer players from Italy.  

I was pretty tired by the end of the hike, and drove back to the visitor center area to fill my water bottles. The 4 liters I carried with me barely lasted me to the end of the hike. I noticed a ranger setting up a screen and a bunch of people sitting on the ground, so I asked what was going on. Turns out there was going to be a presentation on the costellations from a Southern Paiute's perspective, followed by the first night of an annual week of star parties with telescopes.

The speaker said their tribe rules tell her she is only allowed to share some of the constellation stories during the winter, but she would share what she could. Another rule is that you shouldn't look at an eclipse. The sun is a male god and the moon is female, and you should not be watching their intimate moments when they are together.

After dark, there were astronomers from all over the western United States set up with their telescopes in a field behind the visitors center. There was also a ranger pointing out the constellations with a laser. I looked through several telescopes and was also impressed by the digital images taken by an amateur astronomer from Tucson. He takes hour-long exposures of objects with his telescope. His investment in equipment was only a few thousand dollars and the images look very professional! He said the dark skies and clear nights of Tucson are an important factor. It was a late night.