Overnight on the South Rim

Thursday night I decided that if I was going to get some "overnights" in I'd better hop to it! So I consulted with Steve Ehrman and decided that of the two campsites available up on the South Rim, Southwest 4 would be the primo site, so I booked it and up I went. Stopped in at the Basin store and my friend Molly cracked me up when she said, "I've always wanted to take a photo of someone like you into REI and tell them to make me look like that!" So here you go Molly. I think you can do better with all the young, buff hikers who we see coming in to tackle the Outer Mountain Loop - just sayin'!

One of the views from the south rim as the shadows are beginning to lengthen.

Sometime recently, Steve said that he and Tina were talking about the most over-photographed places are the dead trees along the south rim. So what am I offering up? Lots of dead trees!

Ouch!!! Please visitors, don't do this kind of stuff to the beautiful plants. What part of "leave no trace" do you not understand?

Wow - I never knew pine trees did such cool, pretty stuff like this. Sigh.

More dead trees!

And one more for the record!

I love havard agaves, so here is my favorite grouping along the south rim.

I had a hard time sleeping up on the rim - probably because the ground was hard and I do not have a good sleeping pad. I'm not sure I could carry much more equipment or water, though! My back was telling me that I was at my max capacity, so I'm rethinking big overnight hikes like this. . . Had breakfast at the Lodge, got advice from Maria on how to fix our permit printer at Castolon, showered & showered & showered - now time for a nap! Going to see the play "Reefer Madness" with Joan tonight. :-)