Grand Canyon: Bright Angel to Plateau Point
Last time we went to Arizona we went to the Grand Canyon to check out the trails that led to the bottom of the Canyon. We found the Bright Angel trail, which lead to a plateau that overlooked the Colorado river. The trail is a total of 12.2 miles and the first time we went we could only get to 3.1 miles due to night quickly approaching. The most important thing to remember is to know your limits! I made it a goal of mine to get to the bottom to the plateau the next time we went.
The plateau point.
Before I made the descend, my wife took a quick picture before and I headed down the time was 1150am and I made my way making good time. It was heavily trafficked in the first 2-3 miles but I was keeping a good pace, at 22-23 minutes per mile. The trail consisted of icy parts as well as muddy due to the melting snow Arizona got a few weeks earlier, after making it to where we stopped last time, I had three more miles to go! As I got closer to the bottom it became surreal to see that I was one all the way at the top. The next few miles leads into the Indian Gardens which was a very beautiful area with trees and brightly colored rocks. Following the trail led to areas where you could camp out and offered water and facilities. Pushing through and taking in the atmosphere I was still excited to see what the rest of the trail had to offer. The trail became relatively flat but led into an open area where it felt like I was in a western movie.
The plateau was close and I could feel a slight cool breeze due to being close to the Colorado River. Once I reached the plateau there a was a small climb to get on the rock where one could look out and over the plateau. There were rafters down below and I could only imagine that experience to be rafting in the rapids.
If you zoom in you can see the rafts.
The destination back up.