Cottonwood Campground looked like a great place to spend the night. Here I took a nice relaxing break at a picnic table in the shade and re-filled my water bottles.

Mid-afternoon is still rather hot, even halfway up the trail. It’s still a long way up to the rim – the last seven miles will be much steeper.

This is Roaring Springs, the source of Bright Angel Creek. The waterfall gushes straight out of the face of a cliff, feeds Bright Angel Creek, and provides the water for the entire South Rim Village. Next time you visit the Grand Canyon and turn on a spigot – just think – the water comes from here!

There’s a side trail to a campground here that I did not explore.

Sunset fades to dusk as I steadily ascend toward the rim. The trail is much steeper now, as it has turned away from Bright Angel Creek.

I looked up and thought this could be the rim. It wasn’t.

This wasn’t it either.

Humphreys Peak

The North Rim has aspens. Sweet.

I reached the top before I had to use my headlamp. Barely. I chatted with another rim to rim hiker for a little while before continuing on to the campground, and realized that I was becoming very cold and chilled. The extra mile and a half to the campground in the dark felt like it took forever.

By the time I reached camp, I was wearing every single item of clothing that I carried, including a bandana around my head (This was key), but I was still shivering somewhat uncontrollably. Not good. I was sure to wrap myself up in my sleeping bag and prepare a hot meal as soon as possible. There was one other tent at the backpacker site, occupied by a young Asian man. We had a brief conversation, though he was already turned in for the night, and remained in his tent. He’d be riding the trans-canyon shuttle tomorrow.

My body warmed up once I was completely in my sleeping bag, and I slept great.