Strenuous: Long drop-offs. Not for anyone fearful of heights. Ends at mouth of narrow canyon.You do know that Denise doesn't like standing or walking along edges with steep drop-offs, don't you?
Hidden Canyon shares the beginning of the trail with Observation Point. Even though we had covered the ground before, things looked different the second time. We walked up and up until we came to the trail to Hidden Canyon, a sharp right turn off of the trail we started on. That trail went up and up too, in a set of narrow switchbacks. The surface underfoot was a little less stable, sandy, with occasional floating rocks. And then the trail turned away from the switchbacks, turning inward. There was a narrow set of steps up a steep grade, steps narrow enough that a person who was much wider than Denise wouldn't fit on the stairs. Yikes. There were sections with chains attached to the canyon wall, chains to grab onto for a more secure feeling as the hike edges up a very narrow spot. We slowly moved up the trail, and then we came to another section with a security chain attached to the rock. This time the surface underfoot was swirling slickrock, varying angles, all leaning away from the chain on the wall. Denise started to walk this section, then thought better of it and turned around. She figured that even though she had an uneasy feeling that she would make it up the trail. It's coming back down again that really bothers her.
We didn't quite make it to the end of the trail, but what we saw was beautiful. No regrets about cutting it a little short...
Funny, we talked to some other people who also didn't finish the trail. There was a couple who passed us just when we turned around. We saw them later on another trail, and they said they didn't go much further than we did. Then there was the group of people who were studying the trail map just as we came off of the trail. Denise shared her experience, and one of the women in that group said that she didn't like exposure either. They headed up, and when we saw them on another trail a little bit later they admitted that they didn't go much further than we did. Very interesting. I wonder how many people don't finish the 'steep drop-offs' trails.
Unfortunately when we turned around we discovered that one of Denise's knees is misbehaving. It doesn't like to go down hills. Oh! That's really not a good thing here since most of the trails are all downhill on the way back. You know Denise though - she wasn't willing to stop walking, so we chose a (mostly) flat trail after we came down from Hidden Canyon.
At the end of the road is the Riverside walk, a paved (and crowded) trail running from the Temple of Sinawava to the point at which the river totally fills the canyon. To go any further we would have had to walk up the river. No, we didn't walk in the river, but we did walk up to it, we jumped across some rocks, and we felt that very chilly water. Brrr! The water was a pretty shade of green, calm in places, and flowing wildly over and around rocks in other places.
The trail was crowded with a lot of other people, people who were walking slowly enough to be happy to share some of their experiences. We spent some time chatting with a couple from England, we shared some bird-watching with a woman who shared our fascination with the hummingbirds flitting around, we saw Sandy & Neil once again. They are a couple from Houston (well, really from England, but they are in the states for a few years) who we met on the Observation Point trail yesterday. And Sandy shares Denise's fascination with photography...
And what a good animal day it was! We saw deer hiding in plain sight off the side of the road. They blend in with their surroundings really well. I wonder how they do that?
There were some very funny little squirrels running around. They didn't seem to be begging, but they were certainly not afraid of people. And there were some rather stupid people who were trying to pet the squirrels. Yes, I know that it's not nice to call people stupid, but trying to pet a wild animal just isn't a good thing to do. Denise actually told a little girl not to reach out to the squirrel. She sort of listened, but then the girl's mother reached out to the squirrel herself. Dumb.
Denise was happy that the squirrels hung around long enough to capture some pictures...
Then there were the skittering lizards. They pose so nicely, and sometimes they even look like they are doing push-ups. That is before they scamper off again, running up or down vertical walls.
What other wonderful creatures shared our space today? There were butterflies, robins, and hummingbirds. There were deer, and squirrels, and lizards. I think Denise managed to capture some squirrels and lizards with her camera. She might have convinced a robin to pose for her too.
Tomorrow? It's a traveling day, but we will be spending the morning in the park before heading back to Las Vegas to head for home on one of those big airplane birds. It looks like there are two hikes jumping out at Denise. On our last morning here last year we took the bus out to Court of the Patriarch's and walked back from there. That's a real possibility for tomorrow. The early morning light was beautiful, and walking next to the river is tempting. The other possibility is the Watchman trail, starting right at the visitor center. I wonder which trail we'll follow...
