Grand Canyon: Sunset
So, I'm hiking along the rim trail. Lovely afternoon. Deliberately paying no attention to the time, determined to go all the way to the lookout at Hermit's Rest. Plenty of time, I thought. Just enjoy the view, I thought. And then, it started getting dark. And then I took a look at both the map and my watch. It was a little worrisome. I knew the shuttle bus service ended right around sundown. But I figured I could get myself out of trouble, as the trail was very close to the road.
And then the trail turned away from the road. And meandered through a very foresty sort of area. Felt very middle of nowhere.
And then I happened upon a little cairn of stones, just a few rocks, piled on one another, on the side of the trail. Interesting, I thought. And then there was another one. And a couple of more. And then I turn a bend and there's a whole clearing, filled with these little piles of stones. Many of them. I'm in sort of a forest, vague notions of where the canyon edge and the road are, but not close to either. Haven't seen a human being in quite some time. I wish I'd taken a picture, but at that point the light wasn't so good, and I wasn't really in the mood to linger, if you catch my meaning.
In any case, after that frisson of the supernatural, I made it to the second-to-the-last lookout just as the second-to-the-last shuttle van of the night was pulling in. The driver said something like "You probably want to be taking this shuttle." I said something like "Yes, I probably do." So I snapped this shot of the sunset, took the shuttle out to Hermit's Rest, and then back to the safety of Grand Canyon Village, my hiking adventure a rousing success.
