THURSDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2025

(Grand Canyon Village, AZ)

I should mention that, with all the Aurora activity even far south in the USA, you might have expected some photos from me. Sadly, the clouds that developed during our hike didn’t clear, and we couldn’t see stars, much less Aurora. There are great photos posted by others from Canyonlands, however…ah well. We can only enjoy where we are. 

Talking of which, we’re enjoying it very much. I got up and made coffee after Andrew woke at about 8am today, then headed to the balcony with it, to relax and take in the morning stillness and pine scented air. After a few minutes I heard some gentle footsteps, and a deer wandered by just below the balcony. I watched it, quietly, and then dashed back inside to get my phone and take a picture. What a lovely way to start the day, watching a deer gently grazing on plants and juniper trees.

We went for breakfast, and today I had the oatmeal as there wasn’t a queue. In fact, it seemed very quiet today. Andrew nearly had a corn beef hash for breakfast, until he discovered it was covered in seemingly mandatory cheese.

We got ready for hiking and drove to the visitor centre, from where we caught the orange route bus to the South Kaibab trailhead. We began the descent down the multiple switchbacks of the chimney section, before following the trail out along the side of the cliff, underneath Yaki Point. It was busy-ish. There were quite a few people, but it wasn’t ‘packed’. As we approached Ooh-Aah Point, we could see a cluster of people looking at the view over the rocks.

Many of the people set off for the return trip from there, and passed us as we approached, so there weren’t many around when we got there and stopped briefly for the view. We continued down, going out over Windy Ridge, which today didn’t have a murmur of a breeze, much less wind. We spotted a chipmunk chipping across the trail there, one of only a few we’ve seen this trip.

Continuing down the tail we could see the mules were resting at Cedar Ridge, and they were still there when we arrived. We sat for a while in the shade, watching a bluejay hoovering up scraps of food dropped by previous visitors. 

Before we’d set off, I’d expressed a desire, if we were both feeling ok at the time, to descend being Cedar Ridge. We haven’t done that for many years. I didn’t want to go as far as Skeleton Point, but wanted to reach a plateau that I recalled offered great views into the lower levels of the canyon and across to Plateau Point. We both felt ok, so off we went. It was just over another half a mile one way, and around 350 feet of extra descent (and therefore climb on the way back). It was definitely worth it. It was beautiful. We felt more immersed in the canyon, and there were relatively few people out there. The plateau was a rocky ledge, which terminated in a drop, with the trail continuing off to the side and around O’Neill Butte.

We enjoyed the views and scenery for quite a while, but eventually dragged ourselves away and started the climb back up. We stopped often, sometimes to take photos or admire the view, sometimes to rest in the shade, and occasionally to admire the engineering skills that have been put to use to create this trail.

We kept on plodding, slowly, taking our time, definitely being the tortoise not the hare. But it didn’t matter what pace we had, as long as we were enjoying the hike and the scenery. And we most definitely were.

We reached the top, finishing with those switchbacks, our boots now coloured red with dust. We sat and waited for the shuttle bus to take us back to the visitor centre. Once there, we drove back to our lodge, and sat out on our balcony with the usual array of snacks, plus some genuine UK Dairy Milk chocolate, as I felt we’d earned it today.

After a while, and showers, we went to dinner at the lodge. I checked the weather forecast and it seemed that, if we wanted to go and peer into the blackness of space, tonight was the night. It is currently forecast to be cloudy tomorrow. And so we went back to the room, picked up the tripod, put on a warmer coat, and plodded the quarter mile to the canyon rim. In the dark. Through the woods. At the rim we tried a star trails picture, and a couple Milky Way photos. While waiting for the camera to do its thing, I’ve spotted another shooting star, and we noted the regular highlights such as the Andromeda Galaxy. 

Finally, we returned to the room and relaxed before going to bed. And that was a day at the Canyon which was about as good as it gets, if a little bit tiring!

[Editor’s note: there will be a video. Probably tomorrow!]

Bonus! It’s ready! You can find today’s video here:https://vimeo.com/1136775060