We woke up early as planned and ate our usual oatmeal. We made some peanut butter and jelly bagels to take along with some other snacks. Yesterday, we thought about buying a cheap backpack since we don't have one along. We wanted something to carry our water, snacks, and other supplies. We discovered that the general store does gear rental, so for $6 we were able to get a North Face day-pack. We stuffed it full of food and water and headed on our way.

We had to take the shuttle bus to get to the South Kaibab trailhead. There were some workers/volunteers there fixing the trail; it sure looked like a tough job. Immediately, our descent was steep with a set of 8 switchbacks. It was fairly easy going down, but in the back of our minds, we were thinking about how we'd have to go back up in a few hours. These thoughts quickly departed as we concentrated on the beauty surrounding us. The trail first took us to Ooh Aah Point and then to Cedar Ridge. At Cedar Ridge, we took a little rest and then continued on. Our final destination on the trail was Skeleton Point. For day hikers, it is not recommended to go much further beyond this point. 

We ate our lunch at Skeleton Point, even though it was only 10:15 am. We were joined by an overly-friendly squirrel. From this point, we were able to see a chunk of the Colorado River. We were waiting to see some rafters go by, but no such luck! We spent a little more time soaking in the spectacular views before heading back up.

The hike up was, of course, much more grueling. We were all fit enough to make it, but had some difficulties due to blisters. We all hiked in our bike shoes because our only other footwear is flipflops. We never have spent so many hours/miles walking in our shoes before. Michelle got the worst of it; she had blisters the size of fifty-cent pieces of the back of both of her heels. Luckily, we ran into a really friendly ranger/EMS lady named Meghan. She gave Michelle some band-aids as well as her hiking poles. Although it took Michelle some time to coordinate the new arm apparatuses, she soon forgot about the pain in her feet. 

We arrived back at the top and it was barely afternoon. After getting sweaty, it felt very chilly at the top. The temperature difference between the top and the bottom of the rim can be as much as 30 degrees. We took the shuttle bus back to plaza area and then walked the rest of the way back to the campground. The rest of the day was spent showering, surfing the net, and relaxing. We look forward to having one more day off in the Grand Canyon tomorrow!