After staying the night at a KOA in Flagstaff, we stopped at Peace Surplus, a popular Flagstaff recreational equipment store, to pick-up gear that we would need for our trek down into the canyon, and headed up U.S. Route 180 to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

 

 
 

I have been to both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon before, but each time I am here, I am still awed by is beauty.

Echo standing at Mohave Point.

 

From Mohave point, it is possible to see all the way down into the inner gorge to the Colorado River.  The south rim of the Grand Canyon is 2,150 meters (7,050 feet) in elevation.  The Colorado river flows through this section of the canyon at 732 meters (2402 feet) in elevation.  That is nearly a one mile difference in elevation.  The green plain above the river is the edge of the outer gorge, and is half way between the river and the rim in elevation, or about half a mile.  Coming off the right edge of this picture is Hopi Point.  Beyond Hopi Point, notice the two intersecting trails atop the edge of the inner gorge.  Those trails are on Plateau Point.

The Bright Angle Trail viewpoint provides an almost uninterrupted view of the trail's route down into the outer gorge, all the way to Plateau Point.  Plateau point is actually a separate 2.4 kilometer (1.5 mile) trail branching off of the Bright Angle trail at its midway point, Indian Gardens.  The Bright angle trail actually goes down into the river gorge just to the right of the Plateau Point trail.

 

 

Notice all of the icy switch-backs in the trail as it winds its way down from the south rim of the canyon?  I certainly did.  This is the trail that we will be hiking down tomorrow.
Journey Onward!