On the Trail: Hiking through the Southwest

The South Kaibab Trail | Grand Canyon National Park
Surprisingly to me, I didn't feel any fear when looking down thousand-foot drops, even though it was very windy. We hiked down the South Kaibab trail today, which is very steep--it goes 4,800 feet down in just 6.3 miles of hiking! We just went down 500 feet in 1.3 miles, though. It was a great hike for me, super varied terrain, which is a huge plus for me, I can hike forever if I'm always going up and down a hill or around a bend.

Rim Trail/Hermit's Rest | Grand Canyon National Park
We hiked the Rim Trail today, out to Hermit's Rest, and unfortunately for me (if you read yesterday's report), I didn't find it particular thrilling. There was this one place called Powell's point, that I had some fun at. 

Bright Angel Trail/Watch Tower (South Rim) | Grand Canyon National Park
We hiked down 500 meters into the Bright Angel Trail, to see some ancient Native American pictographs painted on a cliff face. They were really  a sight to see. After we finished, we headed to the watch tower, (a building designed by my mom's new favorite person over, Mary Colter,) which overlooks the south rim. It was designed to look like a Native American building, and boy did it do a good job. The inside is filled with pictographs, leatherwork, thatching, and many other authentic construction styles/art forms. It offers a great view of the canyon. 
 
Little Colorado River Scenic Outlook  | Grand Canyon National Park
I thought it to be a fresh eyefull of rock formations. I found it much more visually engaging and diverse than the Grand Canyon. I actually like it much better, even though the scale was much smaller.

Walnut Canyon | Flagstaff, AZ
We hiked down 270 steps to the cliffside to where the houses were cleverly built into the overhanging rock. The view of the cliffside and dry riverbeds around the place is very good, there are a lot of interesting rock formations there. Also, great echo-potential.

Vista Trail (Boynton Canyon) | Sedona, AZ
A trail that I thoroughly enjoyed. It starts out pretty flat, then slopes upward until you arrive on this rocky hill. My favorite part was there was this big mound that you could climb up, an gain a great view of the canyon and surrounding cliffsides Also, people had been building a bunch of these rock structures called Cairns, which are simle little stacks of flat rocks, each smaller than the one below it. It was a very fun place, I would recommend it.