Alarm at 5 at Mather Campground. Frost on the tent, instant oatmeal on the camp stove, and Jimmy refusing to come out of his sleeping bag until the coffee was ready. We parked the car where it would be waiting for us at the top of the Bright Angel the next day, got a ride over to the South Kaibab trailhead, and were standing at the top a little after 6.

6:10 a.m. at the trailhead. Me in the gray sweatshirt and Jimmy zipping up. The canyon was still in shadow and it was about 30 degrees. Brenda took this one.

The South Kaibab doesn't ease you into anything. It goes right over the edge in a set of tight switchbacks cut into the cliff, and then it runs out along ridges with the canyon falling away on both sides. There's no shade and no water the whole way. What there is, is the view. You're out on the ridges, not tucked in a side canyon, so every turn is another postcard.

7:00 a.m., Cedar Ridge, a mile and a half down. Brenda's camera has a panorama switch and I made her let me use it. That's her on the rock at the far left, drinking water like I told her to. You can see the trail going down the ridge on the right. Click for the full width.

We passed Skeleton Point about 8:15. Somewhere below it we heard a mule train coming up. The mule trips from Phantom Ranch come back up this trail, and when you meet them you step to the uphill side, stand still and keep quiet until they're past. It is a long line of mules on a narrow trail with a very long drop on the other side, and nobody argues.

Jimmy and me flat against the wall while the mules go by. Brenda was a few feet up the trail and got this one looking down. The wrangler said good morning to every single one of us.

Below the Tipoff the trail drops into the inner gorge and the rock goes dark, and all of a sudden you can see the river. It's green, not brown, and it looks close for about an hour before it actually is. The trail goes through a short tunnel in the rock and comes out right onto the Black Bridge.

12:30 p.m. The Black Bridge over the Colorado, from inside the tunnel. Jimmy ran ahead to wave. I stopped and looked at the cables for a while, which Brenda says is the most engineer thing I did all weekend.

From the bridge it's another half mile along Bright Angel Creek to Phantom Ranch, which is a handful of stone cabins and a canteen under big cottonwood trees, with the creek running right by. We walked in at 1:00. The first thing you do is buy a lemonade. The second thing you do is buy another lemonade.

Phantom Ranch, about 4 in the afternoon. Brenda writing postcards, with lemonade number three. I am resting my eyes. Jimmy took this one and says I was snoring.

We soaked our feet in the creek, sent the postcards out by mule, and ate the steak dinner in the canteen at long tables with everybody else who'd come down that day. I have never eaten a better steak, although after seven miles downhill I may not be a fair judge. Then the dorms. The men's dorm had ten bunks and a shower, and nine of the ten of us snored. Jimmy says it was ten.