Hiking up to the Rim

At 4:30am we were woken up by a knock on the dorm door for 5am breakfast.  I felt so bad because Rachael and I were the only ones in the dorm who had 5am breakfast, the others were not hiking up today so they could sleep late.  Breakfast was another amazing meal.  After filling our bellies and getting our gear together we started up the Bright Angel Trail to the rim.  This trail is longer than the one we took down, (9 miles) but was not as steep.  Another good thing was that this trail had built in rest areas with water and bathrooms.  We started on the trail at 7am and made it to the top at 4:30pm.  On the way we had many small adventures !  We saw a RAM, Deer, Elk, and Squirrels.  The squirrels at the rest areas were so fat because they were fed by the hikers.  They were also very bold and would almost sit on your lap and beg or steal your food !  The squirrels were cute, but not such a big deal because well, who hasn’t seen a squirrel ?  We saw a wild ram come right up to the water faucet for a drink and Rachael yelled at me as I got close to get a picture.  We also met other hikers from all over the country and chatted with them.  There was a group of volunteers from other countries who were at the park helping to repair some of the trail.  This was a service learning project from their universities.  By 2pm I was really feeling tired.  We had to constantly refill our water supply at each rest area because the temperature outside was so high.  To keep cool, we took off our outer hiking shirts, dunked them in water and put them back on to keep our core temperatures down.  We were close to the top of the trail now and that was where a lot of people walk down about ½ a mile to take pictutes and then walk back up.  While we were dragging, smelly, and could barely walk, these people were clean and crisp.  As we walked by them so of them cheered us on because it was obvious that we had hiked from the bottom.  At one point I came up to a spot where the whole passage was crowded with people so that I could not get by.  I thought they were watching a ram or deer, but when I saw that they were blocking the path for a freaking SQUIRREL, I wanted to say “Really ? you are all excited about a squirrel ?  get out of my way !”  Well we finally made it up to the rim, high 5 –ed each other, and went to the cabin for a shower after which we had dinner and collapsed in bed.