The Adventures of Sock Monkey Episode 5: Over the River and Through the Woods, to the Bottom of the Grand Canyon We Go Day 2

   So! Here we go for Day 2! Now this is the fun part. And I like fun parts, so let's get to it!

   We woke up 6:25 AM and packed up all our stuff before watching the sunrise. We checked out of our hotel via phone and walked to the stone corral where the mules are kept so people can board the mules without getting kicked off the edge of the Grand Canyon. More people came as it got later until there were a total of nine people, including the three of us, all decked out in our smelly rubber slickers/raincoats. Our guides were Camille and Lori and the showed us which mules we were riding, where we put our stuff, how to "motivate" (ie: smack with leather strips) our mules, and how not to become the first mule-caused casualty in 120 yrs. Crazy, isn't it? My mule was named Corky, by the way. See below.

We Three Mules
(Left to Right: Corky, Berta, and Blackburn)

Giddyup, cowboy!

 After everyone got settled, we started down. Personally, I prefer going down compared to going up, but that's just me, because everyone else's backsides hurt after riding for an hour because of all the steps. Back to the fun. We stopped once for lunch at Indian Gardens which is about halfway down the canyon and we ate our box lunches which consisted of Gatorade, cheese sticks, beef jerky, Fritos chips, baby carrots, a dinner roll, an apple, and...wait for it...Oreos. No milk, though.

Yum.

Anyway, we left Indian Gardens and headed towards the bottom, crossing rivers and going through woods and whatnot. We passed a certain corner named Oh Jesus Corner. So you know what to say when you go around because the mules head goes over the edge but the mule doesn't go over. Usually. We arrived at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon at Phantom Ranch after crossing the bridge of DOOM!!! Just kidding. It's the Black Bridge, which was black *gasp*. 

From far away...

...to up close

 We finally got to Phantom Ranch and after dismounting, we checked into the cabins and dropped of our stuff before deciding to go check out camp also known as tromping around the general area of our camp and going in places people aren't supposed to go. Oops.

Little help?

Photo-bomb!

Afterwards, we ate a steak dinner at the cantina and it was super good! Well, that's about it. Any questions, comments, whatever, comment board. And please actually comment! Thanks for reading!