(written by Nath)...27km loop trail - down South Kaibab trail , cross the Colorado River, back up Bright Angel trail.
"Ha ha haaaa" ....my response to all the signs advising against hiking from the canyon rim to the river and back up in a day. Surely those signs are just there for old timers and overweight, unprepared seppos. Supposedly 250 hikers attempting the up and backer need to be airlifted out each year by the US National Parks Service. I figured it was a fabricated statistic; scare tactics.
5.30am - minus 2 degrees celsius - on the NPS shuttle bus, lied to the bus driver about my intentions.
6.00am - hit the trail...descended aggressively, dodging mule sh*t while taking in unbelievable vistas...the kind so immense that photos can't possibly capture them.
6.30am - passed 2 other hikers, one stripping down to full length lycra tights and sporting a cowboy hat, as if he will make it.
7.00 - 8.30am - can't help but take photos at every turn. So quiet, surprisingly so. Share trail with a deer for a while... so many cactii, wildflowers everywhere.
8.45am - reach the river, it's raging, magnificent - 2 hours ahead of schedule.9.00 - 10.00am - shoes off, thermals off, feet in the river, it's cold. Eat turkey sandwich, bananas, drink gatorade... and power bars (always thought they were for pansies, but now converted).
10.15am - begin ascent - 1.5km in altitude to climb over 13km - am pumped.
10.30am -12.30pm - finding the rhythm... hard to focus when canyon is so magnificent. Still, burning off everyone.
12.30-1.00pm - legs seizing up, cramps start in right leg, take Nurofen, now in the left leg. 
F*ck, don't want to be airlifted (or mule lifted) out. 1.05pm - Put on headphones, only 'Eye of the Tiger' can get me there.
1.30pm - make it back to the rim.
Done. 7 hours, 30 mins. A genuinely spectacular day hike. Probably helped that every hike I had done in the last 5 years was carrying a 10-20kg child...just felt so light on my feet.
(written by Flea)...
Meanwhile, the kids and I slept in til 8.00am, caught the free shuttle at 10.00am, hiked a mere 3km (Dash did about 1.5km himself so I only had to carry him for half) and checked out the overlooks, bus hopping out to Hermit's Rest, or as the kids took to calling it "Kermit's rest".On returning back to Bessie, we found Dad was already home ("What the ?") and then we were visited by some elk grazing through the campgrounds.
