Took a group down to Indian Gardens with a day hike to Phantom Ranch and back. A very nice group. I always get the good groups. It must be my Canyon Karma rewarding me for all that graffiti removal. Either that, or I am so mean and ornery that everyone is afraid to cause trouble.

There was an earthquake the first night. One could hear it: a deep rumble in the ground with a sound of sloshing water. That is about as good as it gets around here. Also a skunk. We could all smell it, but no one was willing to flash a light about in case we irritated it. One of the fans in the outhouse was broken, and I thought I was gonna die of asphyxiation on the spot. One tends to forget that the dehydrating toilets down there work pretty well until they don't. And no rangers around to complain to.

The Redbud is in bloom. I didn't expect that, and it was a nice bonus. This Redbud is only found in the GC, and it is in bloom maybe a week or so. The campground was full every night. So full, in fact, that a small group had to stay in the large group site both nights. Gee, I would have sacrificed and stayed in the large site if I knew it was required to do so.

They are putting in a new bathroom at Pipe creek Beach, and the copter was bringing supplies in and out. Very windy, so it was tricky. We got too close to the hovering bird, and the ranger yelled, "Get back, get back!", which we did with alacrity. I ain't gonna argue with a bladed object that large.

Gale force winds the second night, but no one blew away. It was supposed to snow, which it did on the North Rim, which made for nice pictures and kept the riffraff off the trail. I didn't take a lot of pictures, and most of those were Redbuds, which tend to all look alike, but I did take movies, so I'll post those.