Spent last week running a Mule-assist for the Grand Canyon Field Institute. One lucky fella on the trip. Mules were down very late on Tuesday: didn't get in until 5 PM. Rockslide on the Bright Angel, so they couldn't start down till noon, and then they were very vexed. I guess if they aren't chosen by then, they figure they get the day off. Sjors says lots of rock slides this spring.

Saturday hiked to Horseshoe Mesa. Much, much nasty ice and snow. That trail is narrow and slippery enough without adding complications. Picked up a colman inflatable mattress that weighed 9 pounds (!) and carried it out. Mucho karma points for that one.

Hiked to just below Cedar Ridge on Friday. Had to get to Prescott for an appointment, so we hiked down for an hour, showed some fossils to a gaggle of girl scouts, and hiked out to shower and drive down. Sunday we hiked to Skeleton Point. Lots and lots of persons out for Spring Break. Even saw my boss on the trail with a batch of kids.

The top of the Kaibab is terrible. Glare ice and steep ... and about half the hikers with no crampons. They have a good old time sliding down, but I don't know how they think they will get back out. Brad passed one couple who commented: lucky thing you have those crampons, and he said: luck had nothing to do with it. Then I passed them, and they said, lucky thing YOU have those crampons, and I said: I wouldn't have come down that trail without them. No sympathy at all.

My Skeleton Point Raven has a girlfriend now. Just before I got this picture, he chowed down on a big hunk of TP. Ewww! I knew they would eat anything but, geepers...

Dan came down today and we hiked from Kaibab to Bright Angel. I can't remember the last time I did that. Maybe 30+ years ago? 8 hours. It started out nice, but the weather deteriorated and by the time we got out it was snowing hard.

Saw a bighorn that Della told us had been chasing people, so we figured maybe she is about to be a mother. Those hormones are killers. Then a little baby pink rattler on the Corkscrew. I'm tired, but my good knee hurts more than my muscles do. My bad knee did OK. Oh, well.