September 4

Another early start to get a workout in before school. At the trailhead at 4:40 and it is chilly (48 degrees!) and dark, dark, dark. Need flashlights all the way to Mile and a Half.

Rounding one corner something BIG moves across the trail just ahead and of me and just out of sight. Don't see anything with the light. I wonder (hope) if it was a mountain lion. Big horn sheep usually just stand/sit there chewing their cud (if they do chew cud -- must look that up) (Yes, they do. Big Horns are ruminants, and they do chew cud) and stare at one blandly until they decide to move on. I know mountain lions frequent the BA. If they have a deer or mule to chow down on, they sit by the trail, watching the passersby, with no one the wiser. Probably thinking: "Hmmm, that one with the flip flops .. keep on eye on her. She might slip."

We take the Geology of the Grand Canyon class from Mesa Community College every semester we can fit it in. One year the class hiked overnight to Bright Angel Campground and spent two nights at Indian Garden. I was hiking down with Donna, one of the instructors, and told her about mountain lions in the Canyon, and how they have been spotted crossing the black bridge.

Darkness encroached upon us, so I scampered on ahead. Donna (with no light) started seeing lions in every shadow, and by the time she got to the bridge was cursing me soundly. Of course, I came running back with a flashlight once I had my stuff safely ensconsed in camp and realized that the hikers behind me didn't have lights. And we didn't really see a mountain lion.

No hikers all the way down. On the way out it is light enough to see the trail, so we can stash the lights. Lovely alpineglow on the Coconino and Kaibab. Query: alpineglow is at sunset, so what do we call it at sunrise? Wolgenipla?

We meet four hikers just below the rim, all foreign. It is the time of year for Europeans' long vacations, and unlike Americans, they tend to get out and walk. 35 minutes in, 35 minutes out, and it is time to get ready for school.