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Description
Another shot from the Grand Canyon, this time almost down at river-level of the Colorado River. It's shot from the "South Kaibab Trail Bridge". Because I started late in the day, the sun was already setting during this point. I continued to the small well you can kind of see to the far right of the image, then settled down on the beach right outside of the picture to eat dinner. I met three nice people down there (2 girls and a guy from Arizona) to chat. They also gave me a set of spare batteries for my flashlight in case mine runs out of power on the way back - it was still another 12 km with ~1600 m of elevation gain back to my car. In the end it turned out not to be a problem because although I walked at least 2 hours of my way back in the dark the moon was so bright that I could see the trail well enough without a flashlight for the most part.

It's safe to say that this was the toughest hike of my life. The length and elevation change alone would have been ok. However, I didn't pack enough food because I had originally planned to go only half-way. When I reached that point I decided I had enough water and strength to continue. On top of that I did the whole hike with an insured knee. And last but not least, the extreme heat made this quite exhausting. Down in the canyon it was well over 40 °C (when I left for the trail the weather forecast said it would be around 44 °C). It was totally worth it in the end but I wouldn't recommend this in summer to anyone who isn't completely confident in his fitness and health as well being able to read his own body signals. I would recommend to do an over-nighter instead.

Location: Colorado River, South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA

Description
Another shot from the Grand Canyon, this time almost down at river-level of the Colorado River. It's shot from the "South Kaibab Trail Bridge". Because I started late in the day, the sun was already setting during this point. I continued to the small well you can kind of see to the far right of the image, then settled down on the beach right outside of the picture to eat dinner. I met three nice people down there (2 girls and a guy from Arizona) to chat. They also gave me a set of spare batteries for my flashlight in case mine runs out of power on the way back - it was still another 12 km with ~1600 m of elevation gain back to my car. In the end it turned out not to be a problem because although I walked at least 2 hours of my way back in the dark the moon was so bright that I could see the trail well enough without a flashlight for the most part.

It's safe to say that this was the toughest hike of my life. The length and elevation change alone would have been ok. However, I didn't pack enough food because I had originally planned to go only half-way. When I reached that point I decided I had enough water and strength to continue. On top of that I did the whole hike with an insured knee. And last but not least, the extreme heat made this quite exhausting. Down in the canyon it was well over 40 °C (when I left for the trail the weather forecast said it would be around 44 °C). It was totally worth it in the end but I wouldn't recommend this in summer to anyone who isn't completely confident in his fitness and health as well being able to read his own body signals. I would recommend to do an over-nighter instead.

Location: Colorado River, South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA