Grand Canyon Backpack - Day 1
The New Hance Trail (Continued)
The descending trail continued to be quite rugged at times, particularly through the steeper rock layers, and at other times was a very smooth and pleasant trail. I must say I was thankful I had brought along a hiking pole as I think it really makes a huge difference on the descent.
Andrew pointed out some of the geographical landmarks along the way. One landmark off in the distance, Shannon noted, looked like a nipple - so we started to call it Nipple Top. Andrew also pointed out all the different rock layers and their names, including the "Grand Canyon Supergroup", which are layers of rock rising up from the river on a diagonal and topped with other sedimentary layers. You can't see the supergroup in all parts of the canyon, and through our days of hiking, we would see it disappear.
During our lunch stop, Shannon was the lead student in an excellent lesson of blister care by the blister care expert, Brian. (I had used his services myself on an Adirondack hike, and was very grateful for this expertise of his!). Perhaps this exhausted Brian, as he seemed to take a short nap afterwards.