We got up feeling sore, but we were both happy to have worked our tired muscles walking up to Ribbon Falls the day before – even more so were we thankful for our cozy cabin, as the rain had continued to fall steadily through the night. For the second day in a row, ours was the “late” breakfast at 6:30am (the early seating is at 5, desirable in the summer months for those wanting to beat the excessive heat), and just a handful of the guests we had met were heading out up the Bright Angel Trail today – most were exiting the canyon via the South Kaibab route. Having come down that way, we couldn’t imagine going up the steep switchbacks to The Tipoff, much less the steep climb to Skeleton Point – still, we acknowledged the advantages of a shorter walk, even if steeper. Our exit would be some 10 miles and about 4,500′ of gain – we’d walk back to the river, cross on the western Silver Bridge, then walk about a mile downstream where we’d turn south up the Garden Creek drainage and start climbing out. Upon reaching the Tonto Platform, we’d continue south through Indian Garden and resume climbing up through a succession of cliff bands, emerging on the South Rim about a half mile west of our hotel. Chris knew well in advance this would be a slow day for him, but we figured to try and maintain a simple, steady pace – we’d get to the rim soon enough. We left Phantom Ranch just after 8am, walking the familiar path out past the ranger station and down the creek, this time staying on the east side as we passed familiar faces doing their morning thing in the campground on the opposite bank. We crossed the creek at the mouth of Bright Angel Canyon and made our way westward through some NPS facilities to the Silver Bridge – blue skies had been threatening to break through all morning, and, apart from some wispy clouds still hanging around here and there, it looked like the day would turn out to be a nice one. We crossed the bridge to the south bank, turning west on the River Trail, and noted how the previous night’s rain seemed to highlight all the colors in the rocks and vegetation around us – the precipitation also served to pack down the trail surface a bit, much appreciated as we proceeded through a long sandy section that would have been otherwise laborious. The walk along the river was uneventful, the exceptions being the unexpected gain and loss of about 200′ over riverside cliffs and the astonishingly beautiful views of the surrounding terrain features wreathed in clouds. We soon reached the River Rest House where the trail left the river’s edge, just in time for the sprinkles to start falling for the first time today – as we made our way up the easy grade along Garden Creek, we encountered the mud and puddles of water that would become the order of the day. After a couple of creek crossings, the latter of which being where Chris’ foot slipped off a rock and got a good dunking as a result, we ascended further up the canyon on the winding trail, following the eastern Pipe Creek drainage to the base of a steep series of switchbacks known as the Devil’s Corkscrew. The sprinkles had turned to steady rain, so on went the ponchos again as we gained some 500′ over the next half mile – still gaining, we rounded the north end of a ridge and contoured back into the Garden Creek canyon, meeting the creek and turning southward again. The rain now dissipating, the gradient moderated significantly here as we followed the sycamore-filled gully up to the Tonto plateau, although the swollen creek had overflowed its banks in a few spots and was basically washing directly down the trail. We picked our way upward, our pace slowing predictably, until we made a final creek crossing and our path led higher upslope away from the watercourse the rest of the way out of the picturesque little canyon. We passed a junction with the eastbound Tonto Trail and made our way into Indian Garden – we had considered camping for a night here during our initial trip planning when we were still thinking of backpacking – and Chris noted a restroom uphill and away from us along the trail. Jane made a cryptic comment about not wanting to go up the hill and wandered off to the west, Chris thinking she was just exploring a bit – he sat down on a nearby bench to send a satellite text message to the kids on our progress before realizing in a panic that he’d not seen Jane for several minutes. Jane’s propensity to take wrong turns is well known to us both, and the westbound Tonto Trail junction was just opposite from where Chris was sitting – crap, said he, she’s taken the wrong trail, and, leaving his pack on the bench, headed quickly west on the lateral route, shouting Jane’s name. Half running, half walking fast, he came upon a pair of hikers heading east – had they seen a solo woman on the trail? Yes, they said, she’s not more than 5 minutes ahead, so Chris picked up his pace (not an easy task, mind you), and he found Jane another quarter mile west, she having stopped to remove a troublesome pebble from her boot – thank goodness for that, as he might still be chasing her. After a brief argument, er, conversation, we realized her stopping point offered a wide vista northward to clouds and snow on the various north canyon features – Jane takes full credit now for leading Chris to some really nice photo ops. Okay, whatever. We made our way back east to Indian Garden and resumed our trek southward, on the correct trail now, and the rain began again in earnest. And so the grade increased as well, although we were soon energized by the sun breaking through and turning the gloomy canyon into an array of color and light. About a half mile south of Indian Garden, the trail starts to switchback up the initial canyon headwall to the 3-Mile Rest House (so named for its distance from the South Rim trailhead) – Chris’ pace slowed considerably here, not from any cardio issues but because his quads and calves were like jello, the stair-stepped trail proving to be more than a little troublesome. He practiced the walk for a minute, rest for 30 seconds method all through this section – Jane, on the other hand, wanted to keep pressing upward, noting that her tired legs started to stiffen up whenever she stopped. We did take a 15-minute break at the 3-mile shelter, if for no other reason than to get out of the intermittent rain for a spell, and we resumed our upward grind thereafter. The light in the canyon below us was ever changing – sun would break through, clouds would blow in, and the continual fluctuations made for different views with literally every glance. Chris observed that someone could sit in one place for 30 minutes and be treated to a dozen different vistas during that time – it was most impressive. As we made our way higher, a rainbow formed below us, eventually extending across the breadth of the Garden Creek valley. We passed the 1.5-Mile Rest House and ascended up a series of short switchbacks through a narrow notch in the second-tier cliff band below the rim – here we reached the snowline and were treated to a second rainbow over the canyon to the north. The constant muck had turned to slush – we had carried our unused microspikes all this way, but, now that they might offer some utility, we were in the last mile and didn’t want to lose momentum by stopping to put them on. The last trail section makes a long swing westward before switching back for a long eastward traverse, and we powered up to the top as the views northward now included snowy foreground accents. The GPS again overstated our actual mileage (we think it gets confused when clouds or canyon walls interfere with satellite communications), and it was right at 4pm when we topped out, some 8 hours after we left Phantom Ranch. The South Rim had gotten 3-4 inches of snow overnight, and most people we encountered were heavily dressed with temps in the 30s – we were still in just our woolies, but the climb had served to keep us warm the rest of the walk east up the paved Rim Trail to the hotel. After cleaning up, we ate dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge – the weather forecast again looked like overnight snow, but we reflected during our brisk, chilly walk back to the Kachina that the variable weather only enhanced the experience for us. Of course, it was doubtful that either of us would be able to walk comfortably in the morning…