Grand Canyon National Park: Dripping Springs

Today was the last day of Fundamentals II at the Albright Center. It was a half-day of classes and since I have some time before I need to be back in Carlsbad, I decided to go for a hike before I left the Grand Canyon. I opted to head west and hike the trail from Hermit's Rest to Dripping Springs.

The hike started in cold but calm, sunny conditions.

The trail started on the rim and soon headed down into a side canyon. Parts of the trail bed were lined with rock riprap.

It made for a visually interesting hiking surface. The views off to the side of the trail were great as usual. After I reached a flat area the trail headed into a drainage and skirted around its side. There were lots of great views.

Soon I reached the intersection of two trails, I took the one that headed to Dripping Springs.

I saw a few people as I hiked, mostly guys out hiking alone like me.

Eventually I found myself at Dripping Springs.

While it wasn't the most spectacular place I had ever hiked to, it was interesting nonetheless. I spent a little bit of time exploring the area and found the foundation of a trough reputed to have been used by a hermit who lived there to raise goldfish in.

I then hit the trail to retrace my steps to the car. Again there were great views, somewhat changed from earlier due to the changing angle of the sun.