We've been in the Grand Canyon for two days now and the only thing that I can say is that it deserves every accolade that it gets. However because of its grandeur it does attract hordes of tourists (many of them on massive tour buses with matching tracksuits and badges, following tour leaders with little signs).

Nic and I had an experience that I think typifies the 'big tour bus' mentality. We'd taken Andrus up on his offer to go and see the sunrise. Getting to the best viewing location we observed around 100 people crammed on to this small little outlook waiting for the sun (for sunset there was more like thousands all lining along the rim of the canyon). Scanning the area we noted that along the rim there was no one to be seen, so we walked over there and got to view the sunrise with out having t jostle for position. I just don't understand why the sardines on the prom entry didn't spread out, possibly because their leader and sign were on the promontory!

The second day in the Grand Canyon six of us decided to take a day hike down the Bright Angle trail to Plateau point which was about as far as you can go into the Canyon on a day hike. We set out fairly early descending from the crowded rim down the zig-zag trail still shaded by the canyon rim. The further we got down the less people we saw, which was a good sign. After an hour or so the trail straightened out and leveled out and we followed to the trail out across the plateau. At this point the temperature was in the mid-30s and Nic decided to turn back and wait for us on our return trip at a shelter.

The National Parks service had out done them selves by installing shade shelters with water at three spots along the track. This is basically to cater for anyone who gets overwhelmed by the heat to rest and rehydrate. The sad thing is that they have to rescues many people each year who try to descend into the canyon totally unprepared for the conditions, particularly the extreme heat. On our ascent of the canyon we saw plenty of people who fitted this description with inappropriate footwear, little or no water and who didn't look like they could handle a thousand meter climb in the heat. I passed at least one elderly woman with advanced heat stress (possibly even heat stroke) who was being helped up by a parks volunteer. Its great that the National Parks Service makes these places so accessible by opening trails but its frustrating to see that some people are just too stupid to heed the many warnings.

When Kev, Wendy and I arrived at Plateau Point it was getting hot with the temperature having climbed from the comfortable morning in the mid-20s to around 40 degrees Celsius. However having only another three people at the looking out and looking over the Colorado river at the base of the Canyon and back at the imposing 1,000m canyon walls we had descended (and we'd have to climb back up in the heat) it was more than worth it. This is the way to experience the Canyon NOT standing on the crowded rim! The view was beyond description, it made me feel really small and pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. My 360 degree video of the point can be seen on facebook. After a quick snack we started the long journey back up, running into Max and Dulshan just after we left the lookout. It was a long hot haul up. We met up with Nic at the first one who sensibly had stopped (unlike many) as she felt the heat during decent was getting two much for her. We stopped to rehydrate with her and played some cards and repeated this at each shelter on the ascent. By the time we made it back to camp that evening I still felt good but had drunk about 20L of water during the cause of the day!

If you ever go to the Grand Canyon I recommend going into the Canyon to be awed by its size but please exercise common sense and don't become a rescue statistic.