Time is growing short on our tour. We had a free day today to enjoy, and we took advantage of it.

The weather today looked a little like western Washington…cloudy and threatening to rain lightly. There was lightning 40 miles south of us, but none here. Tomorrow is supposed to be more interesting.

We started the morning by renting two bikes and riding out to Yaki Point, east of the visitor’s center. The path was paved and reasonably flat. We had a great time seeing the canyon perched on a bike saddle.

We followed that up with a light picnic lunch, then took the shuttle bus to the South Rim Village. We spent some time exploring the neighborhood, made sure Leila’s National Park passport was up to date, then started a walk along the Rim Trail back to the visitor’s center. This was a good walk of about 2.1 miles. As usual the scenery was wonderful.

Meanwhile, we added to our collection of caution signs. We are now to be looking for mules in addition to deer, elk, bison, rocks, prairie dogs, and marmots. You may also add the elusive mountain lion warning to this list. I’m not certain why a mountain lion would choose a particular place to cross the road, but there you are.

More hiking tomorrow morning, hoping to beat the rain predicted for the afternoon. Tomorrow night is our farewell dinner with the group, then Tuesday morning we start for home.