Continued from South Rim Part 1: Laguna Meadow
In climbing up from the trailhead to Laguna Meadow we went from from 5,400 feet to 7,460 feet. Walking the South Rim trail was pretty easy at this point — level ground, woo hoo! Next we headed down into Boot Canyon — if you look at the picture you can guess how it got its name!
It’s named after Boot Rock — a large rock that looks like an upside-down cowboy boot. The going got much easier except for some slick rocks near Boot Spring. The slick rocks are what did my ankle in — I slipped off the edge of a rock — about a 5 or 6 inch drop — and twisted my ankle, landing hard on it and kinda sideways. Lucky for me it only hurt for a few minutes — I didn’t even think anything of it until the next day so I was able to enjoy the rest of the hike. Glad I was wearing my hiking boots!
There are some awesome plants in this canyon including Big Tooth Maples, Douglas Firs, Alligator Juniper, Pinyon Pine, Madrones, tons of grasses, a neat penstemon, and more!
We ate lunch while looking at Boot Rock and taking in the view. The clouds had cleared off by this time and the temperatures started heating up so we took off our sweatshirts. We watched some jays swooping from one side of the canyon to the other — not sure what kind of jays they were but they sure were pretty! And they made a huge racket!
Oh and I ate the last of these awesome new crackers that we brought from Austin called — Dr. Kracker — yum! So far I’ve found them at Whole Foods and HEB and every kind I’ve tried has been delicious!
We decided that much as we’d have liked to we couldn’t stay much longer, so we packed up and headed out.
Continue on with Part 3: Heading back…
Very pretty! Wish we were there again right now.