This was the first hike of four for the weekend of my 40th birthday. We got a little later start due to my oversleeping in the morning, but were still able to start at about 12:30pm. The beginning of the trail has a few spots that are overloaded with the mule manure, but then after that it's pretty clean. The beginning has a few climbs, which I didn't welcome very much only because the hike description I had read in my book described that as a mostly level hike.

Very early in the hike, while were still on the Ken Patrick trail I think, we saw a family of turkeys. Three baby turkeys flew down off the hillside right next to the trail amongst some pine trees. We could see and hear the parents calling to them, and they didn't sound very pleased. I managed to get some shots and we were on our way.

At the southernmost tip of the loop, there is a spur trail that goes to the edge where there is a very nice lookout of the North Rim. We got the obligatory photos, noticed a fire that seemed to be starting to the east, and made our way to the rest of the hike. On the way back we ran into a mule train who had a guide that was a bit of a control freak, but no major incidents occurred.