Was intrigued by the writeup of a 'hard' hike so I selected this
one for labor day weekend as I also planned to relax in the water along Bell trail later.
As promised this is a long hike , quite flat on the rim. Unfortunately by about
1pm I got hammered by a huge thunderstorm that lasted for three hours ! End
of the day ! How can this happen on every AZ backpack I take ?? Must be bringing
rain seeds from NJ. I was about 8mi into the rim section. In the morning hiked through the
mud back down to enjoy Bell trail and real sun for 1.5 dsys. The rim hike gets a little
boring but there are spots with great views.