His wife,
who had remained there, was in good health again, and insisted on his
finishing the trip at once. We were just as anxious to have it
finished, but were not very enthusiastic about this last part on
account of some very cold weather we had been having. On the other
hand, we feared if the trip was not finished then it might never be
completed. So we consoled ourselves with the thought that it was some
warmer at the bottom than it was on top, and prepared to make the
final plunge--350 miles to Needles, with a 1600-foot descent in the
185 miles that remained of the Grand Canyon.
A foot of snow had fallen two nights before we planned on leaving. The
thermometer had dropped to zero, and a little below on one occasion,
during the nights for a week past. Close to the top the trail was
filled with drifts. The walls were white with snow down to the
plateau, 3200 feet below; something unusual, as it seldom descends as
snow lower than two thousand feet, but turns to rain. But a week of
cold, cloudy weather, accompanied by hard winds, had driven all warmth
from the canyon, allowing this snow to descend lower than usual. Under
such conditions the damp cold in the canyon, while not registered on
the thermometer as low as that on top, is more penetrating. Very
little sun reaches the bottom of the inner gorge in December and
January. It is usually a few degrees colder than the inner plateau
above it, which is open, and does get some sun.
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