Monday afternoon we hiked the Kaibab Trail. There are stock warnings about ice on the trail. As we began people were telling me that I would make good use of the tripod I was carrying to help with footing. That tripod was new, made from carbon fiber (pricey) to be light weight for hiking. No way I would stick it in the snow. Around the first bend we encountered mud and a little ice. We carefully stepped past the mud. Didn't want to get our shoes dirty. A short distance later we forgot our clean shoes and worried about survival. The steep trail was covered in a sheet of ice. There was no way around.

For about a quarter mile we carefully made our way with everyone else down the icy trail, picking our way where other people had stepped and expressing gratitude for the gifts the mules left on the trail periodically. Their manure, which was spread out and trampled, provided traction. - Photo by Stan Ford