Most of you know my girlfriend Kay and I hiked the Grand Canyon
from rim to rim last year. We hiked down the North Kaibab trail, spent
2 nights in the dorms at Phantom Ranch, and hiked up the Bright Angel
Trail, spending an unscheduled night at Indian Gardens, when Kay got sick. This year the husbands and Kay’s brother wanted to hike with us, so we hiked from the South Rim
(no one to drive the rigs from north to south). Also, the south rim
has a kennel for our dogs. We got to the East section of the Grand
Canyon and stayed at Desert Watchtower Campground for two nights. Since
we were limited to 7 days at the main campground, this gave us a chance
to explore the east section more thoroughly. We revisited all the east view points, along with the Tusayan museum and ruins. The Canyon is splendid & always different from each of its many viewpoints.
On Sep 26, we moved over to Mather Campground by the main section of the South Rim and Grand Canyon Village.
We checked out the kennels and did the preliminary paperwork, stopped
by the Backcountry Information Office to check the latest weather
reports, and visited the rim for ice cream at Bright Angel Lodge, while
looking over where we were headed. On the 27th we delivered the dogs to
their doggie hotel for the next four nights and met our friends at
Bright Angel Lodge to go over our plans and pick up radios for
communication with them. We also confirmed our reservations for meals
at Phantom Ranch, while at the bottom of the canyon.
Finally Sep.
28th was here! I was excited and awake at about 2:30am and by 3:30am
checked with Gary who was also awake. We had been going to take the 6am
Hiker’s shuttle and decided to move it up to the 5am shuttle. Temps
were predicted to be hot, so we decided an early start would serve us
well. Boy, were we right about that. We drove over to the parking area
at 4:30am and by the time the bus picked us up, there were about 40
hikers there. We were bused directly to the South Kaibab trailhead,
where we used the restrooms one last time, put our backpacks on, and
rechecked our supply of water. I carried 3 liters and Gary had 3 ½
liters of water. There is no additional water available on this trail
until the river, so we had to make sure we had an adequate supply for
the duration of hike, considering the hot temps. Since we were camping
this time, that also meant we had to pack our tent, mats, sleeping
covers, clothes, water, food (except for
the two purchased dinners)
etc. in our backpacks. We weighed our packs before leaving and found
Gary’s weighed about 30 pounds and mine about 24 pounds.
The S.
Kaibab trail is 6.3 miles to the river and another ½ mile to the Bright
Angel Campground, where we were staying two nights. Don’t let the short
distance fool you, it’s a vertical descent from 7,200 ft to 2,400 ft at
the Kaibab Suspension Bridge. We can both verify that going down
almost 5,000 feet in that distance is very hard on all parts of the legs
- ankles, calves, knees, and thighs!!! The upside is that for most of
the hike, it follows a ridge line, so that you’re out in the open and
have fantastic views of the canyon all the way down. While it was cool
when we started, with jackets, gloves, pants, etc., by the time we got
to Cedar Ridge,
1 ½ miles down we had our jackets off and the lower sections of our
pants came off soon after. At what’s called the tip-off ( 4.6 miles
down), you can see the Colorado River 1,500 feet below you along with
the bridge. They continue to remain in sight most of the way. We could
also see
several rafts at the boat beach. While we had been told to
expect no shade on this route, there were actually shady spots
intermittently the last mile down. Believe me, they were welcome and we
took advantage of all of them for short rests!!! Another plus this
year, is they’ve diverted all mule traffic to the Bright Angel Trail,
while refurbishing the S. Kaibab trail, so we didn’t have any mules to
contend with on our way down. While we probably won’t ever hike that
route again, we were both glad we had taken it this time, as we’d heard
so many wonderful things about it. They were all true!!!
We
arrived at the campground about 1pm, totally exhausted, but also feeling
good we had made it down. The heat was overwhelming, and we found out
it was 104 degrees at Phantom Ranch that day. We chose our campsite,
based on the first one we came to with shade. It felt so gooooood to
take our packs off for a couple days. Gary checked out Bright Angel
Creek and within 15 minutes, while he soaked his feet, I was laying down
in the creek. I had felt the heat more than Gary and while I thought I
was drinking enough, had drank about 1 liter less than Gary. As a
result I was feeling a little dizzy and nauseated when we arrived. The
creek was cold and cooled my core temperature down quickly. It felt
amazingly refreshing. We set up our tent, mats, etc. and laid down for a
short and warm nap. We left the rainfly off our tent while at Phantom
and enjoyed the few breezes that came through, as well as being able to
see the stars through the netting at
the
top. A great sight in the middle of the night.
Our friends arrived later that afternoon, having left about an hour
later and hiked down the longer Bright Angel Trail. There were more
visits to the creek and feet soaking all around. It's funny to watch
the hikers hobble around at Phantom Ranch, as many had sore legs like
us. It's nice to have that extra day to rest up before starting out.
Gary and I had hiker’s stew dinners reserved at Phantom Ranch he
first night and headed over about 6pm. Dinners at Phantom Ranch are
all reserved and served family style. You’re assigned a table when you
come in by the single server and there are 46 persons at each meal.
Steak is served at 5pm and stew at 6:30pm each night. Along with that
is a huge bowl of fresh salad with all sorts of fresh vegies,
artichokes, pickles, etc. The stew was plentiful and all you could
eat. There was fresh cornbread and huge pieces of chocolate cake for
dessert. Ice tea, water, and coffee were the beverages included and you
could purchase beer and wine.
The air conditioned dining
hall reopens from 8-10pm as a beer hall for all to enjoy and is also
open from 8am to 4pm as a canteen. Everything that is served and sold
at Phantom Ranch has to be brought down by mule and all trash is taken
our the same way. The employees at Phantom work 10 days on and four
days off. They must hike out and back in, if they leave the canyon
during their days off.
The next morning, I hiked alone to “the
Box.” This is a 3 ½ mile stretch of canyon at the bottom of the N.
Kaibab trail. It’s narrow walls go upwards of 1,000 feet, as the trail
goes along Bright Angel Creek. There are several bridges going back and
forth over the creek. This is the section that Kay and I did after
dark last year when we went rim to rim, so I hadn’t seen it in the
daylight. It was beautiful to see and hard to believe we had done this
in the dark. I only went a couple miles up and turned back. I met the
others at the dining hall and enjoyed some air conditioning. The high
was only 101 degrees that day. We enjoyed a relaxing day, with time in
the creek and exploring the bottom of the canyon. We all went to a
ranger program at 4pm, for a program about the history of the river and
various explorers. A fantastic steak dinner at 5pm followed, with huge New York strip steaks, baked potatoes, vegies, biscuits, fresh
salad
and the same wonderful chocolate cake for desert. Nighttime comes
early when it gets dark, as we were starting our hike out early the next
morning. Sleeping was a little more difficult as it was still very
warm.
Gary and I got up about 5am and were hiking by
5:45am. We crossed the silver bridge and headed for Bright Angel
Trail. We hiked 4.8 miles and arrived at Indian Gardens
in early afternoon. While our legs were still sore when we left in the
morning, after our uphill hike the kinks seemed to be worked out and
they felt much better. Our friends left and arrived about an hour after
us. We set up camp there, had lunch, and enjoyed some cooler
temperatures. Late afternoon Buzz (Kay’s brother) and I hiked the three
miles round trip to Plateau Point. It’s a very beautiful panoramic
spot overlooking the Colorado River, from about 1,000 feet up. What a
weather change, as it dipped to about 40 degrees that night. We slept
in our clothes, had the rainfly on the tent to help keep heat in, and
shared the single blanket we had brought. Since we were awake, we
headed out early again and started the last of the climb out. While we
hiked about 4.8
miles each of the 2 days we hiked out, we only
climbed 1,300 feet the first day, leaving 3,100 feet to climb UP the
second day. It is also a beautiful trail with magnificent scenery all
the way. We arrived on the rim at 11am and after a picture taken of our
exhausted, but victorious smiles, we left to pick up the doggies.
Needless to say, they were thrilled to see us and we all headed back to
our wonderful home at the campground. We enjoyed wonderful hot showers
and an equally wonderful bed as we relaxed that afternoon and evening,
very tired, but also feeling good about our accomplishment. The next
day we went back to the rim for ice cream, souvenirs and mainly to gaze
below again, to where we had been. It was a wonderful time and as Gary
has reminded me a ONCE in a lifetime experience. The last morning there,
I went out to witness a very beautiful sunrise at the rim. It's always
different as the light changes, so it never gets old.
We followed our trip with a visit with friends in Kingman, a stop at a SKP park near Wickenberg, and a projected return to our winter home at RoVer’s Roost in Casa Grande, AZ. Our winter address will be 3241 S. Montgomery Road, Casa Grande, AZ 85293, until about mid-March. If you’re within a hundred miles or so, let us know and we can get together.
Dancing from the Canyon........................ Hugs, Katy Gary, Rust and Spicy
