Skip to main content

Day 21 - Grand Canyon Rim to River

All the signs at Grand Canyon warn you not to hike down to the river and back in one day , and I wasn't going to attempt it, in fact I was going to leave GC early and not hike down into the canyon at all. Then I read Bills suggestion of the South Kaibab trail and decided I should just go for it. The weather was ideal, this is the perfect time of year, 60s on the rim and 70s in the canyon and fewer tourists to degrade the beauty. 

Starting down the trail later than hoped at 8am, I basically ran down the canyon, passing folks left and right. Halfway down I slowed up as my knees began to cry. My hiking poles helped lessen the beating but the banging of knees on the way down was the hardest part of the hike for me-- the up was easier as I've been training and hiking for a while now. But Bill did not lie about the beauty of the South Kaibab. The views were expansive and the trail easy to hike despite being down down down. 




If I wasn't feeing strong and my progress slow I was going to hike along the flat Tonto trail (about 2/3 way down) and then go back up the south Kaibab. But I was feeling great and making super time so I went with plan B, hike all the way down to the river, along the river trail for 1.5 miles and then back up the bright angel trail. Bright angel had a water source and ranger station 1/3 the way up so this was the safest full route. I'm glad I made this decision as the south Kaibab trail from the Tonto plateau to the river was magnificent. This picture of me at the river shows some of the ancient dark rock that dominates the last 1500 feet to the water. This rock is far more dense than the upper 3000 feet so the canyon is steeper and sterner. 


I started going up at 12 noon and made good time up to the Ranger station 1/3 of the way up and then made the final steep push to the top along switchback after switchback. I stopped every 30 minutes for water and a one minute break and every two hours for food and a ten minute break. I finished the journey in 16 miles in 8.5 hours and felt tired in the knees but fine. This photo captures some of the trail up on Bright Angel. 

I now head south back to the Phoenix and Tucson area for preparation for my next canyon experience: the world class and not well known Aravaipa Canyon. 50 people are allowed in every day and I have a permit for Monday Tuesday and Wednesday!  Yay. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward.  On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills.  Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising.  I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch).  After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch.  The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead.  The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics.  By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it!  Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice.  My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch.  I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...