Hiking the Grand Canyon: Hindsight

[bcipam]

It's hard to go up S. Kaibab because of the lack of water. We did it one year because it was unseasonably cool and overcast, plus we had cached water on the way down.
One year, we lucked out with a computer glitch. Just as my BF got through to try to book a bed and dinners, all the other computers locked up and he got his pick of the place. You haven't lived until you've stayed in a private cabin at Phantom Ranch. We did a rim-to-rim-to-rim staying in a private cabin both ways - deluxe!!!

Thus the reason we hike in February and March. Don't need to carry all that much water. A Camelbak 100 oz is plenty. There are alot of good reasons ot hike in Feb/MArch. Although cold on top as you aproach the bottom it is usually a balmy 60 - 70 degrees - very pleasant. Plus less traffic; Plus easier to get reservations or spaces....

We always stay in the cabins (although I have stayed in the dorms) - either 4 men or 10 men depending ont he group. Add the meals prepared by the Staff at Phantom Ranch - Resort Living!

[Tri Girl]

We just got back from the Canyon yesterday. We were lucky to get a spot in the dorms for one night at Phantom, so we hiked down S.Kaibab and back up B.A. I wish we'd gone up S.Kaibab because the extra miles of B.A. and all the extra crowds of people with no trail etiquette was terrible! I thought I was going to get in a fist fight with some downhill hikers who were taking up the whole trail as I was coming up- and I wasn't budging. I think I might have shoulder-checked a couple over the edge, but I'm not sure since I was in a daze of exhaustion.
I think that while the S.K. is steeper, it's also shorter and would have been a better option to ascend out of. Less crowded, shorter, and only an avg. of 3% steeper than B.A. Next time I know.

The temps on the rim and in the inner canyon were very pleasant. It was a very nice week- we lucked out! While there was still snow in patches on the North facing walls of the Canyon, it wasn't too cold at the top. We did have to camp out one night (went to the National Forest and found a spot for free) and the temps were in the high 20's and although we were toasty in our sleeping bags, there was a layer of ice on the underside of the rainfly when we woke up.

After having done both rims, I can safely say that I much prefer the N. Rim because there are so many less people and no tour buses to clog up the rim and trails. They both hold their own unique beauty, but I don't like people so much, so the further away I can be from the massive crowds- the better and more I enjoy it all.

The pictures:
1. on the way down S.K.
2. me at Skeleton Point- before those crazy switchbacks down to the Tonto
3. Black Bridge
4. the hubs on the very sandy B.A. paralleling the Mighty Colorado
5. view of the rim from Indian Garden

[emily_in_nc]

Trigirl,

Thanks for posting about your hike and congrats! It took me back! We did the same hike but in one day, did not stay at the canyon bottom. Perhaps because of this, we didn't encounter as many crowds going up Bright Angel as you did, since it was so late in the day when we we got to the top 2 miles, which is where all the people were. There were definitely a few, but I'm sure it had thinned out a lot, as it was getting near 5-6pm, as I recall. So that worked out pretty well. I think doing it the other way would be smart, tho. I guess we didn't do that since I was worried about the steeper profile of S. Kaibab being tougher going up and being very tired since we were doing the hike in one day. Over more than one day, tho, I think that would be the way to go!

[Tri Girl]

I would truly like to do a rim-to-river and back in one day. I'm incredibly impressed by your adventure!!!
I would have to seriously train for it (like I train for an Ironman, tho). I don't know what would be better: getting all the soreness over in one day, or letting it fester overnight and then starting back up the next day??? Rim-to-river and back is the next hike in the canyon. Or even better- a rim-to-rim from the N to the S rims. That sounds even more fun!
We encountered about a half dozen canyon runners on the trail heading up- spaced out over lots of miles. I was duly impressed. I can't imagine running down those trails: so rocky and ankle-breaky- especially since I know a lot of them left the rim before daylight broke and there was ice the first half mile of the trail coming down. WOW!

[eofelis]

Tri girl some of your pictures look very familiar! I was just in the GC last week. I did my 5 day backpack trip with 4 other ladies. I wonder if we passed by each other out there somewhere.


On Monday we went down the BA trail to camp at Indian Gardens, 4.5 miles. Then a day hike out to Plateau Pt (3 mi). Saw a little rattlesnake out at PP.
On Tues we hopped on the Tonto Trail east to Tipoff on the SK trail and down to Phantom Ranch, 7 miles. Saw a condor sitting on a rock stretching it's wings in Pipe Canyon.
On Weds it was a day off at the PR/BA campground. I walked around a lot, maybe 3 miles total. My legs were a bit too sore to just sit around.
Thurs we hiked up the BA trail to IG. Went out to PP again that afternoon. 8 miles total. Saw 2 condors sitting on a rock at PP.
Fri we hiked out the BA, 4.5 miles. My guess for the time it would take us to get out was 4.75 hrs. It took us 4.5 hrs. I won a Pepsi for having the closest guess in our group.

Good times.

[emily_in_nc]

I would truly like to do a rim-to-river and back in one day. I'm incredibly impressed by your adventure!!!
I would have to seriously train for it (like I train for an Ironman, tho). I don't know what would be better: getting all the soreness over in one day, or letting it fester overnight and then starting back up the next day???

Thanks, Tri Girl. I am sure the rim-to-rim was much less strenuous than an Ironman (it was longer but no more difficult than a century bike ride to me, and I simply can't imagine adding a marathon on top of that!!) But we did train quite a bit -- we went to different parks every weekend to hike, eventually working up to a few parks in the NC mountains. The biggest hike we did was very similar to the GC hike as it was from the top of Mt. Mitchell to the base, then back up. 16 miles total, and like the GC, it was cold at the top and hot at the base.

I honestly don't remember being that sore afterwards, but we did get blisters. That was probably the most difficult thing to deal with after the fact, since we still had many more hikes ahead of us as we went on to Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce, and Zion Nat'l parks!