TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
I
visited the Grand Canyon for the first time in May 1998. I spent a week backpacking there with three
friends, Myron, Dorcas, and Tony. We started that trip at Hermit’s Rest and
descended to Hermit Canyon, before following the Tonto Trail over to Indian
Gardens. From there we descended the
Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch. We spent the next couple of days at Clear
Creek before returning to the South Rim by way of Phantom Ranch and the Bright
Angel Trail.
That
trip is famous for being the setting for both the second best beer and the best
beer I’ve ever had. The second best beer
ever was a simple can of Coors at the Canteen at Phantom Ranch. The best was a second can of Coors, which was
consumed at the same location immediately following the first. I’m not normally a big fan of Coors, but the
15 mile long hike in 90+ degree heat must have increased my appreciation for
it.
That
trip occurred nearly a year before I met Christy, but she heard countless
stories about it in the following years.
That’s probably why she wanted to include Phantom Ranch in our trip. To be honest, I wasn’t that enthusiastic
about it. There are three trails leading
to Phantom Ranch – the North Kaibab Trail, the Bright Angel Trail, and the
South Kaibab Trail. All of them are
heavily traveled thorofares used by mule trains. My preference would’ve been a backpacking
trip in one of the more remote corners of the park. After all, the Grand Canyon is one of the
largest parks in the country, but most visitors are concentrated around Grand
Canyon Village, the South Rim, Phantom Ranch, and points in between.
Unfortunately
Christy rejected all of the other ideas I came up with for backpacking
trips. All of them would’ve required difficult
hiking on steep, primitive trails. Those
are the conditions that typically cause her knee problems, so we decided to
avoid them. Ultimately I caved in, and
we planned a simple two night trip to Phantom Ranch. The trip did have one upside for me. We would approach Phantom Ranch via the South
Kaibab Trail. I hadn’t hiked that one previously, and I’d heard that it was far more scenic than
the Bright Angel Trail.
With
that decided, we only had to obtain a backpacking permit. It is possible to reserve a permit in
advance. However, because of
overwhelming demand for campsites near Phantom Ranch, reservation requests are
entered into a lottery. I sent in our
application on the first day they were accepted, and received a call from a
ranger a few days later. She was just
checking to verify some information, but mentioned that our chances of actually
getting the permit we’d requested were pretty slim. I began contemplating backup options, but we
received our reservation confirmation a few days later. Apparently we beat the odds, for once.
We
got up before dawn on the first morning of our trip. Although the weather is quite pleasant on the
South Rim in late June, Phantom Ranch (5,000’ lower) is another story. Temperatures would hit the triple digits
there by late morning. We wanted to get
an early start so we could get to camp before the heat became overwhelming.
We
had finished most of our packing the previous night. That had been pretty easy, since we weren’t
taking much more than food and water. We
weren’t taking sleeping bags with us (just pads and a blanket) so I just had to
pack the tent. We ate bagels in the car
as we drove over to the Visitor Center.
Since we were hiking down the South Kaibab Trail and up the Bright Angel
Trail, a shuttle was necessary between the trailheads. Fortunately the Park Service provides free
buses that connect those trailheads, along with many other destinations along
the south rim. Actually, getting from
the Bright Angel Trailhead to the South Kaibab Trailhead requires taking two
different buses, with a change over at the Visitor Center. We elected to catch the bus to the South
Kaibab Trailhead from the Visitor Center.
That way we’d just have to ride one bus from the Bright Angel Trailhead
to the Visitor Center at the end of the trip.
This
all went smoothly, and we found ourselves at the South Kaibab Trailhead shortly
after sunrise. However, our departure
was delayed by the morning’s entertainment.
The
Park Service recently banned sales of bottled water in the park. I was thrilled to hear the news – disposable plastic
water bottles are wasteful and have a tendency to turn into litter. In conjunction with the ban, water stations
were installed at various locations on the South Rim. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own
bottles and fill them at the stations.
Of course, it didn’t take long for the local wildlife to discover these
amazing new water sources.
We
had just gotten off the bus when we saw a female elk heading our way. We scooted out of the way, and she cautiously
approached the water station. To our
delight, she proceeded to push the handle on the spigot with her mouth. When the water began to flow, she let go of
the handle to lap at the stream. This
was rather inefficient, so she repeated this process numerous times. Eventually there was a sizeable puddle, which
she proceeded to lap up. Needless to say,
I took a couple hundred photos of this event.
Christy made some videos using her phone.
Just
when I thought it couldn’t possibly get any better I noticed a fawn watching
from the trees. Eventually the fawn
approached, but by this time the elk’s behavior had begun to draw a crowd. Mama wasn’t happy about this, so she ushered
her baby away.
The
South Kaibab Trail starts with a steep descent that continues all the way to
the Colorado River. Actually, to be
fair, the trail really isn’t THAT steep.
It’s just a steady, graded descent of 4,780’ over 7 miles. The good news is that there are constant yet
ever-changing views the entire way. From
the top, the views are similar to those obtained from the south rim. As we descended, the views narrowed, but actually
became more interesting. Our first
glimpse of the river was dramatic. A bit
later we found ourselves looking down on the green oasis surrounding Phantom
Ranch.
The
trail was pretty smooth and easy to hike for the most part. However, some stretches had lots of loose
pebbles. We each slipped and fell
once. My landing was better than
Christy’s. She came down right on a
pointy rock. After that she limped the rest of the way to the river.
The
trail wasn’t too busy. There were some
other hikers on their way down, but very few coming up. Few hikers come out on the South Kaibab Trail
because it is a steeper climb than the Bright Angel Trail and there are no
water sources. We also encountered three
mule trains. The first was at the second
rest area (outhouses), at the Tip Off, 4 1/2 miles from the rim. That train was loaded down with tourists
suffering through the grueling ride from Phantom Ranch back out of the
canyon. The other two were supply trains
returning to the south rim.
Despite
our early start it got hot below the Tip Off.
We were able to stay in the shade during much of the descent, but by
mid-morning the sun was high enough that the shadows were few and far between. We eventually passed through a tunnel and
crossed the Black Bridge over the Colorado River. Christy was really struggling with the heat
at this point, but we were less than a mile from our destination. Beyond the bridge we followed a trail above
the river. This trail follows Bright
Angel Creek from the river up past the campground to Phantom Ranch. From there it continues all the way to the
North Rim.
Christy
was getting light-headed, so we stopped at a picnic table in the shade of a
single cottonwood tree. The river was
nearby, so after a few minutes I left her there and continued to the
campground. We had reservations for a
campsite, but specific sites are first come first served. It was pretty busy when I arrived just before
10am (local time), but there were still quite a few unoccupied sites. I selected site 23 and pitched the tent
before returning to check on Christy.
She was feeling a little better, so we returned to our campsite. There I discovered that she’d only consumed 2
quarts of water during the hike. I’d
finished 3 ½, and we had both carried a good bit more than that.
Our
campsite was pretty nice. It was on the
far side of the trail from Bright Angel Creek, but the cottonwoods surrounding
the site provided partial shade. It was
also a good bit more private than most of the sites in the campground. The bathroom and water spigot were nearby,
too. The water from the tap was pretty
warm, and I actually filtered water from the river once just because it was
colder.
We
had lunch at our campsite. At that
point, we had to decide how to spend the afternoon. I briefly considered hiking. In fact, I hiked as far as the river, the
black bridge, and the tunnel we’d passed through earlier. By the time I got that far I decided that it
was just too hot. Per the thermometer in
the campground, it was 109 degrees in the shade. I gave up on the hiking and retreated to
camp.
COLD BEVERAGES
Christy
and I spent most of the afternoon sitting in the creek. The creek starts up near the North Rim, and
the water is actually cold. The creek
features lots of rocks that can be used for lounging on. At one point we were in the creek when a mule train laden with tourists passed by. Many of them were pointing at us as they
passed. I could imagine what they were
saying. “Oooh,
look at the filthy peasants, sitting in the creek”. For some reason, it reminded me of this
classic scene:
That
was ok though. We made fun of them, too,
with their fancy soaps and perfumes and fake cowboy clothing, on a $500 donkey
ride.
Eventually
the evil sun went away and the temperature dropped into the double-digits. I took advantage of the marginal improvement
in conditions for a short evening hike.
I hiked the river loop, which combines the Black Bridge, the River
Trail, and the Silver Bridge. It was a
nice, quiet walk, with great view of the river and Bright Angel Creek. I was even treated to a little bit of
alpenglow on the canyon walls.
That
evening after dinner we strolled up to Phantom Ranch for the obligatory trip to
the Canteen. The place was rocking –
after all, who doesn’t want a cold beer after a long hot day? The menu has improved since 14 years ago, as
they now have Tecate in addition to Coors and
Bud. We each had three beers, which were
nice, if not entirely as magical as the ones back in 1998. We played cards while we were there, but
eventually got bored with that. The walk
back to our campsite was lovely, as the clouds above were backlit dramatically
by the setting moon. It would’ve made a
great photo, except that I left my camera and tripod back at camp.
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