Elk Butt! Right outside our trailer window
We arrived at the Grand Canyon, AZ on May 6th. Our week long stay in Trailer Village, right in the National Park was the only advance reservation that we made on this road trip. We found out in February that our application for the back country permit to hike down to the bottom via the South Kaibab trail, stay for 2 nights in the Bright Angel Campground and then hike up the Bright Angel Trail had been accepted for May 8 & 9 so we made our reservation right then. Figured a week would give us a couple of nights before the hike down to get organized, another couple of nights after the hike up to recover.
First thing we saw when we pulled in the campground were elk. Yes elk! 4 females were just casually walking around all the trailers eating grass. As you can see in the pic above, they were right outside our window. I think some of them were pregnant...not sure I'd want them that close when they have babies to be protective of.
Once we got set up, biked over to the Back Country Office to pick up our hiking permit and then spent the afternoon figuring out what we need to pack down with us. Since this was our first ever overnight back packing attempt, took us a while to get organized.
Went over to the “neighbours” for drinks that first night. Met him earlier in the day when we were watching the elk graze around our trailers. Nice to finally spend some time talking to people closer to our age but man it was cold out. Not used to that, we both had to bundle up to stay warm, the temperature was above freezing but not much. Maybe 40F at the most. A bit of a shock to the system after baking in the desert for weeks. When Dave moved to leave, one of his toes cramped up big time...probably due to both the cold and position. Not exactly what you want to happen 2 days before doing a hike like this. It was a bad one, still hurt the next morning but it was better.
I also had foot issues, first day we arrived I dropped something on my foot that was so hard, it took off skin and made my middle toe bleed. Next day, I somehow managed to jam the toe right beside that one into a cupboard in the trailer. After that, the slightest pressure on that nail caused excruciating pain. Never even come close to doing that before, what a f$%*ing clutz! Maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something.... like don't go on that hike!
Got our packs organized, guessing they weigh somewhere between 30-40lbs each. We had to pack tent, sleeping bags, enough food for 3 lunches, 2 breakfasts, 2 dinners and lots of snacks plus other assorted stuff. Dave's pack was definitely heavier than mine, it's also bigger but then he is stronger than me so I'd say that's fair. I just hope we can handle carrying them...
Finally walked over to the Grand Canyon visitor centre to buy some trail maps and get our first look at the Canyon. Even though we'd seen it back in 2009, it doesn't loose it's impressiveness the second time around. We got the first glimpse at Mather point but then we made the mistake of looking to our right and we saw South Kaibab trail, the one we're going down tomorrow, meandering right along the edge of the ridge. From that viewpoint, it looked so tiny and high, made both of us feel a little sick to our stomach. What were we thinking! Neither of us like heights!!!! Had to go back to the trailer and psych ourselves back into doing this.
The plan is to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning. Sunrise is around 5:30 so hopefully we'll be on the trail shortly after that. Some of you may not know this but the temperature at the bottom of the Grand canyon is typically 20 to 30 degrees (F) warmer than the temperature at the rim. All that rock reflects and soaks up the sun like an oven and you bake. Ideally you want to get to the bottom as early in the day as possible. For the past 2 days, the afternoon highs have been in the mid 70s at the rim, that means it'll be in 90s at the bottom!
Pictures from the first 2 days at the GC.