GETTING CLOSER TO THE RIM - I think right about here all we were thinking was just put one foot in front of the other.
Some info and stats about the trail.
Route Description (From the Official Guide to Hiking the Grand Canyon)
“The trail descends through a natural break in the upper cliffs, passing the Redwall Limestone in a series of tight switchbacks called Jacobs Ladder. The trail follows Garden Creek below Indian Gardens, threading the Tapeats narrows. Leaving the creek, the trail descends through the Vishnu Schist in a series of switchbacks called the Devils Corkscrew. It joins the River trail, branching right (east) just before the Colorado River. The River Trail continues 1.5 miles (2.4 K) along the river to the Bright Angel Suspension bridge, which leads to the Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch on the north side of the river“.
Trail statistics (From the Official Guide to Hiking the Grand Canyon)
Length: 9.3 miles (15K) from the trail head to Bright Angel Campground
Elevations:
6,860 ft (2,091 m) at the trail head
2,480 ft ( 756 m) at the Colorado River (near the campground)
Total Elevation change from top to bottom – 4380 ft (1,335 m) or an average decline of 471 ft/mile or 89 m/k.
Water sources
3 on the trail at rest stops with toilets and then at the Bright Angel Campground at the bottom.
Our hike up the Bright Angel Trail
Getting ready this morning was a challenge. We set our alarm for 4 am as did most of our neighbours who were also hiking out today. Had to cook and start the tent take down in the dark but had a bit of light from the moon which was just a few days past being full. Figuring out exactly what to put in the sack for the mule to make up the 30 lbs we were allowed was a bit challenging and it had to be at Phantom ranch before 6:30 am. Got it to the ranch by 6am and it weighed 29.5 lbs. Got our $64.64 worth from that mule, worth every penny!
Redistributing what was left was a bit stressful because we no longer had my big pack, it went back full of stuff with the mule. Plus we were both tired and sore and apprehensive about the hike back up so I’d say we were both a bit bitchy.
Got started on the hike back up Bright Angel at about 7 am, later than we’d targeted which added to the stress. Felt not to bad, legs still stiff from the hike down, shoulders sore too but different muscles being used to go up so we hoped our bodies would hold up.
First part was relatively easy and it was warm out. I had to switch out of my T shirt into a tank top at the first restroom we got to. Thankfully, we got into the shade for a good stretch and the trail wasn’t too steep for the first couple of hours. We made it to the Indian Garden at 9:30 which is about the halfway point. Stopped, ate lunch, chatted with fellow hikers and refilled our water. It was a good break and a beautiful area. You can understand why the Indians settled here, there’s a good water source, big cotton wood trees for shade. It smelled so good here. I don’t know exactly what I was smelling but it was heaven!
Got back on the hike just after 11 am feeling rested and refueled. Good thing because the rest of the hike up was the hard part. The difficult section is called Jacob’s ladder, it’s a series of switchbacks that never seem to end. Got to the 3 mile rest stop at noon. That was 1.5 miles from Indian Garden and I think it’s in the middle of the ladder because we were still switch backing our way up to the next rest stop and then to the top. At the last rest stop, we got talking to another hiker who at first seemed to be normal, ie. asking us fellow full time travelers about camping, being on the road etc and then he started into a spiel about how he found God and was now ministering on the road. He started asking us religious questions etc and thank God (ha, ha) we were already starting to pack up for the last part of the hike so we said sorry not interested and moved on. I know we looked bad, tired and dirty but did we really look like we needed saving right then and there???
Ditched him and kept on plodding up to the top. Got to a hole in the rock, thought it was the same one we’d hiked down to in about 5 minutes back in 2009 and got very happy because we knew the trail head couldn’t be far.
That was at 2:32 pm. Kept hiking and hiking and realized it wasn’t “THE” hole we thought it was. Finally got to “THE” hole at 3:08 and then we knew the end was in site. About 5 minutes later, we were at the Rim. Never been so happy to finish a hike. At the top was one of the guys we’d been talking to at camp. He left at 6 am and got to the top at 10:30 am. Wow, he finished in 4.5 hours, must be nice to be young and in shape.
But we did it! We were extremely tired and very happy to be finished. Total time on the trail worked out to be 8.25 hours and that included about 2 hours of resting between lunch break and various other stops. In total, this hike was the most physically and mentally demanding things either of us has ever done. Even more than the Black belt grading Bill! The last few hours of the trail all we could think about was what time is it? Now! Just put one foot in front of the other because stopping is not an option. So thankful for that mule who carried up 30 lbs of our gear. Not sure we would have made it back up carrying that extra weight. What we ended up with was quite manageable.
Timing was good to catch the shuttle back to the campground and once we got back and peeled off the dirty clothes and boots we drove over to the shower. Went prepared to spend $4 for 16 minutes but $2 for 8 minutes was still fine. Can’t begin to describe how good that shower felt after that dusty hike. My straw like hair that hadn’t been clean in 3 days felt so good after! Bending over to wash the feet was painful but very necessary.
We hoovered down the leftover pasta and sauce I made the night before the hike down. Good planning on my part because no way was I cooking tonight. Then we had a few drinks, watched a movie and crashed in our nice comfy bed at 7pm.