| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 11.00 Miles |
|
| | Hiking | 11.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.63 mph |
| | | |
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | This was our 2nd day in the Canyon and the plan was for everyone to have 6:30 breakfast at the cantina and hike to Ribbon Falls. We all hit the trail at 7:00 with seven hikers in tow and planned to take our time and take lots of pictures.
The Box as it is called for the first 3.5 miles is incredible! You are in the shade and it is a very cool and crisp walk at this time of the year. There is no way that I would want to be in here in the summer months because it gets extremely hot and retains the heat until late into the evening due to the sun shining on the surrounding black Vishnu Schist rock.
The whole group made it to the signed junction with a spur trail to the left. If the water flow is low, as in early summer--and you have Tevas or other water shoes--you can follow this spur and cross the creek to access Ribbon Falls via a shortcut. However, this time the water was running pretty fast, our best bet was to continue on over the hill and cross via the bridge over Bright Angel Creek.
At this point only 5 of us wanted to continue on to the falls, 2 had enough and decided to return to Phantom Ranch and call it a day. 
The Upper Ribbon falls originate at Roaring springs and make its way down to the canyon bottom nearly 4000 ft below. Ribbon falls actually is a stream of water thereby causing moss to grow all over the rock face giving it the ribbon like appearance. Up close its obvious that the moss mat is nearly a few inches thick and covers the entrance to a small cavern at the base of the falls. I was informed that if you are slim and adventurous you could crawl into the cavern, needless to say none of us wanted to try that at this time of year.
We stayed and enjoyed our sack lunches behind the falls and took lots of pictures. It is a must do hike if you are staying at Phantom Ranch for a few days. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
