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| Phantom Ranch via S Kaibab/Bright Angel, AZ | |
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| | Phantom Ranch via S Kaibab/Bright Angel, AZ | | | |
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Phantom Ranch via S Kaibab/Bright Angel, AZ
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| Hiking | 17.20 Miles |
4,741 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.20 Miles | 7 Hrs 23 Mns | | 2.50 mph |
| 4,741 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I've been wanting to do this hike for a couple of years now and a window opened up for this weekend so I went for it. The window improved when Bossman turned me loose at 11:00 on Friday so I was able to get up early and set up camp and relax a bit while it was still light. I was shooting for a 6:00 start time but with the vagueness of the shuttle schedule ("every half hour") and a little bit of slowness in getting ready, I arrived at the trailhead about 6:10 and set off.
Before taking 30 steps down the trail, a gust of wind blew my hat off my head, fortunately to the uphill side so it was easily retrieved. A quarter mile down, I reached up to grab my sunglasses from above the brim of my hat... and quickly turned around to head back up to retrieve them. Fortunately I found them quickly and then went back up to reset the GPS and restart the hike, now a half hour later than I had hoped for.
Actually, this turned out to be somewhat of a blessing, as the cluster of people who rode the same shuttle had started to spread out, and I charged down the hill passing most of them quickly. I'd hiked as far as Skeleton Point previously, so other than a few quick photos I covered the familiar ground as fast as I could. As I got down towards O'Neill Butte, I started passing people from the previous shuttle cluster, and finally the last of them, a large group of 10 just past Skeleton Point. I had the trail more to myself from there (finally, a chance to pee!), and crossed paths with a doe that was wanting to go up the trail until she saw me. She retreated down one switchback and then went off the point of it, looking for another route.
Once I passed The Tipoff, I could hear the river, and then it came into view for a bit. Almost there, but not quite. I was glad to be descending this part and not going up it. Finally I reached Black Bridge and then took my time the rest of the way to Phantom Ranch, reading some interpretive signs and searching out a few features. I dropped my gear on one of the tables outside the Canteen right around 9:00, and went inside to get a refreshing lemonade ("I'm sure there's nothing in this that's good for me..."), which I drank while cleaning out my boots and having a snack. A trio that had hiked down ahead of me were at the other table, doing the same hike as I was, preparing themselves for the climb back up.
As I started back out, I passed by a couple rangers waiting near the helipad along with a dude with his foot in a cast (bummer!). The helicopter came in just as I reached Silver Bridge; it was cool to see it come in and land. Four rafts went by just after I crossed the bridge, and they were landed on the beach near Pipe Creek by the time I got there. The trio from the Canteen passed my by when I stopped to check out the old rest house above there, but they never got too far ahead of me so I had something to focus on as the trail started climbing. Not too many people on the trail along until Indian Gardens, and Garden Creek was flowing most of the way so that was nice too.
I knew I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised to see the large number of people at Indian Garden. By now it was 11:30 and I was fully into grind mode, so I took a very short break to fill up a water bottle and stand in the shade for a minute. I finally passed the trio from the Canteen here as they took a longer break. With all the people on the trail from here on up, I just kept grinding it out, with just a short stop at each of the two Resthouses. When I was 9, our family had hiked as far as the 3 Mile Resthouse, and not far up from there I passed a family of 5 whose kids were about the ages we were way back when, which brought back some memories.
A friend has a saying, "When you start smelling perfume, you know you're almost done" and that proved to be the case today. I topped out just before 2PM, which left me plenty of time to ride the shuttle around, drink some coffee and pig out on a big dinner. Unfortunately, the wind kicked up in the afternoon so I forewent a campfire, and crawled into the tent early to relax and recuperate a bit before falling asleep. |
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