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| Hiking | 15.85 Miles |
4,880 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.85 Miles | 10 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.91 mph |
| 4,880 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 3 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The Grand Canyon has been on my bucket list for at least the last 10 years, but for the longest time I didn't have the confidence in my ability to hike down and back in a day. I also had lots of questions about the logistics of it as in where to stay, which trails to take, how to get to the trailhead. It seemed daunting and I might have let that keep me from doing it. Then a friend from work who I have hiked with told me that he and his wife like to hike the Canyon in winter when it's less crowded and cool at the river, and asked if I'd like to join them. Perfect! Sure! Why not! Let's do this!
The original plan was to hike down S. Kaibab trail and back up Bright Angel, but Bright Angel is closed for construction to replace water lines. So we would take S. Kaibab down and back again. The National Weather Service had issued a strong winds advisory for March 2nd starting at 6am for wind gusts over 50mph. Checking the hourly forecast the big winds wouldn't hit until at least 2pm. There was also 30% chance of rain for the day, but it wasn't expected until evening. So with any luck we would be back at the hotel before the weather hit.
We all stayed at the Grand Hotel in Tusayan just outside the park. We met in the lobby ad 6:15 am and drove to a small lot not too far from the South Kaibab Trailhead. We started hiking just before 7:00am. It was cold, but the trail was dry and free of snow and ice other than a few tiny patches on the first two turnouts that were easy to avoid. As we started hiking the sun came up and the views of the canyon in the morning light were spectacular. It was hard to keep going without stopping at every switchback to take pictures. I knew that the trail was going to be steep, and it was. This is definitely a trail that you want to watch where you put your feet because if you step of the trail it is a long way down.
Hiking down was easy enough. I wore my knee braces and I think they helped. No knee issues at all on the way down. Initially we didn't see a lot of people on the trail, but with our stopping to take pictures along the way a number of groups of hikers passed us. On the switchback section after Skeleton Point we saw a goat patiently hanging out just next to the trail to get his picture taken. Just past that were workers maintaining the trail. That involved a lot of digging and moving big blocks of stone around. Definitely very hard labor. But I have to say that they did a great job keeping the trail in fantastic shape. As we got close to the river a mule team passed us heading up the trail. That was the only mule team we saw all day.
Eventually after a long, long walk we reached the Black Bridge over the Colorado River. It was warm and sunny. Did not feel like winter at all. A couple of us headed up to Phantom Ranch just to see it. We bought some cookies at the Ranch store and then headed back to the river to join the rest of the group and eat lunch. We had a nice picnic bench and it was a pretty enough spot, but there was large construction equipment making a lot of noise the whole time. Not very peaceful. Oh well. I had wanted to cross back over the river at the Silver Bridge and then loop back to the Kaibab trail on the south side of the river, but the Silver Bridge was closed apparently due to some structural damage. Oh well. Back to the Black Bridge and up the trail.
Having just hiked down I knew very well that the trail was steep. But steepness takes on a whole new meaning when gravity is working against you. The mule team drivers told us that they typically make about 30 stops along the way to rest the mules. I quickly realized that I would need at least that. Within a mile from the bottom I felt my leg muscles starting to cramp. Not good. After a short rest they felt a lot better. I stopped and rested the legs whenever they felt crampy, which only happened over the first couple of miles. After that I had to stop regularly just to catch my breath. Being the old man of the group my hiking buddies let me set the pace which I appreciated. The switchbacks heading up to Skeleton Point and the long steep section getting to Cedar Ridge were challenging to say the least.
At Cedar Ridge we rested for a few minutes. From there on up it was very windy. Sometimes the wind was at our backs and helped push us up the hill. Other times strong gusts were in our faces and we had to lean into it to keep going. Keep going we did because there was beer waiting for us at the car. We felt a few drops hit us, but they were actually little solid white balls were apparently are called graupel. Luckily we were almost at the top and there wasn't much of it. Finally we reached the head wall below the trailhead which provided a brief relief from the wind for a few minutes until we got to the top. Once there we piled into the car to get out of the very cold wind and enjoyed celebratory beers.
One of the really nice amenities of our hotel is the jacuzzi which helped relax our sore legs after that grueling hike. They also have a nice restaurant to help us replenish all those calories we burned on the trail.
All in all a great day. We experienced all four seasons with the cold, crisp morning, the sunny warmth at the river, and the cold and windy on the return leg. The scenery along the trail was just spectacular and constantly changing at every turn. I now understand why people come here! Great hike. Apologies for a long triplog, but I'm still stoked from a fantastic (and sometimes grueling) day of hiking. |
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