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| Hiking | 17.30 Miles |
5,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.30 Miles | 7 Hrs 50 Mns | | 2.21 mph |
| 5,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | This was the hike that was planned as the crown jewel of my 40th birthday weekend. We had just completed two hikes the day before at a total of 15 miles, and now we were planning to hike the North Kaibab Trail all the way down to Ribbon Falls, 8.3 miles one way, making a 16.6 trip total for the day, not to mention the near 5000' vertical that we would have to climb to get out of the canyon. And the weather forecast for this day at the bottom was 99 degrees when I last checked. This would be how I spent my last 24 hours of my 30s, and if I made it, then it was off to Flagstaff for some microbrews and a burger.
I set my alarm for 4am, and was in fact awake much earlier due to the fact that the beds in the frontier cabins on the North Rim aren't very comfortable. We got ourselves prepared and were at the trailhead just after 5am. We immediately noticed that the temperature at the TH was much colder (and much windier) than at the cabins. This required some last minute impromptu layering, and then we were on our way.
We got on the trail at daybreak, with just enough light that we wouldn't need to break out the headlamps. For the majority of the hike down (until about a mile from Ribbon Falls) we in fact hiked in the shade without any direct sunlight hitting us, which helped a lot. As the morning light hit the upper parts of the cliffs, I tried to get some decent photos. I managed to keep up with Wally for most of this part of the hike, mainly because I could jog a bit downhill at times to catch up after I had taken a few pictures and otherwise lagged behind.
Some of the best views of this hike are of the section 3-4 miles below the rim, where the cliffs are very vertical and the trail is cut into the cliff. There is some exposure here, but the trail is wide enough to mitigate that. It is very tempting to keep peering over the edge at the views below.
Once we got past Roaring Spring, the trail soon leveled out, getting us to Cottonwood Camp and Ribbon Falls with minimal sun exposure. Just before Cottonwood Camp we got our first view of the South Rim exposed to the sun, framed by the shaded portions of the canyon immediately adjacent to us.
We arrived at the junction for the turnoff to Ribbons Falls just over 3 hours after we started. We decided to venture in a little bit so Wally could see it and get some pics. I decided to take the spur trail back to the south to catch up with Kaibab Trail to make sure I did the entire trail since my hike in 2001 when I went to Ribbon Falls from Phantom Ranch. The south portion of that "trail" soon faded away and you had to find a decent spot to cross Bright Angel Creek. I found a good enough spot, except for the fact that a curled up rattler was sitting right on the shore there. I managed to find another way around, and then as I was about to get back on the Kaibab Trail, I looked behind to check on Wally, who was supposed to go back up the north way to the Kaibab. Instead, not only did he follow my path, he was now about to cross the creek in the exact same spot that I saw the rattler at. I called to him to warn him, but since he was standing next to the creek, he couldn't make out what I said. He nodded his head and proceeded straight ahead to the snake. I finally yelled out, "WALLY, RATTLESNAKE!!!" while motioning for him to move upstream from where he was. He finally seemed to get the idea and proceeded to the Kaibab Trail without incident.
The hike became a bit of a slog on the way up as the trail got steeper, the temps got hotter, and I got more tired. As we reached the North Rim again, we began to notice more of the tourist types not used to hiking making their way down, probably too far for the amount of water they had. We also ran into a volunteer who had his hands full trying to warn everyone and keep track of them. I finally finished at 1:20pm, making a hike time of 7 hours and 50 min for 17.3 miles. I calculate this mileage from the listed one way distance of 8.3 miles plus the approximate .75 miles that we did in our loop to Ribbon Falls and back to the Kaibab Trail. This felt very nice to accomplish this hike on the last day of my 30s and not feel too bad afterwards.
One the way to Flag after the hike, we spotted a herd of bison in the meadows north of the rim. We both soon after were very tired. I was nodding off for about a half hour until we stopped for a bit in Jacob Lake and got some caffeine. For the entire ride down into Flag, we could see the fires by the North Rim and just north of Flag and how the smoke plumes drifted NE across the state. |
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