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| | | north rim to south rim G.C, AZ | | | |
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north rim to south rim G.C, AZ
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| Backpack | 24.00 Miles |
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| | Backpack | 24.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
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| no partners | | Joe works at a boy's boarding school in Dewey. A couple of months back the older boys voted on a rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon. The trails to be taken and the direction S to N or N to S kept on changing right up to the day before the hike!
Tuesday I was ill with a stomach bug and it seamed like they were never going to pick a route.
Early Thursday morning, 3am, Joe and myself set of for Dewey to pick up five very tired boys and the counselor, who was also going.
We left to the north rim at 6am. We all knew that we were taking a very late start. We arrived at the North kaibab trail head after 10am. This ment it was to be a long 14 mile hot hike.
I have never been to the North Rim before and one of the boys had never been to the Grand Canyon. He was amazed. The North Rim is breath takingly beautiful! Completely different than the south side.
The hike started off very well. Everyone was in good spirits and talking to each other. The trail is easy to fallow and is not too close to any drop-offs. Two of the boys are very afraid of hights! Going over the bridges were hard for those two boys but they made it after a little arguing.
There was plenty of shade along the trail but going down hill took little energy and no one wanted to stop (except to fill up their water or take photos). It was amazing to see the water fall at around 5 miles in. The beginning of Bright Angel creek comes right out of the mountian. It looks like a broken water main gushing down the side of the mountian.
Past the pumping station we all decided to take a quick dip in the frigid water. It was 1:30pm and 102 degrees!
Finally at 3pm we made it to cottonwood campground. It took much longer then we expected. I was getting blisters on the inside of my big toe from all the down hill (I will have my tevas for down hill next time!!) and so were three of the five boys. The counselor, Tony, was feeling dizzy, because we had jogged for the last two miles. So we all sat in the creek for 30 minutes.
At 4pm we left the campground and headed to our stopping point: Bright Angel Campground, another 7 miles away.
Tony and four of the boys went ahead at a jogging pase. Wile Joe and myself took a slower speed to stay with the last boy, who had a sore foot. I was having some stomach cramps from being sick on Tuesday, they lasted an hour.
At around 7pm, the sun setting I realized that Tony didn't have the other walkie-talkie. I could not tell him that there was a flash light in the bag that Spencer had. Oh well. Joe and I put on our head lamps and continued hiking.
The had stopped in the Phantom ranch campground and waited for us to catch up, or rather they waited for the people with the lights! We all went on to the campground. I was surprised that there weren't any mosquitoes being so close to water. Four of us slept on the ground and only one of us was bitten by an insect! The other three slept on the pick -nick tables, (wimps!)
The next day we started hiking at 7am. Crossing the Colorado on the bridge was awasome!! We all spent 15+ minutes watching the river from the middle of the bridge.
The 9.5 mile hike up The Bright Angel trail Was very hot and long. At 10am when we arrived at Indian Gardens it was 110! Two of the boys were becoming very tired. Tony was feeling leg cramps, so he went on ahead to avoid becoming stiff.
We all (except Tony) started out at 10:30. The trail was very hot and you could almost feal your feet burning. The hike up became very slow. The one boys foot was worse, two were complaining of leg cramps, one was coughing continuously and the other was not drinking enough.
The south side is Very hot and the plant life is very different. The hikers are different also. The closer we came to the top, the more unprepared and rude hikers we met.
The boys with leg cramps, taking Tony's lead, went on ahead. At the B.A. campground, Tony and I decided That he would have one walkie-talkie and stay at the front, and I would be at the back with the other. That would make it easier if some one was having problems, I would catch up to them and tell Tony, who could get help, if needed. Tony would check in every 30 minutes. By 3 mile house, it was 112 and all the hikers were crammed in the shade. It was 1pm and Tony checked in to tell us that he was out of the canyon.
1:30pm the first boy was out. 2:20 two other boys were on top of the canyon. At 2:45 another. And finally at 3:05 Joe, the last boy and I were out!
The people we passed coming to the top were a mixture of tourists and real hikers. So many people are unprepared for the Canyon. We passed a 50+ man and his 50+ wife. Both had large back backs, except he was wearing his and caring hers with one hand. She looked very tired and he looked worse. They would stop and rest every 10 feet. Then there was a 45 year old man that looked like he had camped and hiked as far as we had. But every time he would stop and rest, he would pull out his cigarete and puff away. Then there were the other people, wearing only their 'going out' clothes caring NO water, hiking down to 3 mile house. They would push past us on the up hill. Whole families were climbing down and none of them were caring water!!
It was a very exciting and a long hike. IF you do decide to do a rim to rim, 2 days was enough but 3 would be more enjoyable. Try to start out very, very early. That was our worst mistake. A Camel back is very handy, it cuts break times in half. You don't have to stop every 15 minutes to get your water bottle out to drink. I had not used one until this hike and It made a huge difference in "remembering to drink enough". Powdered Gateraid is a life saver and very light to carry. Try to be light as possible, your knees will thank you for not bringing all that extra stuff. And hiking sticks for up hill are wonderful if you use them right.
Have fun! Hike safe and smart,
Sara (and Joe) |
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Joe and Sara
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger" F.N. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
We left the ruins at 1:15pm, got to Rogers Trough at 3:05pm. Unlocked the mountain bikes, cruised down the hill (fast) and biked back to the truck at Woodbury Trailhead, and drove back to Prescott Valley. It was a long day but a good hike and ride. We saw no other people on the trail or on the road.
