After Nearly Twenty Years of Waiting it Happened, We Won the Park Service Lottery | Adventures Hiking The Grand Canyon
“You’re not a hiker until you’ve hiked the Grand Canyon”, a comment that stuck with me for nearly 20 years. After many attempts at obtaining a backcountry permit to hike the Corridor or (there and back again) as I like to call it, I finally came up a winner in the park service lottery; allowing us to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, camp at Bright Angel and Indian Garden, and climb back to the tourist packed rim.
Only one percent of the five million annual park visitors leave the rim and venture down to the Colorado River. I was going to be one of those that would hike down and dip my feet in the river that carved out this magnificent Grand Canyon. I opened the envelope containing the official backcountry permit and a length of thin wire to attach to the trip leader’s backpack; that leader was ME!
I, my husband Herb; my brother Lee, my sister in-law Heidi, would find ourselves with carefully loaded and weight calculated backpacks standing at the infamous, exceptionally beautiful South Kaibab trailhead. Then it hit me…we are committed to this epic hike; 7.0 miles of scorching sun exposed switchbacks and nearly 5000 feet down to the Colorado River. Turnaround, cross back over the river putting one foot in front of the other and climb the 9.5 miles back up the Bright Angel trail to the rim. The Bright Angel trail, though not as exposed and with ample drinking water, takes weary pack carrying hikers through the Devil’s Corkscrew and Jacob’s Ladder leaving the steepest sections near the top with a grade just shy of sixteen percent.
Can we do it? Of course we can, but then our average age is 61.4, with one hiking partner MANY years junior to the heart of the team. Suddenly a wave of doubt overcame my enthusiasm. I reassured myself, hey, we have four months to train, four months to come up with a last minute, “darn, I was so looking forward to this, but my gout, my skier’s knee, it’s just the wrong time to be away from my business”, convincingly spoken with head shaking disappointment. It was definitely too soon to give up on the plan.
Hire a personal trainer, research every nuance of the trail, hire a mule to haul 30 pounds of camera gear, and of course celebratory libations to toast the crossing of the Colorado, we had our work cut out for us. They say planning is half the fun and I was wondering if in this case it might be the pinnacle of fun.
We did our research and developed our hiking plan; one day down to the river and camp two nights at Bright Angel Campground. Our second night we would dine at the famous Phantom Ranch Cantina.
Phantom Ranch is a small settlement of private stone cabins and two bunkhouses, one for women and the other for men. The Cantina doubles as a barebones supply store and a dining hall with several long community tables.
Our $48 steak dinner which need to be booked months in advance was good and very large. The dinner consisted of a big steak, baked potato, side vegetable, salad, bread, coffee or soft drink and a slice of chocolate cake. Wine was available at an extra charge. Yes, if you are wondering, the steaks were tender, probably due to being transported to the ranch on the backs of the mule team that not only haul those unwilling to hike but all the supplies needed to operate Phantom Ranch.
That evening after our enormous dinner, we readied our packs for an early rise and the start of our hike up and out of the Canyon. We would burn up half of the miles and camp at the beautiful oasis known as Indian Garden, but the hike would only climb 1320 ft of the almost 5000 feet to the rim.
Our plan to split the hike out into two days was a good one. Obviously making the climb out easier, but it also gave us and extra day below the rim and time to stop and enjoy the scenery along the way.
The Bright Angel trail was beautiful all the way up, the first mile and a half gently climbed along the river. When we turned up toward the rim the trail took us through a myriad of lush greenery and flowering plants. Dark green ivy grew, clinging to the walls of an unexpected waterfall that dropped into a lovely creek.
As we neared our first destination we climbed to a wide open plateau with a thick growth of cottonwood trees lining Indian Creek that ran through the middle of Indian Garden Campground. Indian Garden is an oasis that can clearly be seen from the rim of the canyon. And likewise once we stepped from the cover of the cottonwoods we could faintly make out the El Tovar Lodge and the flag on the roof of the Kolb Studio perched on the South Rim’s rocky edge. High above us and tiny as they seemed, it was the first sight of our final destination.
We spent a relaxing afternoon and evening at our campsite and wondered what the big push out of the canyon and back to the rim would have in store for us.
Perfect start to our last day below the rim, coffee, a light breakfast, break camp and be on the trail at a little after 6am. The early morning air was cool and crisp, perfect for hiking. The trail started out at a gentle grade to the first set of switchbacks known as Jacob’s Ladder. We had read many daunting reviews of this part of the trail; steep, long, heat radiating from the walls with the top section fully exposed to the sun. The only saving grace was knowing that the first of the shady resthouses was at the top of the grade.
As we were hiking the first set of switchbacks I was wondering when we would hit the dreaded Jacob’s Ladder. When we came around the bend and saw the resthouse I was confused about the location of the Ladder, thinking it must be just the below the next resthouse. When we approached the stone resthouse there was a map of the trail and we realized, to our surprise, we had just climbed Jacob’s Ladder. That realization made the climb out less demanding.
Resthouses and outhouses are situated along the Bright Angel and the South Kaibab trail about a mile and half apart. Hikers tend to break the hike up according to the positioning of the houses making the hike down and up more manageable.
Our group seemed to hit everything right on our hike. It was hot but not too hot on our hike down the South Kaibab, though an earlier start would have been a plus. Hiking the Bright Angel in April, we found the sun at a low angle and the canyon walls shielded us from the sun. The hike out was long but not arduous. We just took our time, marveled at the layers of changing scenery and before we knew it we were at the trailhead on the rim of the Grand Canyon. We did it, we hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I suppose even after a lifetime of hiking the Sierra, Mt. Rainier, Canyonlands, Zion, Death Valley, the Tetons, the Wind River Range, we can finally call ourselves hikers…we just hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon!
BACKPACK AGENDA
April 19th: Breakdown our rim camp, load up the car, drive to the Backcountry Center. Check in, weigh our packs, catch the 6am shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead, and start our descent into the canyon at dawn’s early light.
We would take our time and enjoy the beauty of the inner canyon. Leisurely stop and take pictures chronicling our adventure. We would probably cross the Black Suspension Bridge and get into camp early to mid afternoon with plenty of time to relax, set up camp, make dinner, and stroll down to the river’s edge to watch the last of the sun as it disappears behind the rim.
A bit off track, we girls elected to shower in the morning, which included shaving Legs, blow drying our hair, and a couple quick double takes in the mirror threw our plan right out the window. We ended up catching the 10am shuttle. To further frustrate Herb, a stick to the plan kind of guy, we wasted away more time by yaking with other down hikers at the trailhead and pose for parting rim shots. We finally hit the trail at 11:10 am.
The night before our descent into the canyon I dreamed of muleskinners tossing my expensive gear from one end of the stables to the other, then on to the backs of the mules. The mules then banged the cargo against the canyon walls as they made their way to the livery stables at Phantom Ranch. I cancelled the mule duffle service which slowed breaking camp as we had to repack our backpacks with camera gear?
We ended up with very few pictures, but lots of talking with fellow hikers. The going was slow down the steep, rocky, sun exposed trail. We made it into camp with just enough time to pitch the tent, make dinner and hit the inflatable, (backpack talk for inflatable mattress).
April 20th: Rise and shine, get the coffee going and explore our new surroundings. After breakfast we would head down to Boater’s Beach, wade into the river and check out the enormous, fully loaded rafts waiting for the mules to deliver their passengers. We would then head over to the Silver Bridge and wave to passing boaters. Late afternoon we’d meander up to the Cantina at Phantom Ranch for happy hour. We brought several postcards to write and have postmarked, “mail by mule”.
We end our second and final night at the bottom of the canyon with a galley of hikers and our pre-reserved, massive steak dinner. We would get back to camp with plenty of time to gear up for an early morning start to Indian Garden, the first leg of our hike back to the rim.
Mission accomplished: Plus threw in a botanical talk by Ranger Kim, definite bonus. Ranger Kim was the human highlight of our Grand Canyon trip. There was one very disappointing omission from our plan, the gals working at Phantom Ranch failed to stamp our many postcards with the “mailed by mule” postmark. Frankly we found the female employees at the ranch to be lacking in hospitality and in some instances short and borderline rude.
April 21st: Early rise, coffee, breakfast and head across the bridge to the start of our backpack traversing the Colorado River before climbing the Devil’s Cork Screw to the oasis of Indian Garden. We would knock off 4.7 miles and 1320 feet of our hike out. First we would set up camp and lighten the next day’s pack load by eating as much of our leftover food as possible. Our last night below the rim we would hike a mile and a half to Plateau Point for Sunset photos.
Mission Almost Accomplished: No sunset shots, we are not doing so well on the photo mission part of our hike.
April 22nd: The big push to get to the rim by mid-day, check into our cabins at the Bright Angel Lodge, get cleaned up and rested up. Our last evening at the Grand Canyon we would head to the El Tovar for a martini and toast our beautiful hike to the bottom of the grandest canyon in the world and back again.
Mission accomplished with fond memories, a few ragged photos, and a feeling of, WE DID IT! We left the pavement and ventured into the Grand Canyon.