AIN’T LIFE GRAND
“Watching people roll by
Wonder where they're going?
Ain’t life grand”
From “Ain’t Life Grand” (http://youtu.be/XQ2QM9SO7ig ) by Widespread
Panic.
We
got up at 4am on Thursday. Our goal, as
usual, was to finish our hike before the heat became overwhelming. We had breakfast, broke camp, and hit the
trail a bit before 5. Several groups
actually departed the campground well before us, but I figured we were in good
shape. After all, the temperature would
decrease as we gained elevation.
We
left the campground and hiked downstream along Bright Angel Creek one last
time. We parted ways with the creek and
worked our way over to the mighty Colorado River, which we crossed on the
Silver Bridge. On the far side we
followed the trail above the river for a little more than a mile. This stretch of trail provided lots of nice
views of the river in the early morning light.
We
reached the river rest house a bit later.
From there we climbed 4,380’ in 8 miles.
The climb was never steep, but it certainly was relentless. Early on we passed an old mine shaft. A bit later we were treated to morning
alpenglow on the cliffs above. The
display was magical, as it turned the canyon walls a
brilliant gold.
It
wasn’t long before the sun found us. We
stopped at Garden Creek to cool off, wetting down our shirts before resuming
the hike. Of course they dried out
quickly, but the wet fabric provided some temporary relief from the heat.
We
took a long break at Indian Gardens. This
is a lovely oasis along Garden Creek featuring some huge Cottonwoods. There is a campground here, too, and it
looked quite nice. If we do another
backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon we will consider spending a night
here. It’s a nice destination in itself,
and it is also strategically located at the intersection of the Bright Angel
and Tonto Trails. In addition, a spur
trail leads from Indian Gardens out to Plateau Point. Plateau Point offers one of the better views
in the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately we
didn’t have time to include it in our hike.
The
trail was exceptionally busy beyond Indian Gardens. Indian Gardens is only 5 miles from the south
rim, so it is a reasonable dayhike for enthusiastic dayhikers. Of course, traffic increased the farther we
climbed. We saw all sorts of interesting
people along this stretch of trail. The
most exciting encounter was running into Borat.
Borat was the final, and most thrilling, celebrity sighting of the
entire trip.
Treated
water is available at three locations along the climb: Indian Gardens, the 3 mile rest house, and
the 1 ½ mile rest house. We weren’t
carrying much water for the climb out, so we stopped and filled up each
time. We also took advantage of the
opportunity to wet our shirts on each occasion.
Although the heat wasn’t terrible, it was warm enough that we weren’t
willing to pass up those opportunities.
We also ran into a ranger during the climb out. He was patrolling the trail, looking for
people that might be in trouble. He
actually had a spray bottle full of water, and he was hosing down people that
appeared to be overheated.
There
was an incident at the 3 mile rest house.
We were victimized by the local wildlife with a well-orchestrated plan
to steal our food. The conspiracy
involved a mule deer that distracted us by trying to drink from a water
fountain. While our attention was
occupied, two squirrels raided my pack. One squirrel unzipped the pocket holding
the gorp, while the other pulled the bag out. I realized what was going on after it was too
late. I didn’t kill the squirrels, but
that wasn’t due to a lack of effort on my part.
Oh,
and if you don’t think deer can drink from water fountains, you must’ve missed
this from earlier in the trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9067009@N03/8050083578/in/set-72157631531118870
We
maintained a slow but steady pace on the way out. The entire 9 ½ mile hike took us 6 hours,
which wasn’t bad considering the elevation gain involved.
The
Bright Angel Trail was much busier than the South Kaibab Trail, though that was
probably due to timing. The upper
portions of those trails are the busiest due to dayhikers. We hiked the upper portion of the South
Kaibab Trail shortly after sunrise, while we hit the upper part of the Bright
Angel Trail around late morning.
Both
trails are scenic. While the South
Kaibab Trail has the better vistas, the Bright Angel Trail has plenty of nice
views plus Indian Gardens. The best
choice for a long dayhike from the south rim might be the Bright Angel Trail to
Indian Gardens plus the spur trail out to Plateau Point. A longer option would be the South Kaibab
Trail down to The Tipoff, followed by the Tonto Trail west to Indian Gardens,
and then out by way of the Bright Angel Trail.
We
caught the bus back over to the Visitor’s Center. We eventually found the rental car and drove
over to the Marketplace Café. Lunch,
consisting of burgers (veggie burger for Christy) and fries, was actually
pretty good. Then we stopped at the
camper services plaza, where we took showers ($2 for 8 minutes). Afterwards, we stopped at the Backcountry
Office, where we turned in the permit for our second backpacking trip. Originally we had planned a second trip,
which would have started the following morning.
That trip would’ve been a simple overnight hike from Grandview Point to
Horseshoe Mesa. That would’ve involved a
steep descent on a rougher trail though, and Christy was leery about it.
We
revised our plans for the final hike.
Instead of an overnight backpacking trip, I would just do a dayhike to
Horseshoe Mesa the following morning.
Meanwhile, Christy planned to do an easy stroll along the South
Rim. We would then leave the park a day
early, bound for Vegas. I wasn’t able to
add a second night to our reservation at The Venetian on short notice. Instead, I booked a free room at a Holiday
Inn Express in a less popular corner of Las Vegas.
With
all that accomplished, we set out in search of ice cream. We also picked up beer and ice. The beer (a local microbrew) was reasonably
priced at $8 for a six-pack. But there
was a catch. The bag of ice was
$4.69. That was quite a racket, since
you obviously can’t buy beer without ice!
We
checked back in at the campground, and ended up with a site a short distance
from our site from a few nights earlier.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening lounging in our hammock,
drinking beer, and watching several elk grazing. Later that evening we caught sunset from the
south rim. We went to bed shortly
thereafter, reveling in the cool temperatures.
Back to Arizona
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!