Grand Canyon ascend

10/7/11

We woke up at 5:00 at the Bright Angel campground so that we could get an early start for the long hike back to the rim. We made a breakfast of instant oatmeal and packed up camp. We were able to hit the trail by 6:45. It was light out, but the sun had not yet rise above the rim to shine its rays directly on us. The first couple miles of the Bright Angel trail took us along the Colorado River and did not climb much altitude.

As we began climbing altitude, we made sure to take it easy. We took breaks every hour to eat food, hydrate and rest our legs. We also made sure to stop and enjoy the views. The trail going up seemed easier than the trail going down. There was more shade and it was a more gradual climb. This trail had more water and bathroom stops than South Kaibab. Indian Gardens campsite is one of the landmarks with such amenities and marks roughly the middle of the hike. The Indian gardens area is the one with more vegetation of both trails and we suppose the reason for it's name.

As on the other trail, we encountered many other hikers and took time to chat along the way. At our lunch stop we were surrounded by a number of fat, aggressive squirrels that we had to continuously scare off to keep them from our food. We guess that they are often fed by the hikers on this route. We tried to keep an eye out for one of the 75 California Condors that now inhabit the Grand Canyon. At one time, these creatures with a 9 foot wingspan, were the rarest bird on earth, with a total population of only 22. In 1996, a group of condors was reintroduced to the Grand Canyon. We were happy to hear the ranger report that they have begun to reproduce naturally in the Grand Canyon again. There were three nests this year, one of which came from the original group of reintroduced birds. Unfortunately, we were unable to see one.

We reached the top of the Canyon and finished our hike at about 1:00, making for about 6 hours of total hiking time. We considered this to be great time for ourselves and felt great about completing the hike.

In the afternoon, we left the Canyon for Flagstaff as we needed to take the car in for a scheduled service the next morning. We ate some burgers at a cool place in Flagstaff called Diablo Burger. Afterward, we got a beer from a local brew pub. Sitting in Flagstaff, enjoying good food and beer and sleeping in a warm bed, we felt worlds away from the bottom of the Grand Canyon where we had started the day.

Grand Canyon descend

10/6/11

The Grand Canyon is truly a geologists paradise. The canyon exposes over a billion years of history in the different layers of rock as one moves from the top to the bottom. During our stay, we learned a little about the geological history of the canyon. Millions of years ago, the collision of two continental shelves caused the Colorado plateau, location of the canyon, to rise. For perspective, this same event created the Rocky Mountains. After the Colorado Plateau rose to high altitude, the Colorado River began to carve it's path and create the Grand Canyon. This erosion event has taken 6 million years to carve the Grand Canyon as we see it today. Apparently, it carves out a depth each year equivalent to the thickness of a sheet of paper. Today, from the rim to the Colorado River, the Canyon is about a mile deep.

So, we began our two day, overnight hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out. Our itinerary had us descending the South Kaibab Trail, camping at Bright Angel Campground and ascending the Bright Angel Trail. 

Standing on the ledge at the South Kaibab Trailhead, one cannot see the Colorado River, over 5000 feet below. Apparently, the South Kaibab Trail is one of the most famous in the country. We set out at 11:00. Hiking the Grand Canyon is the opposite of climbing a mountain. You start out going down and finish going up. So, the first day down the South Kaibab trail was relatively easy. It provided a great opportunity to enjoy the spectacular views of the Grand Canyon.

The hike down was steep and we were glad we were not taking this trail back up. A couple other groups were hiking down at about the same time and we saw them periodically during the trip.

We arrived at the Bright angel campground at about 3:30, the hike lasting a little over 4 hours. The campground is located at a beautiful setting along a small creek that flows into the Colorado River.

From this location it is impossible to see the canyon rim or anything outside of the canyon save the night sky. We read that people can feel very claustrophobic within the canyon walls, but for this one night we enjoyed our view.

Soon after arriving, we set up camp. We had a brief crisis when we brought out the tent and realized that we had melted some large holes into it by putting it in the drier earlier in the day. Fortunately the rain fly was intact but our tent was now open to any critters that wanted to join us.

In the camp area there is a ranger station and a small lodge that are kept stocked by daily mule teams. In the evening there was a ranger event that we attended where one of the rangers told mysteries about the Grand Canyon. After that, we went to the lodge to enjoy a cold beer and hot tea before going to bed. When we returned to the camp, Paul noticed a sand trail of footprints of a small animal in the tent. He waited until morning to tell Monica so that she would not lose sleep worrying about more small animals coming into the tent during the night.

Permit, Preparing and Ordeals before GC hike

10/5/11

We woke up really early on Wednesday because we had to be at the backcountry permit office by 8am in order to get one of the permits left for the last minute walk-in people. Only 10 % of these permits are set aside for walk ins. Otherwise you are supposed to reserve your permit with 4 months anticipation via fax. We had tried to get one a month ago but found out on Tuesday we didn't got one (of course). 

We arrived at the office at 7am just to be extra careful. Other people equally desperate for a permit started to arrive.  Luckily, us and the second group that arrived were able to get a permit for the next day. We almost could not believe it, we had a permit yeiiiiiiiiiii !

We were happy we had a day to prepare because after reading Ron Adkinson's GC (grand canyon) hiking book we were a little scare of the prospect as first timers. Basically you have to be somewhat fit, and specially in the summer, have to be extremely well hydrated and eat 4000 to 5000 calories or more. Luckily we are in autumn but still the book scares you pretty well. 

We decided to do the recommended backpacking hike for first timers that are fit. This hike starts at the South Kaibab Trail in the S Rim. This trail is 5 miles long, all steep, all the time going down, with no shade. You hike this trail on day one to the Bright Angel Campsite. You sleep there over night and leave the next day for the Bright Angel Trail. The Bright Angel trail is 8.1 miles and is mostly going up. The hike is described as strenuous in Adkinson's book. The change in elevation is ~5,200 feet. In the picture of the topographic model you can appreciate both hikes. 

We stopped at the south rim scenic turnouts and saw for the first time the amazing Grand Canyon. The pictures don't make justice to such natural marble. We were so pumped to get down to it and connect with such nature.

Next we went to have breakfasts at the GC General Store and had huge breakfast burritos for 3.50$, we were pretty pleased. At breakfast we made a list of food. Conveniently the General Store is also the super market so we immediately got the groceries. We went back to the park and pre-packed all we could for the next morning. While doing that we had visitors (aka, the wildlife) came and entertained us. During the trip we have been able to identify plants and different animals by using field books that Paul got from the Milwaukee's library. Similar to Yellowstone's Mammoth area the Mather campground had Elk roaming around in rut.

Here a Mountain Chicadee, and we also saw various white breasted nuthatchs (not pictured)

Luckily Mather campground has showers so we showered after 5 days, and did laundry. We went for dinner at a awful "Mexican" restaurant and went to bed just in time for the storm that was coming to begin. 

We had predicted our basic tent was not going to stay dry, therefore we used our expensive, super nice, 3 pounder,  backpacking tent to cover the gaps. The fix worked and we did not get wet in the 40 mph wind storm that happened that night. Unfortunately when we woke up the day of the backpacking trip our backpacking tent which we needed to use for the trip down the river, that morning, was completely wet.  Not only that, the storm which was unlike anything I've experience before, (remember I come from hurricane world), kept us awake all night at the fear we had to run for our lives at any point.

We still got up and decided to quickly fix the tent issue by drying it in the laundromat drier. All of this while snowing. We were a little desperate and uncomfortable, therefore, not really thinking through (or so I want to believe). Drying up the tent turn out to be a terrible thing, but we didn't realized until later so, we will tell you about that in another post. 

Finally we were ready to start the hike at about 10am as supposed to 8am as we had planned. We drove the car to the Bright Angel trail parking were we could take the bus to the South Kaibab Trail head. In mid way realized we had forgotten the permit. We had to ride the bus about an hour to get back to our car and recover the permit. We were once again delayed but our spirits were not broken. We finally started the hike at about 11am. The next entry will talk about the greatest hike, I just wanted to mentioned all the really Unusual stuff that happened that morning to leave the GC hiking post to be about all positive.