2011 July 07 « HughHarris

Hiking The Grand Canyon – At Night! (And More)

Yes, that’s right we hiked in the Grand Canyon at night but more about that later. Haven’t been able to post since 7/1 & our hike up the Narrows in Zion Canyon.

On 7/2 we hiked the Upper & Lower Emerald Pools as well as the Groto trail at Zion National Park. It was HOT & very crowded. The park was packed with tourists (including us) but we enjoyed the Zion Lodge & an enormous Cottonwood tree & its shade for a cool afternoon snooze.

On 7/3 we packed up camp and headed to the Grand Canyon to spend the first night at the Yaipavi Lodge and pick up our Backcountry Permit from the Park Ranger to camp at the Bright Angel Campground and Indian Garden.

In order to beat the heat of the trip to the Inner Gorge via the South Kaibab Trail we had to wake-up at 3:00 am on July 4th to catch the backpacker express shuttle to the South Kaibab trail head for a 4:30 am start. Words really do the Canyon no justice. Only pictures tell the real story.

We were able to make the hike down to the Bright Angel Campground & Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon next to the Colorado River by 10:30 am. It’s a 7 mile hike and a drop in elevation of 4,300 ft plus. We were very blessed to have cloud cover for almost the entire trip down. Only the last hour were we in the sun.

Once at the camp ground we set up camp & headed to the cold clear waters of the Bright Angel creek to cool our heals…knees, ankles, everything! The thermometer later in the day read 120 degrees. A storm came through later in the afternoon that continued the cooling trend. We had a great dinner at the Phantom Ranch canteen & hit the sack early for a 3:30 am wake-up call to hike up the Bright Angel Trail to the oasis of Indian Garden Campground.

Along the way on the Bright Angel Trail we came across a rare viewing of a California Condor. Only recently these enormous throwback birds were almost extinct. The one we saw had an imprinted #60 on its wing. We left Bright Angel at 4:50 am and made the 5 miles to Indian Garden by 8:30 on 7/5. Indian Garden is a true oasis in the middle of the Canyon. Large Cottonwood trees, green vegetation, and a beautiful creek bring relief to the inner gorge oppressive heat.

We rested & napped throughout the day on 7/5. A hearty lunch & a soaking in the creek refreshed & renewed some very tired legs & feet.

After the rest, food, & creek soaking we decided to finish off the last 4.5 mile hike up Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim in a late evening ascent. The promise of a nice bed & shower along with the cool evening, rain enhanced weather seemed very appealing however it would mean hiking the steepest section of the trail in total darkness. We packed up in the middle of an oncoming storm and headed up the trail at 6:30 pm. We estimated the hike would take 3,5-4.0 hours. The good news was that there are 2 rest huts with water at the 3 mile point & the 1.5 mile point along the trail.

It was a beautiful trek with a light sprinkle & cool breeze the entire hike up. Once we came out of Indian Garden the trail is all switchbacks up the Canyon to the South Rim. Making this hike in the heat of the day would have been very tough with the gear we were carrying. From 8:00 pm on we hiked by the light of our head lamps. We made the rim by 10:30 & rented the last room on the South Rim. That shower never felt so good.

This morning we had breakfast at the Bright Angel Lodge and with some last pictures in the daylight of some of the trail we had hiked last night we said our goodbyes to this amazing place. We’re headed to Sedona!