You Might Get Tired!

While I didn't think the hike was so dramatic that I would die, it was a pretty amazing and beautiful. Simply getting up at 3:45 in the morning to be at the trailhead at 4:45 am and seeing the sun rise in the canyon was worth it.


For anyone who is ever there and has a morning to spend I would highly recommend at least that portion of the adventure. I hiked the South Kaibab Trail down to the river - and saw the sunrise at "Ooh Aah Point" - quite appropriately named. I was at the river about 7:30 am, and was delighted to not only find bathrooms at the bottom, but flush ones with running water to wash your hands. The river was gorgeous, but this is where I ran into my first mule train. The mules leave their scat all over the trail, and there's flies everywhere, it was actually kind of gross. I had crossed the river on the first bridge at that point, so I filled up on water, ate some more food and crossed back on the second suspension bridge.

At this point I was caught in the middle of two mule trains - the first a string of mules just carrying supplies and the second a string of mules carrying tourists. The first string were out to cover the distance as fast as they could, so they were gone fairly quickly, but the second was right on my heels so I hussled and was able to stay ahead of them for 45 minutes or so. Eventually though I was passed and had even more fresh droppings to navigate around. I did find a lucky mule shoe though and will try to mount it over the door of the van!

Easy isn't maybe the right word, but the trail was nice, it was clearly marked and had little rest areas spaced out throughout the length of the trail. The South Kaibab trail didn't have running water, but there was water at the river and at each of the rest areas on the way up the Bright Angel Trail. When I say water, I mean clean filtered ready-to-drink water - it was so simple and easy. The trail up was allright, I think the South Kaibab was maybe a nicer trail, but the Bright Angel is more frequently travelled and convenient because of all the water on the way up. I saw a couple of people on my descent, all headed up and all carrying big packs. They all seemed competent too, which may be a funny thing to say, but later on you'll see what I mean.

My first actual rest of the day was at Indian Garden about half way up the Bright Angel trail. I was pretty excited about getting another snack and chilling out in the shade for a few minutes. As I walked down the final few feet of trail before the rest area there was a sudden (and ominious) rattle.


I froze and scanned around where I heard the sound wondering how I'd missed that - generally I'm good about these things. Turns out he was on/in the rock wall about maybe two feet to my left and he was big. So I backed away and got a picture to share. :) It's not the worlds greatest picture, but it gives you an idea of his size (I'd say about three inches diameter and maybe 4+ feet long). He was my second snake of the hike, the first was a little yellow one who didn't stick around for more than a couple of seconds (but at least I saw him first!) I saw a bunch of lizards, there was quite the variety of size and colours on the trail, and there were these squirrels (pack rats?) who had no fear and really wanted to eat my snacks. I wasn't interested in sharing.

I took another couple of rests at the next two resthouses, met some awesome people from Conneticut, and met this guy from California who showed me some petroglyphs just off the trail (you can see them from the trail) just down from the mile and half resthouse.
Turns out there are more petroglyphs (although not as good) just down from the trailhead, on your left after you go through the tunnel.

So like Brent (read about his Grand Canyon expereince here) I didn't have any ham sandwiches, but I did end up consuming part of a peanut butter sandwich, two Cliff bars, a lot of salted peanuts, some salty chips, gatorade and lots of water. I was still starving at dinner though, so I have a ton of respect for the granola bar and apple powered adventure Brent took! I think his hike was longer too. And although I'm "ok" my legs are sore today. The park doesn't recommend it though because of the stupid people who set off on these hikes with nothing. No water or food, and they are completely out of shape. Or there is the slightly better version who are hiking with a coffee cup (like a paper coffee cup from Timmy's) and refilling it at the rest areas - did I mention they are sharing a coffee cup for two people?! These are real examples of people I saw at and around the three mile rest-house, which is about 1200' feet below the rim. I'm pretty sure this is the target audience for the park and these people account for a good majority of the 250 odd helicopter rescues each year.


It was a good adventure, and as far as what happened in Vegas - I thought it stayed in Vegas! :)

Meghan

PS. Since Grand Canyon, we headed back to Vegas for a night, moved on to Death Valley, and are now in Bishop California. More updates to come!