Myatt's Hikes: Grand Canyon, Rim to Rim

May 24, 2013

Warning: Do not attempt this hike unless you are very confident in your hiking abilities...this hike kicked my butt!!

Most of the reports I read about completing the rim to rim hike were from the south rim to the north rim, but I planned on doing it the opposite way - north to south. This made more sense to me since there is less elevation gain because the north rim is about 1400 feet higher. Also, it set up better for my family since we could all make the 2.5 hour drive from our home town of Hurricane, Utah to the North Rim and camp there for the first night. The next morning, they would then drop me off at the trailhead and they would make the 4.5 hour drive from the north rim to the south rim. Then, when I finished with my hike, I would take the tram to the Mather Campground and meet them at our reserved campsite at the South Rim.

The north rim campground was full a few weeks before we left so we were forced to find a site outside the Park. After consulting with a couple of different rangers, I decided to camp off to the side of one of the Forest Service roads in the area. We decided to camp off of Forest Service road 611, about a quarter of a mile up the road where Forest Service road 610 breaks off of it. There were a few other primitive areas we spotted, but we liked this one best.

I woke up a few minutes after 6:00 am after a restless night of sleep, and was greeted with a charlie horse in my right calf. After getting all my gear together for the trek, we made it to the North Kaibab Trailhead at about 7:00 (Utah time, not Arizona time, which is an hour behind in the summer time). Immediately the picture in my mind of a nice, quiet, tranquil hike was obliterated as a party of about 8 other hikers were getting ready to start down the North Kaibab Trailhead as well. Their preferred method of communication seemed to be either Indian war cries or African Swallow mating calls...either way, they were extremely obnoxious and I made it my goal to pass them as quickly as possible and to not see them again.

Me at the North Kaibab Trailhead

Liz snapped a picture of me at the trailhead and I started quickly on my way at 7:15. The low temperature was forecasted to be 35 degrees that morning, and it felt every bit as cold. I started with a windbreaker, thermal arm sleeves, ear muffs, and gloves - all of which I knew I would shortly be shedding and carrying for the rest of the trip. But they were all definitely needed for this first portion of the hike.

As I started down the trail, I had a brief realization of the difficulty of what I had embarked upon when I was awarded my first view down into the canyon below, where I was headed. As the sun crested the canyon walls to the east, it's rays made the aspen leaves glow as

Supai Tunnel

they danced in the light breeze. I made quick time on the way down, reaching the first landmark, the Supai Tunnel, which is 1.7 miles from the trailhead, in just 38 minutes. (At this point I should mention that due to the high canyon walls, my gps was rendered useless so I'm basing all the mileage on the National Geographic map of the Grand Canyon and other resources).

Shortly after the Supai Tunnel, the views opened up down canyon and I could see the trail far below me. As I kept descending rapidly, I spotted a large bridge that I would have to cross. I got to the bridge at 8:06, crossed it, and then had a short section of welcomed uphill. At this point the contrasting colors of the canyon walls were spectacular. Orange walls were topped with a grayish color with beautiful blooming almost fluorescent green Utah Agave plants dotting the canyon bottom. As I continued on, the temperature continued to get warmer and by 8:30 I had taken off all my winter accessories and decided that since I had skipped breakfast, it was time to break out one of my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Several small trickles of water escaped from the sides of the canyon walls to the right as I made my

Roaring Springs

way to Roaring Springs, a much larger spring. In fact, I recall hearing what sounded like the rush of a large river below, but I remembered that the canyon that I had been hiking down was dry when I started. That's when I looked across the canyon and realized that the rush of water was actually coming out of the side of a wall. As I got closer, a sign marked the trail to actually go all the way to the Roaring Springs, and the trail that continued on to the Cottonwood Campground. Although I wasn't positive at the time which way I needed to go, I was pretty sure I needed to pass through the campground so I continued right toward the Cottonwood Campground, which is the correct way to go.

I will come back eventually and hike the short way to Roaring Springs at some time, though, because it was fascinating to see all that water come straight out of the side of a mountain. I arrived at the trail junction to Roaring Springs at 8:55 after 4.7 miles. Many signs mark different points of interest along the trail and again about 15 minutes after I left Roaring Springs I encountered another sign that said, "Cottonwood Via Bridge" with a restroom and water. I continued following the main trail and arrived at the Cottonwood Campground at 9:33.

Campsite 2 at Cottonwood Campground

The Cottonwood Campground is a very pretty little campground, with about 15 or so sights, it appeared to me. There were rangers at work while I hiked through possibly working on clearing another sight out. I stopped to use the bathroom there, and continued on my way.

Ribbon Falls

The next point of interest I was scheduled to come to was Ribbon Falls. The trail between Cottonwood and Ribbon Falls is very open and exposed to the sun. It was on this part of the trail that I first felt the effects of the sun, so I decided to put on some sunscreen before I got cooked. Like Roaring Springs, Ribbon Falls can be seen
from the main trail, but there is a side trail that goes off to see it, via a foot bridge that crosses Bright Angel Creek. I decided to stay on the main trail and save the side trip for another day. I arrived at the trail junction with Ribbon Falls at 10:04 after about 8.4 miles.

Part of the pretty "Narrows"

Immediately after the junction, the trail gains about 120 feet of elevation before eventually losing it again as the trail heads toward a cool section of narrows. Although not as dramatic as the Narrows of Zion Canyon, the tamer version of the narrows on this
hike was one of my favorite parts of the hike. The trail stays about 10 feet above the creek as it winds it's way through the canyon that the creek carved out over thousands of years. The high canyon walls provided me with a nice break from the unrelenting rays of the sun which had been beating down on me for the previous couple of hours.

Numerous bridge crossings awaited me over the next couple of miles before I reached the Clear Creek Trail junction at 11:54 after 13.1 miles. The junction is marked with signs indicating that the Bright Angel Campground is another 3/4 of a mile ahead and that the Clear Creek trail breaks off to the left (east). I continued on the main trail towards the Campground.

Before reaching Bright Angel Campground, I encountered Phantom Ranch, which seemed to me as

The Canteen at Phantom Ranch

an oasis of sorts in the middle of a hot canyon bottom. I had read a little about Phantom Ranch but I was still amazed at what I found all the way out in the middle of nowhere! There are a number of cabins there and a large dining area called the Canteen. The Canteen is open from 8am to 4pm and from 8pm to 10pm. Even though you have to have advance reservations to eat there, they were more than happy to serve ice cold drinks to many of the hikers passing through. Inside, the Canteen has about 4 to 5 large tables where guests of the Ranch may eat breakfast and dinner when they stay.

I took advantage of the shade of the large trees just outside the Canteen and refilled my water at the water station. I arrived at Phantom Ranch at 12:02 and spent 23 minutes eating a sleeve of Ritz crackers, filling up water bottles and building up strength for the long, hot trek out. The temperature was forecasted to be 95 degrees at Phantom Ranch that day, which seemed about right as I was sitting there trying to cool off.

Bright Angel Campground

I finally decided that I better start my hike out of the Canyon. I passed Bright Angel Campground off to the right, just on the other (west) side of the Creek. The campsites looked nice, backing up to the creek and being very spacious.

About a quarter of a mile past the campground is the trail junction of the South Kaibab trail and the Bright Angel Trail. One may assume that since you take the North Kaibab Trail down from the North Rim, that you would take the South Kaibab Trail back out, and this is possible and frequently done. But I would recommend the Bright Angel Trail out because there are more water stations on the way out and it is a bit more travelled. Either way works and if you happen to change your mind after you get started, there is a trail that connects the two trails on the south side of the Colorado River just after you cross the bridge.

The small bridge to follow the Bright Angel Trail

I took the Bright Angel route off to the right and crossed a small bridge. Just after crossing the bridge, I saw the stable where many horses and mules are housed - all supplies, such as the food at the Canteen, are hauled down by the mule teams. I had been hiking for so long and getting completely blown away by the beauty of my surroundings that by the time I got my first glimpse of the mighty Colorado River, I had completely forgotten that I had that to look forward to! What an amazing sight and sound it was both seeing the river and listening to the force of the water as it flowed unrelenting downstream.

The next amazing sight that caught my eye was the massive, but skinny bridge that spanned the whole of the river. Before crossing the bridge, I

Colorado River and Bright Angel Bridge

walked down to the bank of the Colorado to dip my hat in both for the physical cooling effect it would have on me and also for the mental boost it would give me (there's just something that is so cool to me about the Colorado River). Taking this short excursion allowed for a runner to pass me and get on the bridge first. As he was running across, the bridge was bouncing a bit up and down as I got on at 12:50

I took my time crossing the bridge, taking in the amazing views both up and down stream. Up stream, I could see the other large bridge that the South Kaibab Trail uses to cross the Colorado. The bottom of the bridge was a see-through metal grate that allowed me to see the River 30 feet below my feet as I was walking across. At the end of the bridge is a sign pointing right for the Bright Angel Trail or left for the South Kaibab Trail. So again, if you had changed your mind about which

Looking downstream from the bridge

way to hike out, you could take this trail to get you going the other way.

I continued right and was awarded with about a mile long hike along the south bank of the Colorado River. The drawback was that I was forced to gain about 200 feet of elevation before loosing it again as the trail turned south and headed out via Pipe Creek Canyon. Where Pipe Creek enters the Colorado River, there is a small white sand beach that some people were enjoying. There is also an emergency phone in this area. I arrived here at 1:23.

Looking back towards the Colorado River and
the Pipe Creek Trail that I just came from.

I followed the main trail by the side of the creek, for the next mile. There were several creek crossings and after about 3/4 of a mile and just before the trail left the side of Pipe Creek, there was an unmarked use trail off to the right to a cave. It sounded to me as if there were already people exploring it, so I continued on. At 1:49 the trail left Pipe Creek and switch backed up a hill where, once it crested it, it met up with the Garden Creek Canyon.

One of the first things I saw in this new canyon was a spring that flowed down the canyon wall on the left and covered the entire trail. Up ahead, a large raven took advantage of the fresh water before flying away as I got closer. There were also pretty miniature hanging gardens along this point. After another half mile or so, I crossed Garden Creek a couple of times and saw a small but picturesque waterfall below me.

At this time, I was beginning to feel the effects of the heat as well as the 16 miles I had hiked thus far. I knew Indian Garden wasn't much further ahead, but it couldn't come soon enough. I arrived at the lush Indian Garden at 2:51 after about 17 miles. I took a

The watering hole at Indian Garden

seat on one of the benches under a big shade tree and let my aching feet and legs rest for a bit. I dumped a bottle of water on my head to cool myself off. A temperature gauge at Indian Gardens said that the temperature was 90 degrees. When I looked to see that the elevation at Indian Gardens was only about 3800 feet, I knew I was in trouble since I still had 3000 vertical feet to go to make it out and I was already hot and exhausted.

I left Indian Garden after filling up my water supply at 3:11 after a 20 minute respite there. My next stop (or next point of interest, I should say) was the 3 mile rest house, just 2 miles away. I made decent time despite my frequent stops to try to quell the nausea that was starting to set in. Despite the extreme temperatures, I also began to feel chilled a little, which was a cause for concern. I made it to the 3 mile rest house at 4:00. It was just about 30 yards off the main trail, but I actually

The 3 mile rest house

debated with my self as to whether it was worth it or not to take the extra 30 steps to get up to it.

I ended up making the short side trip to the rest house at 4:00 and took a 12 minute rest in the shade. The next point of interest was the mile and a half rest house. My breaks during this portion became much more frequent and frankly I was embarrassed that I had to stop so much. I had never experienced the fatigue I was experiencing - not while summiting Mount Whitney in one day or on any other of my adventures.

My legs seemed to only be able to take so many steps before my quads would just feel like jelly and before I felt the urge to throw up. So I continued to take my time and take small sips of water so as not to upset my stomach more than it already was. I also continued to dump water on myself to cool down as much as possible. I finally made it to the mile and a half rest house at 5:14, a completely unacceptable pace, but one that I had to be okay with.

The welcomed sight of the historic Kolb Brothers
Photography Studio.

Because there were so many people at the rest house and because I had to climb about 30 stairs to get there, I actually didn't stop at the rest house, but continued on and stopped to take a break a little farther up the trail. By this time, not even sitting down and resting helped the nausea and at one point I actually decided to lay down off to the side of the trail to try to ease the discomfort. I ended up taking about a 10 minute nap there which gave me the energy I needed to make the final push out of
there.

On the way out, there were a couple of small tunnels the trail went through that I wasn't able to fully appreciate because of how exhausted I was. When I saw the old historic Kolb Brothers Photography Studio I knew I was close! Finally, after 22 miles and 11 hours and 27 minutes of hiking, I made it out!

Although admittedly I wasn't in the greatest of hiking shape when I completed this hike, it is definitely a hike not to be taken lightly as all the warning signs posted at both the North and South Rims indicate. The Elevation loss totaled about 5800 feet on the way down to the Colorado and the elevation gain on the way out was about 4400 feet. One of the biggest hindrances is the temperature change. In a matter of 5 hours, I experienced a temperature change of 60 degrees! That meant that all the cold gear that I had to wear to stay warm when I started the hike at 35 degrees, I had to pack out while it was 95 degrees later. Overall though, it was a fun hike and I look forward to trying it from South Rim to North Rim next!

A sign by the beginning of the North Kaibab Trail

A drinking fountain along the way - one of the
many places to rehydrate.

The first bridge crossing

A cool part of the trail

If you look closely you can see the trail in the
distance - it hugs the canyon wall

The trail on the way to Cottonwood Campground

The bridge to Ribbon Falls

A small bridge crossing past Ribbon Falls

The trail at the start of the "Narrows" section

More of the "Narrows" section

One of the footbridge crossings

The Clear Creek Trail Junction. This sign actually indicates that
it is 3/4 more of a mile to Bright Angel Campground, but off to
the left is a sign marking the beginning of the Clear Creek Trail.