Oct. 3

Our day begins early as we decide to be up by 4:30am. We eat a Probar with almond butter and bananas and pack up our packs. We walk to the shuttle area and wait just a few minutes to be picked up. This bus takes us to the visitor center where we catch another shuttle to the South Kaibab trail head. It is quite brisk and we have most of our layers on. The temp is in the high 30’s. We start down the trail.

but are delayed while a group of Big Horn sheep decide to take control of the trail.

The ram slowly moves off the trail while the females quickly scamper up the sides of the trail.

It isn’t long till we stop to admire the rising of the sun as it casts shadows on the surrounding area.

The rim is 7260 ft. and we will be descending over 4500 feet to reach the Bright angel Campground which is at 2480 feet.

Soon we are down to our base layer as the sun is warming us up. No up hills today only down, down and down!

Don stops to check out the OOH AAH point

There is no water sources on the trail until we reach the bottom. Due to it being colder we don’t need to drink much until later in the day.

At one point we have to stop for a mule train that is doing trail maintenance. The mules are carrying dirt to be deposited on the trail that has had some damage.

We get a good view of the trail that leads down to the bridge that will take us across the Colorado River.

It is steep, but our trekking poles help.

Finally we can see the river and the bridge that we will be using to cross the Colorado River.

We still have quite a bit of descent to do.

There is a rest area with bathrooms about half way down. We stop to have breakfast and learn about a woman who fell and hurt her knee on the trail. She is resting here and the rangers are deciding if a helicopter is necessary. Today there are 3 possible helicopter evacuations. It keeps the rangers on the move. We are surprised by all of the people on the trail in various levels of fitness. Some are staying at the lodge at Phantom, some are camping, while others plan to hike back up to the South Rim on another trail. Finally we get to cross the river on the bridge.

Don takes his time to enjoy the scenery.

It definitely took some ingenuity to get this bridge built.

We head to campsite 33 which is the group site for AZT hikers. There is permits for 11 hikers. It wasn’t crowed when we arrived but by evening it became quite full.

We have become a small group of four, Don and I, Tracy and Spirit Kicks. We head up to the canteen which offers lemonade or ice tea with ice for hikers. What a treat!

There is a restaurant here, but reservations need to be made often months before one’s arrival.

Tracy finds a deck of cards and the four of us play hearts till we head over to a small amphitheater where a ranger is going to give a talk on geology. No surprises here! We are learning all about the layers of the Grand Canyon and we are even able to point out some of the differences. It is going to be a warm night, although nothing like what the temperatures have been down here when at times they were over 100 degrees.

The Rangers have given stern warnings about making sure our camp is rat proof. Our packs are emptied and hang up side down with all zippers closed and any items with smell is put in the provided boxes. The nearby creek drowns out the sound of snoring campers. Total elevation gain today was 17 feet. We are enjoying getting to spend time in the Canyon. Not sure if we will get this opportunity again.

Miles hiked today was close to ten.

Oct. 4

Hikers were up early in the campsite. Some had left before we had even taken our tent down. The south bound hikers need to make it up to the south rim today so getting a jump on it before the sun comes up is important. We also saw quite a few headlamps coming down from the north rim. We imagine there are hikers out doing the Rim2Rim as well as the Rim2Rim2Rim. Here is to hoping they are well prepared. We were on the trail by 6:15 and appreciating the moon light that is also providing us with light to see the trail.

We pass by the mules that are patiently waiting for the people that will be taking them up to the South Rim.

Don and Tracy start the hike, glad for the shade of the canyon walls.

We are only going as far as Cottonwood campground which is only about 7 miles up the trail. It is up hill but nothing like the elevation gain that we will be hiking tomorrow.

Our goal is to get most of our hiking done today in the shade of the canyon walls.

Groups of runners come towards us and we wish them well on their rim to rim adventures. It is easy to distinguish between hikers and people doing the rim to rim. Those who move briskly with a very small backpack are in contrast to the actual backpackers. We also notice the difference between thru hikers and other back packers. It seems that most thru hikers are quite aware of weight while some backpackers are carrying pretty heavy packs.

We are thankful for the bridges that cross the canyon several times. Trying to hike this trail without bridges would be quite the challenge.

Our hike is going well and it seems that we will be mostly in the shade.

At one point we catch a glimpse of the north rim. Tomorrow we will be hiking up to the North Rim.

It is several thousand feet higher than the south rim. We are going to have our work cut out for tomorrow,

Today though this part of the trail is our focus. We come to a fork in the trail. The lower path leads to Ribbon Falls. The other fork leads to Ribbon Falls as well. At one time there was a bridge across the creek on one of the routes, but it has been taken away due to its deterioration. One can still get to the falls but a river crossing as well as some route finding needs to be done. We decide to hike a couple more miles to Cottonwood campground and set up camp. When we arrive we are one of the first ones there. It gives us an opportunity to check the sites out. With shade being a high priority we are able to select one that provides shade. We mouse proof our camp before heading back to Ribbon Falls. We read some information about the falls that is posted in the Campground. The Falls are believed to be the creation birthplace of the Zuni Tribe. During parts of the year ceremonies are held and the falls are off limits. We take some time to find the crossing across the river. (Another group of hikers told us that it was too difficult for them) There are a variety of trails to the falls, but we find one that works. We are soon sitting at the bottom of a very unique falls.

We all agree that it is very spiritual. The water cascades from the top and falls down a vivid green moss.

Red flowers adorn the right side of the falls.

There are small caves at the bottom of the falls which one can go thru and stand behind the falls.

There is a path that leads halfway up and we all make are way up to that spot. We feel fortunate that we are the only ones here.

Tracy decides to stay a little longer, so Don and I head back. Unfortunately the path we took over is not the one we took back and we ended up doing some scrambling to get back to the trail. A little blood was lost in the effort.

Tomorrow our plan is to leave by 5;30. With that in mind we head off to bed.

Miles hiked 7 miles to Cottonwood

4 miles round trip to the Falls.

Oct. 5

We have enjoyed our campsite here at Cottonwood. The last two days have made us slow down and be in awe of our surroundings. We are thankful for the time that we got to spend here in the canyon.

Tracy was up by 4 and we soon followed. Already we saw lights coming down from the North Rim. Getting a lot of the hike in before the sun is upon you is important. By 5:30 we were on the trail using our lights to show the trail. By the time it was light we were in the depths of the beauty of the Canyon. Steep walls surrounded us with the various shades of the different rock layers.

Way on the top if the North Rim. Several times as we made our way up, it was often difficult to see where the trail was going to take you.

Don makes his way up next to one of the walls.

If you look closely you can see the trail on the left.

We passed the first rest area and just kept going. Slow and steady was the way to go up this trail.

The trail became rather busy with lots of day hikers who were planning on going to the
South Rim. Quite a few were impressed that we were carrying backpacks up this trail. Several wanted to know our ages!

It would be quite interesting to learn about the first people who found their way up this trail to the North Rim.

One of the last bridges we crossed spanned quite the canyon.

Somewhere in this area the trail had been damaged which caused the North Kaibab trail to be closed down this Spring. We feel fortunate that we were able to come back to hike it.

As we get closer to the top, we look back down the canyon.

One can see the trail on the right hand side far below us.

There is more vegetation as we get closer to the top.

We take our first break at the Supai tunnel rest area. We are only 1.7 miles from the top and 2000 feet of elevation! Three Rim2Rim2Rim runners take a short break here. The water has been turned off so we are able to give them some. We only have a mile plus to go, they are looking at 22 more miles with lots of decent and quite a bit of gain!

And then we are here!

There are three hikers who are also finishing their hike here as well. They camped at Cottonwood last night and started 2 hours before us. It was good timing for us as their driver brought them some doughnuts and gave a couple to us! As we are waiting for Tracy, a hiker is heading down the canyon. He looks quite familiar to us and when he says his trail name, we instantly recognize it. It was Back Track who we met this Spring.

We then see the sign to the Campground and can’t believe our misfortune. The trail continues to go up! and it is over a mile to it. So with one foot in front of the other we make our way to one of the most beautiful campgrounds on the trail. We are just feet away from the Canyon Rim. This site is reserved for hikers and bikers. It is quite the treat. Don heads over to the camper store to see if can get a canister for the next section of hiking. The store is closing in 2 weeks and they don’t have much inventory. Our only options is Sterno. That could be interesting. Good news is that ice cream is half off. We head to the lodge to pick up our food package and eat in a restaurant that has windows overlooking the canyon.

I see a couple of hikers that had stayed at Cottonwood last night. I decided to see if they are finished with their hike and if perhaps they might have a canister we could buy. The confirmed that they did and in fact it was brand new. They said we could have it. Spirit Kick also needed one and they were able to give him one as well. The trail provides!

Back to camp where we did laundry and took showers. We will be ready for the last days of hiking!

Tracy will be heading back to Tuscon so we take a group photo of the four of us,

Miles hiked 7 on the trail

about 4 around the campground