Grand Canyon, Down South Kaibab Trail and Up Bright Angel Trail

On Sunday, Scott and I hiked the Grand Canyon, descending via the South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch and then ascending via the Bright Angel Trail for a total of 17.9 miles and a steep descent and ascent.

Distance: 17.9 miles Elevation gain: 7,200’ – 2,450’ – 7,000’

First, A Warning

The Grand Canyon trails and website are saturated with warning signs telling people not to attempt to hike down to the river and back in one day, which is precisely what we plan to do. Scott and I have seen people do some very stupid things on these trails such as leaving too late in the day and not carrying any water. So I have to add the following warning: do NOT attempt this hike if you haven’t prepared properly. That means if you didn’t do the research and mapped out a sound strategy, you shouldn’t attempt this hike no matter how fit you think you are. That also means that you shouldn’t attempt this hike if you aren’t physically and trail fit to do this, keeping in mind that there is a difference between being physically fit and being trail fit and also keeping in mind that your idea of being physically fit might be quite different than the level that is required to do this hike — being able to run a 10-minute mile is not the same thing as being able to run a marathon. We found this hike to be challenging even though we’ve gone backpacking with 35-45 pounds on our backs for days at a time, oftentimes contending with the heavy elevation gains that come with hiking in the High Sierras and getting no recovery time between days. I also do craploads of physical training. I created a list of trail milestones and the time we need to hit each milestone in order to make reasonable progress. We packed supplies that would get us through a night if we found ourselves stuck in the canyon overnight.

The Plan

We got our first glimpse of the Bright Angel Trail during our road trip but were unable to hike down because we had our dog with us; there is an excellent view of the trail along the rim, west of the trailhead. The winding trail was calling us for a good challenge. It was probably a good thing we didn’t go down that day since the summer heat would have been nearly unbearable with inner canyon temperatures routinely exceeding 110 degrees. After our trip to Half Dome in October, I started to make plans for a day hike down the Grand Canyon. We were actually supposed to go down on November 4th, but due to the San Diego fires, we pushed out our target date to November 11th. As it turns out, November is an excellent time to visit the Grand Canyon: although the nights get close to freezing, the temperature is quite nice for hiking if you have the right gear and clothing for rapid body temperature changes. The low is around freezing, but the high in the inner canyon stays below 85 degrees or so.

I reserved a campsite in Mather Campground for Saturday and Sunday night. Unfortunately, all we have is our backpacking tent (a tent that barely fits two people). All dreams of a roomy tent with a regular air mattress and comforters were out, and we’d have to sleep with our backpacking gear and an extra blanket to supplement our +15-F-degree-rated sleeping bags which in actuality are NOT comfortable in +15-F-degree weather (I wonder if the sleeping bag rating really refers to the degree in which you barely avoid dying from hypothermia).

We needed to get to our campsite with at least an hour of daylight left to set up our tent and take care of any other business, so we planned to leave San Diego at 6:00 am. We arrived at our campsite at 4:15 pm Arizona time, set up the tent, ate our dinners, took our sleeping pills, and were in the tent for bed by 6:35 pm. We need to get up at 4:45 am tomorrow to take the early shuttles to the South Kaibab Trailhead, aiming for a start time of 6:30 am. We have a hard time falling asleep as a group of noisy Koreans arrive at the campground around 9:00 pm and are up until midnight laughing and leaving their car light on. I overhear that they are planning on getting up at 4:00 am and it sounds like they are trying to hike down and back up in one day as we are.

I am nervous about tomorrow. Daylight is quite short now, only about 11 hours from about 7:00 am to 5:30 pm. Also, this will be my first real canyon hike, and I am anticipating that canyon hikes involve quite a different strategy than conventional hikes. A good, injury-free and minimal impact descent is crucial; if you blow off the descent, you’ll pay for it on the ascent. I took time the evening prior to tape up my blister-prone spots. Also, a descent in darkness with headlamps can be very dangerous. For example, the Mist Trail on the way to Half Dome is nearly impossible to safely navigate down during nightfall as the granite stairs are narrow and seem to change direction suddenly and randomly, so we ascended this section before sunrise in the dark in order to guarantee us a safe descent before sunset. However, this being a canyon hike, the clock needs to be reversed; we resolved that we’d probably finish in darkness, but I didn’t want to finish too late in the day. We’re aiming to start by 6:30 am (about 30 minutes before sunrise when there is some natural light) and finish by 7:00 pm (about 1.5 hours after sunset).

The Hike

We woke up at 4:45 am to a very cold morning and were at the shuttle stop by 5:15 am. Since the buses aren’t on an exact schedule, we only know the approximate time intervals that the buses come by but don’t know when the next bus will come. Even in the very worst case, we need to be at the trailhead by 6:30 am to be on schedule, so we play it conservatively, map out the worst case, and show up at the bus stop at 5:15 am, when the buses are supposed to start running. We miss the first bus, but this allows us to have breakfast. We catch the Village Shuttle at 5:40 am and catch a break: the Kaibab Shuttle is waiting for us at the transfer station and we’re able to immediately board it. This affords us a start at 6:00 am, 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

I am hesitant to start as it is pitch black and I am unsure whether the descent will be impossible to navigate in the dark as is the case of the Mist Trail. But I am pleasantly surprised to find that the trail is quite wide and non-technical, so we are able to easily descend with our headlamps. We are a little slow to start, and there is a temptation to go fast downhill as we are routinely passed by other parties, but we keep to a steady 2.0 mph down to keep the impact on our knees and feet minimal and I use my trekking poles to bear some of the impact. As I mentioned before, if you unnecessarily stress your body here, it’ll impact your ascent two fold.

My mom once told me that you have to hike down into the canyon in order to truly appreciate the Grand Canyon. The view on the South Kaibab Trail is amazing. I think the most impressive scenery in the Grand Canyon is still from the rim. However at the rim, the Grand Canyon looks like a beautiful still painting, but as we go down into the canyon, the Grand Canyon truly comes alive. From this vantage point, I can see some of the geology up close and I can see the Grand Canyon as a living ecosystem. It feels like being able to walk through the brush strokes of a painting — a little surreal, maybe a little psychedelic even, but definitely intriguing and uplifting with the wonderment of nature.

We reach Phantom Ranch at 10:00 am, 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I prod Scott to hike another 0.5 mile to Phantom Ranch to get some lemonade and take a break there. We only manage a short 15-minute break there where we enjoy some really good lemonade. I’m not dehydrated or hot, so I can say this with a clear head: their lemonade is really, really good. We walk back to the Bright Angel campground area where Scott washes his face in the creek and we sit for another 15-minute break with deer feeding uncomfortably close to us and we see a huge mule. The Grand Canyon has many intriguing sights.

We start our ascent with an unsatisfying break at the canyon floor that didn’t involve taking off our shoes, and I worry whether we’ll pay for this mistake later. After about an hour of following the Colorado River on a frustrating series of small ascents and descents, we take a short break by a rest house and emergency phone where Scott puts on some moleskin. We start again, keeping a good pace and reaching Indian Garden at 1:05 pm. Indian Garden is another lush patch of concentrated vegetation in the canyon, and at this time of year, the leaves have turned yellow, reminding us that it is fall  even in the canyon. Although we spend 30 minutes here, resting on a bench in the shade, we still do not take off our shoes for a real rest. My feet are doing alright at this point, a remarkable feat considering that I completed 7 miles of steep downhill today.

With only 4.5 miles left to go and the possibility of finishing before sunset, we eagerly hike onwards. We reach the Three-Mile-Resthouse at 2:15 pm, making 2 mph on the uphill. We take a 15-minute break there where one guy calls someone on his cell phone while taking a break, and another group of young people talk about calories. It reminds me of how I see people on Cowles Mountain eat junk when they summit and try to justify it with their hiking. I guess I have a mouthful to say about weight loss, but that will have to wait for another day.

We reach the 1.5-Mile-Resthouse at 3:15 pm where we take another 15-minute break, again clocking 2 mph on the uphill. This is sustained speed is probably a record for us, and I am excited that we may actually finish in time to take a shower before the showers close today. The neat part of this trail is that you get a pretty good view at the winding trail you just came up.

We reach the trailhead at 4:20 pm! The weather has been great today: we’ve managed to hike most of the time either in the shade or with cloudy skies and the temperature staying below 80 degrees. Also, this hike is not a technical one; the trail is pretty straight forward, so a good strategy, physical fitness, and will power were all that was required of us today.

After

I packed in 3.5 liters and drank about 2.5 liters (plus the lemonade at Phantom Ranch). Scott packed in 4 liters, refilled one of his Nalgenes along the way, and consumed about 3 liters. I managed to get through the day with only one blister – on the toe on which I had to remove the moleskin as I had wrapped it around too tightly the night before. It rained in the Grand Canyon today. Scott and I got caught in a bit of it around dinner time, but we were in out tent by the time it rained heavier. Finally, here is a picture of the Bright Angel Trail a bit west along the rim, taken earlier this year during our road trip.

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