It's taken me a month to write this because it was such an awesome adventure I'm still trying to wrap my brain around a way to describe how incredible it was. Legit one of the most beautiful days I've ever spent.
In March when I hiked Khyv Peak with my dad and my sister they were talking about a trip to the Grand Canyon in the fall. I invited myself and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing to help prepare. I realized that it was just a couple of days after getting back from Maine and I was really struggling with the posterior tibial tendon in my left foot and wasn't sure I would be able to physically do the 24 miles (I dropped out of my fall marathon). Anyway.
The short version of this is that I ended up buying a plane ticket about a week out after my dad convinced me to do it. And then the short version of just how much crazier this plan got is that we got home from Maine on Sunday, I flew to Utah Wednesday night, slept for 2 hours, then got up at 1 am to drive the 6 hours to the Grand Canyon (thanks Dad for driving while we tried to sleep!!) and then hiked 24 miles with 10000+ feet of elevation change (it's basically a mile down and a mile up). We were originally planning to hike on Friday, but the weather forecast looked bad enough that we moved it up a day (which I was freaking out about and was not on board. Thankfully I was wrong).
We started right around 6:30 AM (time change worked in our favor!) from the North Kaibab trailhead. Most day hikers had started hours before so we basically had the trail to ourselves, and it was that way almost the entire day! There were a few groups that we leapfrogged a few times, but mostly it was just the three of us.
We stopped at the Coconino Overlook for a photo and I woke up enough to realize that I really wished I'd brought some makeup with me because I'm going to be looking at these photos for a long time (I tried to pack super light because we had to carry everything we needed that night/next day with us, but I could have at least put on some tinted moisturizer and left it in the car...as the day goes on you can see in photos that I got progressively sunburnt around my lips where I usually have lipstick blocking sun).
We stopped at the Coconino Overlook for a photo and I woke up enough to realize that I really wished I'd brought some makeup with me because I'm going to be looking at these photos for a long time (I tried to pack super light because we had to carry everything we needed that night/next day with us, but I could have at least put on some tinted moisturizer and left it in the car...as the day goes on you can see in photos that I got progressively sunburnt around my lips where I usually have lipstick blocking sun).
We made pretty good time and were moving consistently the whole day--I honestly don't know how long it took us, but it felt very consistent all day. Here are Dad and Rosalind exiting the Supai Tunnel...
I kept taking photos trying to capture the grandeur and sheer scale of the Canyon. You can't. It's impossible.
Closing in on Redwall Bridge--the first of many!
One thing that I will totally pat myself on the back about--I was pretty bossy about nutrition and hydration for everyone. I gave them carb-loading instructions beforehand and set a timer on my watch to make everyone take in a specific number of carbs/calories/electrolytes per hour, and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that none of us ever cramped up, got nauseated, or ran out of energy. We brought a ton of different snacks but I think our overall favorites were Dad's homemade oatmeal/walnut/cherry cookies & really thick-cut kettle-style potato chips.
So beautiful--the views constantly changed but were always awe-inspiring.
This is one of my favorite photos I took that day.
My heel was bothering me on the descent and I was worried about how it would hold up the rest of the day. When we got to the Manzanita rest area we took a pretty decent stop (maybe 20 minutes) and I spent the whole time stretching--that helped quite a bit.
Off towards Cottonwood campground--one of the coolest things about this hike was watching the vegetation change as we passed through different microclimates as the elevation changed.
I was BLOWN AWAY by how lush and beautiful the bottom of the canyon is. I legitimately did not expect it to be so incredible. My favorite parts of the hike were the chunk between Manzanita and Phantom Ranch--I absolutely loved just walking along the bottom of the canyon for miles and miles staring at the towering rocks around us. It is SO different from anything you will see on the Bright Angel or South Kaibab trails and I think if humanly possible you should hike rim to rim, not rim to river.
As you go through the canyon (you're basically crossing that ten-mile span between rims for all of this) the trail gently rolls but is mostly pretty level.
Okay possibly unpopular opinion--my ABSOLUTE favorite part of the hike was The Box. Which we didn't actually realize we were in until we were almost at Phantom Ranch--this section is notorious for being miserably hot in summer and is the part that people try to get through before the sun comes up and turns it into an inferno. Well, in October it was very pleasant, haha! We had cooling towels that we went down and soaked in the river every so often, but this part of the hike was really lovely. We found a place where we could sit in the river and soak our feet while we ate lunch...the best feeling on a long hike!!! I think we were probably 13ish miles in at this point?
I mean can you get a more scenic picnic? I think not.
Seriously loved this section so much.
Right before we got to Phantom Ranch we spotted this rock squirrel and I took a bunch of pictures of its coloration for Luke.
Then we got to Phantom Ranch and the LEMONADE was there. It was sooooo good!!!! Dad and I each drank two cups (Rosalind drank one cup but was dealing with growing blisters for most of the time that we were at Phantom Ranch). Someone had left a bag of ice on the rock by the water spigot so everyone was dropping ice in their water bladders before filling them up, and my gosh, it was HEAVENLY to have ice water at that point in the hike!!!
Also if you look closely--I'm sunburnt all around the periphery of my lips where I didn't bring the sunscreen close enough. Yowch, it was pretty swollen and painful for a couple of days.
Phantom Ranch is just incredible seeing all of these buildings at the bottom of the canyon and knowing how much work it was to create this oasis. I'd love to stay in one of the cabins someday (guess I better start entering the lotteries!).
I was so in love with my salty chips and lemonade combo that I decided to take a photo (sorry I got your back in it, Rosalind!).
Eventually we finished snacking and resting and writing our postcards to be hauled out by mule express later (!!) and headed towards the river. (Lots of mule deer between Phantom Ranch and the river!)
My dad had hiked Rim 2 Rim a couple of years ago and said that the Colorado was chocolate brown on that hike and he was super surprised to see how clear it was this time!
Ascending up Bright Angel felt like we were racing the sun. We knew we would be hiking in the dark given our late start! I'm glad I took time to turn around and take this photo--so cool to see the trail behind us.
A couple screengrabs from a video I took of the sunset...
I kept taking photos trying to capture the grandeur and sheer scale of the Canyon. You can't. It's impossible.
Closing in on Redwall Bridge--the first of many!
One thing that I will totally pat myself on the back about--I was pretty bossy about nutrition and hydration for everyone. I gave them carb-loading instructions beforehand and set a timer on my watch to make everyone take in a specific number of carbs/calories/electrolytes per hour, and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that none of us ever cramped up, got nauseated, or ran out of energy. We brought a ton of different snacks but I think our overall favorites were Dad's homemade oatmeal/walnut/cherry cookies & really thick-cut kettle-style potato chips.
So beautiful--the views constantly changed but were always awe-inspiring.
This is one of my favorite photos I took that day.
My heel was bothering me on the descent and I was worried about how it would hold up the rest of the day. When we got to the Manzanita rest area we took a pretty decent stop (maybe 20 minutes) and I spent the whole time stretching--that helped quite a bit.
Off towards Cottonwood campground--one of the coolest things about this hike was watching the vegetation change as we passed through different microclimates as the elevation changed.
I was BLOWN AWAY by how lush and beautiful the bottom of the canyon is. I legitimately did not expect it to be so incredible. My favorite parts of the hike were the chunk between Manzanita and Phantom Ranch--I absolutely loved just walking along the bottom of the canyon for miles and miles staring at the towering rocks around us. It is SO different from anything you will see on the Bright Angel or South Kaibab trails and I think if humanly possible you should hike rim to rim, not rim to river.
As you go through the canyon (you're basically crossing that ten-mile span between rims for all of this) the trail gently rolls but is mostly pretty level.
I mean can you get a more scenic picnic? I think not.
Oldest and youngest!
Seriously loved this section so much.
Right before we got to Phantom Ranch we spotted this rock squirrel and I took a bunch of pictures of its coloration for Luke.
Then we got to Phantom Ranch and the LEMONADE was there. It was sooooo good!!!! Dad and I each drank two cups (Rosalind drank one cup but was dealing with growing blisters for most of the time that we were at Phantom Ranch). Someone had left a bag of ice on the rock by the water spigot so everyone was dropping ice in their water bladders before filling them up, and my gosh, it was HEAVENLY to have ice water at that point in the hike!!!
Also if you look closely--I'm sunburnt all around the periphery of my lips where I didn't bring the sunscreen close enough. Yowch, it was pretty swollen and painful for a couple of days.
Phantom Ranch is just incredible seeing all of these buildings at the bottom of the canyon and knowing how much work it was to create this oasis. I'd love to stay in one of the cabins someday (guess I better start entering the lotteries!).
I was so in love with my salty chips and lemonade combo that I decided to take a photo (sorry I got your back in it, Rosalind!).
Eventually we finished snacking and resting and writing our postcards to be hauled out by mule express later (!!) and headed towards the river. (Lots of mule deer between Phantom Ranch and the river!)
My dad had hiked Rim 2 Rim a couple of years ago and said that the Colorado was chocolate brown on that hike and he was super surprised to see how clear it was this time!
Ascending up Bright Angel felt like we were racing the sun. We knew we would be hiking in the dark given our late start! I'm glad I took time to turn around and take this photo--so cool to see the trail behind us.
Can you see the eagle flying across this one?
This was the last we saw of the trail--the sun went down before we got to Havasupai Gardens, so we were in the dark for the last five miles of the trail.
We did find that occasionally when we took photos of the dark around us the flash would illuminate the rocks so we could get an idea of what we were passing! This is one of those photos.
And we had a full moon!
Those last miles were loooong and it was definitely a willpower effort getting up. I would not want to take anyone on that hike who did not want to be there very much. We were pretty good at distracting ourselves though and Rosalind & I sang John Denver songs for a couple of the last miles.
Then we finally got to the top of Bright Angel (didn't even think about taking a photo by the sign, whoops), called a taxi to take us to the Yavapai Lodge, and got settled in our hotel room. Let me tell you--a shower has NEVER felt so good. I washed my hair at least 3x to get all the grit and dust out. Poor Rosalind had the worst blisters I've ever seen; I don't know how she hiked those last ten miles, but she just--settled in and did it.
The next morning we wandered around the South Rim for awhile...we had originally planned to take the 8 am shuttle back but randomly found a phone by Phantom Ranch and left a message with the shuttle company to see if we could switch to a later time so that we could see more of the South Rim, since we hadn't been able to check out the North Rim as we'd planned previously (we were supposed to have a full day there).
The interesting part of this is that we were NOT planning on walking around the South Rim, so we had carried the absolute minimum amount of clothing across the canyon with us. So...we looked pretty awesome. We were so glad we had our puffer jackets and raincoats; we hadn't used them the previous day, but it started snowing and was COLD.
Eventually got onto our shuttle to drive the 4 hours back around to the North Rim.
It stopped a couple of times, including one time at this bridge over the Colorado where we walked out and saw a bunch of California condors.
Then--this is where it got really stressful. It started snowing as we passed Jacob Lake and got heavier and heavier. When we got to the Kaibab Lodge where most of the people were getting out, the shuttle driver told the three of us & one other girl who was going on to the campground that he needed to switch to his personal truck because he didn't think the shuttle van could make it through the snow. FUN.
Then he was flustered so he accidentally opened the sunroof and dumped a foot of snow in the cab. Remember that we basically have no pants.
The lodge looked gorgeous though! I had a long time to look at it standing in the snow while the shuttle guy tried to find my seatbelt which was buried in his tools. (He was like "it's fine, I don't wear one" and I thought no way dude am I skipping a seatbelt in snow.)
Anyway--so we started driving and the shuttle guy was apparently a real glass half empty guy, because he proceeded to then talk about a) how he hoped he had enough gas to get to the trailhead b) he hoped a bison didn't ram us in the snow c) he hoped the park hadn't closed the gates because we would have to turn around and the lodge had no vacancies.
It was a huge relief to finally get back to our car--and the battery was dead! Yikes! But fortunately the shuttle guy was still there and so he jumped the car. Then we had the most terrifying drive out of the park through snow--it was seriously so scary. I sent an "I love you very much" text to Neil just in case. But thankfully we made it to Jacob Lake and their giant cookies, and then Dad drove the rest of the white-knuckle drive home while Rosalind and I were kind of jerking in and out of conciousness. I think we got back to Provo at 2 or 3 am. It was SUCH a fast trip but it was SOOOOOO incredible and I am so so so glad my dad talked me into doing it!
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