The day was finally here. The test of all of our hiking abilities. A 10 mile journey to the Bright Angel campground dropping almost 5000 foot of elevation. I have been checking the app "All Trails" almost every day over the last 2 months, sometimes just to go over the trail, but most times to see the reviews. They basically repeat the same thing...bring lots of water and food...temperature is crazy hot at the bottom...you better be in shape for this one...I would not wish that last climb on my worst enemy. I did not tell Magan about the lady that had died on one of the other trails the previous week. Nor did I mention the one that died two weeks prior at the park in Texas due to the heat wave in the area. I found myself watching every step I took in the weeks leading up to this with extra care, because on a journey like this, it only takes one wrong step.
But we woke up with full adrenaline pumping. Bags were heavy...we overpacked...all my fault...but how do you plan for a trip like this, when your prep hikes are at Oak Mountain in Alabama. You can't. You just start walking, you take one step, then another, and if you look over the edge, you freeze up. There are two entrances to the trail located only about 100 yards from one another. One was closer to our hotel room, and that is the one we began on. But not because it was closer, because this was the Kolb Studio start to the trail. And if you have ever read of Emery and Ellsworth Kolb, you will find some of the best stories of any of the original pioneers of the Grand Canyon.
In 1902, Emery C. Kolb (1881–1976) and Ellsworth L. Kolb (1876–1960) first arrived at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. In 1911, they successfully navigated the Colorado River, filming their journey. Built between from 1904 to 1926, the building which they constructed was both a family home and photographic studio for the pioneering Kolb brothers. The building has evolved through two major additions and countless minor changes during its century of existence at Grand Canyon. They were the first ones to make money by taking pictures of the tourists on the mules as they headed down into the canyon, then sell them at high prices at the top. But the best story is that they had no running water for the darkroom, so after taking the pictures, Emery would run down past the mules to the Indian Gardens 5 miles down the trail, develop the pictures, and come back up to the top to sell the pictures as the mule riders made it up. It is said that Emery did this often 2 times a day, and one time, accomplished the feat three times in one day.
So they were my inspiration for the start of this journey. We were up at around 3:45 with a plan to be on the trail by 5AM. But after some packing of the van, strategic placement of computers and electronics, a couple of group pictures, we stepped onto the trail at 5:15AM. And we began our descent into various layers of rock, amazed at each cliff wall, because after awhile, we were at the bottom of that cliff. Switchback after switchback. I took lots of pictures, and we have a good bit of video of the different looks along the trail. I was amazed at myself for some of the videos in which I held while walking the trail with the giant canyon a few steps from me. It did continue to terrify me, and Davis learned really quick that when he told me to look out at something, my body would completely freeze up. Once frozen in place, I could allow my neck to turn to see the view.
We saw our first climbers coming up from the bottom at the 1.5 mile rest stop. They had left at 1AM, and only had that small section left. Before that we passed the 1 mile tunnel that was our destination in 2021, and I will say that would have been crazy...because the next day...that felt like forever to the top. Sam and Davis were typically 1 switchback ahead of me. They knew from our prep hikes, that I am slow. I can hike faster, but again, I watch every step, and usually never out of breath at the pace that I like to keep. Periodically I would capture them out ahead of me, with a view that was just amazing around every corner. We were all impressed at the rest stops, as the bathrooms are really pretty nice, and the water was not bad. We were told that the water was often almost scalding hot coming out of the pipes, but we never noticed anything. One of the prettiest sites is the ledge where the 3 mile rest area sits. Great little covered area looking out at the red rock which sits at the bottom of that initial big wall. Just after the 3 mile rest area is a killer set of red powder trail of switchbacks. It was also where we ran into the 2nd group heading up from the bottom. And she told me they left at 2AM. I was starting to get the idea that these guys may have a good reason for leaving so early.
As I have mentioned before, one of the life savers on this trip was the water reservoir in the backpack that allowed you to drink the water without stopping your hike. If I would have had to take of my bag for each drink, I would have quickly become dehydrated. But during these drinks of water while we were hiking down the wall, I found that it seemed to always prompt a coughing spell. So much so that Sam and Davis just started laughing and yelling back "Did you get a drink of water" everytime they heard me coughing coming up behind them. It was pretty much every time, like I can't breath, walk, and drink at the same time. My body just won't let me do it.
Then the path finally leveled out, and around 8 in the morning, we arrived at the Indian Gardens. It was really surreal, as we have seen this place from so far away, and now we walking in what felt like a forest in the middle of the canyon. Massive trees that had been there much longer that I have been alive. A huge ranger station, nice campground, and our final rest area before making it to the Colorado river. It was also the last source of water until we get all the way to the campground, so we made sure all bottles were full. I think I felt a little deceived mentally, as from the top, this is the place you see, and you think that the Colorado is not much farther, just a few steps into the canyon below...but that was not the case. Even tho we knew we were only half way there, I was starting to feel the weight of the pack, and knew we had a long way to go.
Walking into the next section included a walk along the creek, then a section where we actually had to walk within the creek. This was no where in my notes, nor any of the comments I had read, so we sent Davis ahead to make sure there was a trail that we were walking towards. And we found that we were going in the right direction. Sam also ran way off onto the tonto trail to take a cool picture of the midway point of our journey, and I caught him off in the distance on the round rock. The next section of the trail was really neat, walking along the creek, while we slowly dropped into a gorge. But then we hit a point in the trail where the creek ran very far below to our left, and when we made the turn, the view of the next section of trail took my breath away. Mentally and Physically, this is where my body started screaming, and the view of the small trail notched ever so small in such a giant wall scared me. I circled it in the picture below. Once at that point, it was not as bad as it looked, but at a couple of areas, the rocks along the narrow edge had fallen away leaving a nice view of the drop below.
At one of the corners in this long drop (This second drop is not as big as the first, but still around 600 feet thru this one small section) where we found a little shade, I told the boys I had to stop, and we rested there for quite awhile. While resting, we met an Eagle Scout that now worked and lived in Pennsylvania. He had left around the same time we did, made it to the river, and was this far on his way back up in one day. Yikes! After another one of my ham and cheese tortillas, I put my torture bag back on, and we kept down the hill.
Closer to the bottom, we ran into a blessing of a ranger who was making her way up the trail helping where needed, and she did that with us. First off she verified to me that we didn't need that 8 lb tent that Sam and Davis were sharing the load. And I am pretty sure she saw it on my face, but told us all that before we headed from the River over the 1.5 mile journey to the campsite, that we were to soak in the garden river (one that flows into the colorado...colorado has a strong current and has pulled many along and off to their final destination). She told us that she loves the whole bright angel trail, but the worst section of all of it to her, was the 1.5 mile sandy path along the river to the campsite. And for us, it was now about 11:30AM and that trail is in complete sun the whole time.
When we came to the Colorado, we also found a good restroom. Then Davis went down into some deeper water near the Colorado, while me and Sam walked back to a section of the river that looked a little cleaner and was flowing better. We all three soaked down for our final section of this trip. Then walked our trail along the river. While this section was every bit as hot and difficult as the ranger had said, it was a pretty cool sight to be strolling along the Colorado. I did not mention it earlier, but that drop into the lower section of the canyon brought us to a nice toasty 115 in the shade, so direct sun...was toasty. And once again on this final section, I was the weakest link. I could not make it to the bridge, and had to sit down again under a wonderful majestic rock that created a small bit of shade. This is near where Sam saw the first of the 3 deer (and also 1 fox) he would see on the trail. Davis and I would come around the corner (we were always behind) to see him looking around never able to point it out to us...so we kept joking about his heat exhaustion hallucinations. But I am sure he actually did see them, but Davis and I did not see a thing...such is the case for the people in the back row.
After finally dragging me up from my rock, we passed another difficult sandy pathway, we came to the bridge. And finally, these 3 boys from Alabama, walked over a footbridge crossing the Colorado river and set foot on the North side of the Grand Canyon. We then found another bathhouse just prior to the campgound, and I will not lie, this is where I was very close to puking. Davis said I as super red, and I felt it. But in that bathroom, there was flowing water in the sink and it was COLD. Never have I soaked my face and head in a bathroom sink like I did just then. And mentally, I knew we had made it, only a few short steps and I could take this tortuous sack of rocks off my back and lay down. In talking about this section with Sam and Davis, they both said, that I looked completely out of it. They said my eyes were bloodshot, and I was a little spacey...so yeah, this was the low point for me on this hike.
At the campground, it was a first come first serve campsite location, but there were not many crazy July campers on this day. We actually set our campsite away the river because of the shade, and groans heard all around as we took off our packs and laid them down on the ground for the night. Davis immediately started heading towards the creek to get in, and after some arranging of food, and another tortilla, I went over to join him in the water. I can't find anywhere that says how cold that water was in the creek, but I am going to say it was in the 60s, as it was chilly...but when the temp is 116 and you have been hiking all day, any running water will feel cool. Davis and I both quickly got completely submerged and lay there for a long time. I went to check on our hot natured Sam, and he was completely passed out in the shade sitting in his travel chair.
There is so much you can do at the bottom, and we were told about many trails you could explore, and maybe even going to the older mule bridge further down the river, also told about trying out jumping in the Colorado river at the boat stop. But for me, and I guess for Davis as well, we had made the destination, and were good right where we were at. Davis made a pool with the rocks in the river, that would make the water swirl around him while he laid back. Sam walked over to the Colorado and explored, seeing another deer (at least he said he saw one). Me, I also had no desire to leave that cold creek while that sun was above.
Finally around 6PM, the sun went behind one of the canyon walls, and put us in complete shade. The campsite directly next to the river was open, so we moved to that spot, and Sam even hung out in the river for a bit. Once it was shaded, we all three walked over to Phantom Ranch to see all of the old buildings. I failed in this trip, as I had read absolutely nothing about the ranch, but focused my research on the trail, and thus we failed to get the world famous lemonade from the Ranch kitchen, or the ice they have there, and we failed to take postcards down to send them by mail via mules. I have since read a book on the Phantom Ranch, and saw where they used to have a swimming pool also. But our history lesson of this place was basically just a ..."Hey look, there is another old building". We did see the mule barn, and hung out with a couple of mules for awhile.
Tortillas were our supper that evening, and let me tell you, after cooking in your bag, then cooking in the storage boxes they had at each campsite, the tortillas were getting old and kind of slimy. Perhaps some different meals if we ever did this again. The boys did not bring any, but I brought 4 oranges and an apple, and those were amazing. Yes, I did share. The food boxes at the campsite were definitely needed to keep the squirrels and the ravens away. Ravens were a little scary just staring at you. Squirrels would just climb all over your bag looking for food. And prior to bed, we did get the cards out for some 9s.
We took this first picture below at Phantom Ranch. It was one of the few places you could see all the way to the top of the canyon. Sam cracked me up when he said..."from down here, it just looks like we are in a grand group of mountains". Sam will remember a different rangerY that came to see us prior to going to sleep that night. She kept telling us all that we needed to soak in that river...and she knew Sam had not done that, so she kept repeating that till is just sounded like she was a crazy lady. So last ranger was an angel...this one...well, she was just doing her job, but was kinda crazy. But Davis did take her advice and set up his bed on the picnic table for air flow. Me and Sam lay on the ground cowboy camping (I am sure the cowboys also had these nice yellow pads). It was 8PM, and we had decided we wanted to get out of this bowl of heat as soon as we could, so the alarm was set for 1AM with a goal to get on the trail by 2AM. My original plan was to take our time and maybe spend the whole day hiking out, but that plan was junk...we had to get out of here. It was 9PM and both boys fell asleep so fast and snoring that it was CRAZY. At 9PM, the temp had dropped to 100 degrees, so at least that was good. Insane, but Sam was sleeping deep, and that cold natured guy probably felt perfect in this heat. And Davis was just exhausted. As for me, I would try to sleep...but I kept thinking about the next day. The grand canyon hike smart slogan is 100% true..."Down is optional, Up is Mandatory".
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