Category: health & safety

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

The most popular overnight hikes in the Grand Canyon require a permit for the Bright Angel campground.

I didn’t have one. You need reserve 4 months in advance!

So first stop was the National Park South Rim Backcountry Office.

Here I got a number (#4), some paperwork, and instructions to be standing in front of the door next morning when it opened at 8AM.

Happily that worked. I snagged a last-minute camping permit for departure the following day. Of the 3 buses to the Kaibab trailhead, I took the latest, 7AM.

My plan: descend the Kaibab Trail, camp one night, ascend the Bright Angel Trail. That would bring me back to my parked vehicle.

Here we are at the South Kaibab Rim Trailhead 7:30AM.

It’s a Switchback marathon, but worth it, I thought, as the trail follows a ridge crest right to the bottom. Great views!

I was there in early May, wildflowers a definite highlight.

It was an easy 2hr descent to the river. Why does my guidebook call it 5-6 1/2 hours?

By 11AM I was in my tent. Siesta time.

At Noon I headed over to the nearby Phantom Ranch. Ordered a coffee and read a picture book on the reintroduction of the California Condor. A success story, so far.

These locals didn’t have much to say. They stood in the sun, silent.

The most exciting animal I saw was a bushy tailed fox, slinking through Phantom Ranch at dusk. His regular route, I was told.

Already feeling some kind of a wimp, finished hiking so early in the day. I felt even worse after talking to this character.

On an 800mi Arizona Trail bike race, he’d been required to carry the bike through the National Park.

What to do with the rest of my afternoon? …

I was tempted to dash up to the North rim and back with just a day pack. But one toe had taken some damage, jammed into the front of my shoe on the descent.

Instead I did a short, intensely scenic day hike, a loop around the two bridges.

I had time to stop and smell the flowers.

I spent a fair bit of time waiting on one of the passing rafts to overturn.

No luck.

After having lunch with these Mulies, I entrusted them with a secret. …

It had amused me to place a Summit Stone conspicuously under the Bright Angel bridge. The anti-summit, the very lowest point on my rim-to-rim hike.

Next morning I left in no hurry. The Bright Angel Trail is much easier than Kaibab South, though longer.

It’s green. And lush, in the Spring. With plenty of shade and water.

Again I felt personally lazy … after watching these trail runners buzz by.

Marathon runner Margaret Bradley died doing exactly the same thing in 2004, but on a lesser used trail. It was July, not May.

In fact, a number of people die in the Grand Canyon every year. If worried, stay home, and read Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, instead.

Mine was a wonderful hike, my first in the Grand Canyon.

Next time I’ll do something much more challenging. Perhaps rim-to-rim in one day, taking the shuttle back to my vehicle. No permit required.

But I won’t hike in Summer. No way. I don’t want to collapse like George Novak did. That would be embarrassing. My reputation as a best hiker would be ended.

See the rest of my photos from this 2-day hike.