Planning this trip started with my friend, Linda, telling me she wanted to camp every month for her 40 things to do before 40! Even though she does not consider herself a backpacker, she has all the gear from a couple previous trips, so of course I wanted to up her camping to backpacking for one of the months!!! So the plan went in motion! Her favorite National Park is the Grand Canyon and one place I haven't been and wanted to see! I sent her a few different trip itinerary options and said pick your top ones and I will do the rest! She picked this one:
Option 2: Bright Angel Trailhead – 6 day
Day 1: Bright Angel trailhead to Indian Garden Campground 4.9 Miles about 3,000 elevation change
Day 2: Indian Garden camp to Bright Angel Campground 4.6 Miles
Day 3: Bright Angel Campground to Cottonwood Campground 7.2 Miles
Day 4: LIGHT DAY PACK to the North Rim and back 13.6 Miles (Stay at Cottonwood again) about 4300 Elevation UP AND DOWN
Day 5: Cottonwood back to Bright Angel Campground 7.2 Miles
Day 6: Bright Angel Campground up and out South Kaibab 7 miles and about 4,700 elevation change
I sent in the permit in late October and got the confirmation email on November 4th that we got our first choice and the exact days we requested! I was a bit shocked and excited. I was also thankful we had time to start training! I knew this wasn't going to be an easy hike and wanted to get in a bit better shape.
I started a bit longer and more frequent weekend hikes and got Linda to do stair workouts with me once a week. These SUCK but I feel like they helped me a lot for the JMT so might as well do it again!
After sending her a packing list and getting her pack lighter we were almost ready! Here is the items I carried for this trip: Lighter Pack List
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Drove to the Grand Canyon - caught a tiny glimpse of the canyon between the clouds. It was super snowy, cloudy and amazing to seeing all the snow in and around the canyon!
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| Sunrise on Wednesday! |
Day 1 - Wednesday March 24, 2021
We waited until almost 10am to start even though I was anxious to get started because we wanted the temperature above freezing when we started.
Slow and steady was the name of the icy slick sections followed by lots of mud and deep puddles. We hiked down 5 miles to Indian Garden campground.
The camp was very well taken care of and even has shade structures at each site along with many trees. There were spots to hang out packs, a picnic table, and nice level places to pitch tents. There were super clean pit toilets too. I do have to say I got a little spoiled with the restroom situation on this trip.
Once we got set up we did a quick and mostly flat 1.5 miles to Plateau point. Wow... there are amazing views of the Colorado river and was worth the trip. We had an afternoon snack there and had the point to ourselves most of the time. We sat, enjoyed the sunshine, and soaked in the views. Quick hike back, more snacks, got cleaned up and started dinner. We ate pretty early and we’re ready for bed by 6:30.
I forced myself to stay up by following a little deer trail up to see better views of the sky darkening. Total miles today 8.
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| Linda hiking down Bright Angel Trail |
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| Camp at Indian Garden |
Day 2 - Thursday March 25, 2021
I woke up early and hiked back out to Plateau Point for sunrise. It was a beautiful morning drinking my tea, eating breakfast, and enjoying this place. This was the first trip I had the chance to test out my new Jetboil Stash (thank you to Gordie for my Valentine's Day present) and I’m loving it!! It’s perfect for little things like this. Gear Review I headed back to camp to pack up, get Linda, and start our decent into Bright Angel Campground. It was a pretty easy hike down and was cool to see all the rafters on the Colorado River.
The hike was short so had a lot of time in the afternoon to explore Phantom Ranch, watch the pack mules & deer, and eating lots of snacks!! We ate dinner, cleaned up, and waiting for it to get dark to try to see a ringtail!! And I did!!! The neighbors said there is one and I got super excited and was able to see it in our camp. I got the best picture I could using the night mode on my phone but those guys are so fast. About 8.5 miles and mostly down.
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| Camp at Bright Angel Campground |
Day 3 - Friday March 26
Hiked from Bright Angel Campground to Cottonwood Campground today. It was mostly uphill following Bright Angel creek in an area called “the box”. They call it this because you are deep in the canyon, no breeze, and hard it’s to see many views or what the weather is going to do. There were mostly gray sky’s with light rain occasionally for the entire hike. The last few miles seemed like a lot more elevation gain than I was expecting. The camp is nice and we were able to find a relatively dry spot for setting up our wet tent and get it dried out, right before the rain started again. All evening was cold with on and off rain.
Miles today was about 7.5 and 1500 elevation gain.
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| Along the canyon |
Day 4 - Saturday March 27
Likely the worst night sleep I’ve ever had backpacking. My mattress must have a slow leak because every 2 hours or so I was on the cold hard ground. I couldn’t sleep... my feet were freezing... my hips dug into the ground and I was so tired. Finally, I stuffed my down jacket around my feet in my bag, blew up my mattress...AGAIN... and slept a few hours after 2am. We got up about 6am to get ready for our long day and started our journey all way up to the North Rim about 7:30!!!
I really liked seeing Roaring Springs waterfall. It was so long as and super cool to see.
Then, it was like a winter wonderland when we got to about 5000 feet elevation with snow all around and continuing to build from there. Thankfully it was powder more than ice and wasn’t too slick.
Once I got to Supai tunnel, I knew it wasn’t much farther but those last 2 miles were painful. The temperature was rising and it was starting to get muddy where the runners had already gone and the snow was melting. If you tried to go off the main muddy path you’d post hole in at least 6 inches of snow. So it was easier to deal with the mud and cold wet feet.
Once I the top, took a quick bathroom break, and started to melt some snow for water because I was too tired to walk to the backcountry office and the water right at the trailhead was turned off for the current season. I got there a little before noon. Linda wasn’t too far behind me and we did a little celebration then a few more trail runners came up. They had a little trail magic left for them and they shared a lot - including water which was nice because I didn’t want to melt/filter much. They were all pretty impressive running all the way from the South Rim and then back in one day. Sounds super painful and not a great way to actually ENJOY the canyon but I could see how that would be an amazing challenge/accomplishment. We stared our slow soggy hike down with spikes on. At this point in the day, the snow was all starting to melt and it was a muddy mess. It was like following a river down the mountain and there was no keeping my feet and shoes dry. The snowing winter wonderland was completely gone past Supai tunnel and the bridge. It was crazy how quickly it could change. We made it back to camp about 4, did some laundry, ate some snacks, and got cleaned up before the sun went behind the canyon. Then, the temperature started to drop so we made dinner, had a bit of Jack Daniels honey, and got ready for bed. I was hopeful my mattress would be better to me but put my sitpad under it so maybe my hips wouldn’t dig into the ground so bad. It was only about 8pm and we were ready to sleep!! Took a couple Tylenol PMs and crawled on the sleeping bag.
Over 14 miles and 4200 elevation gain & loss.
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Coconino Outlook
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Day 5 - Sunday March 28
My mattress still sucks. I’d sleep on my side when I first started out or blew it up again, then would switch to my back once my hip and shoulder started to dig into the ground. I get why people carry the uncomfortable zlite pads right now - at least they do not get holes.
Today we hiked from Cottonwood campground to Bright Angel campground. Had a short pit stop at Ribbon Falls which was amazing to see. If it would have been a bit warmer outside I would have loved to get in. The hiked to go behind the falls was very cool. After that, it was a pretty quick hike to Bright Angel Campground. A bit warmer than it’s been and finished all my water for the day. We are debating how early to get up tomorrow to beat the projected forecast of 86° when climbing out of the canyon.
Afternoon/evening was pretty relaxing. We got a very expensive tea $5, lemonade $5, and an apple for $1.10 from Phantom Ranch, but it was delicious. Mixed them for an Arnold Palmer and added honey Jack Daniels to it! We walked to the Colorado river and did a little more site seeing and checked out the bridge we were going to cross the next day. Talked to the ranger, had dinner, and watched all the little bats come out. We were able to see another Ringtail which was super exciting. It was super fast and I loved watching it.
It was beautiful night with lows predicted in the upper 40s so I opted for sleeping without the tent with hopes of seeing more animals! Today was about 9 miles with our detours.
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| Ribbon Falls |
Day 6 - Monday March 29
It was a wonderful night to be “sleeping”under the stars last night... even though I still haven’t gotten much sleep with a crap mattress pad. I’m SO tired but the stars and full moon were beautiful. At times during the night, I could see the bats flying all around and swooping down. I loved it. We got up pretty early, ate, and packed up with the first light of the day. Then, started about 6:40am to try to beat the heat up South Kaibab trailhead. The trail was a bit harder that what I was predicting. I made a few stops at all the lookouts, ate lots of snacks, and drank almost all my water I brought! I was going back and forth with a couple other backpackers for the first few miles. It kept me moving up talking to them a bit and trying to stay close with hopes of getting a ride from them from the trailhead. It was super hot with the sun already beating down at 8am. I was so thankful for my umbrella! Then, I turned a corner and the wind was crazy!!! And SO cold. Pulled out the gloves, stowed the umbrella away so it wouldn’t carry me off, and told myself if I kept moving I’d stay warm. Once at Skeleton point the day hikers started to crowd the trail. There are SO many signs saying uphill have the right away but either people can’t read or don’t care/pay attention. It is always hard finishing a long backpacking trip where it’s crowded because I get super frustrated with people. The last set of switchbacks were painful but I was so happy to be done a bit before 11. Took a few pictures and was able to get a ride from the other backpacking group I was hiking between most of the day. Was so thankful because I didn’t want to walk the extra 2ish miles to the car. I tried to get an earlier check in for the hotel, didn’t work, and grab the car to get Linda! We headed straight to the village to get drinks and pizza!!
Once we were able to check in, we made more drinks, got showers, rested and then to our next food reservations! After dinner we found some lounge chairs right outside our lodge and were able to enjoy the sunset and drinks there! It was a great way to end the day!
About 7 miles and 4800 elevation gain.
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| At Ooh - Aah point - ALMOST DONE!!! |
Day 7 - Tuesday March 30
I wanted to do a bit more exploring because I had no idea when I’d be able to come back. I woke up before sunrise (still not sleeping well) and ran over to the shuttle for Hermits Rest. I got off at Hopi Point and watched the sunset come up while walking to the next stop; Mohave Point. Took the shuttle to the next stop The Abyss and walked to Monument Creek. Jumped back on the shuttle and off at the next stop Pima Point. Walked out to Hermits Rest and explored the area a bit.
This side is really neat to see and a very easy trail. If I would have planned a bit better I likely would have got dropped off at the last one and ran/walked back - but didn’t pack properly for that. It was super hazy in the canyon today so the views were not as great. Guess we planned our days well!
I got back on the shuttle at the end and made it back to the lodge to meet Linda for breakfast. We had breakfast at El Tovar lodge. It was delicious. Then did a bit more sight seeing out to Mather Point (SUPER CROWDED). Then got on the road for the long drive back home.
It was a great trip to the Grand Canyon and I hope I can make it back to the North Rim some time soon to see it without so much snow.
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| Beautiful week in the Grand Canyon National Park! |
