About ten years ago, while Jolene was working on a travel nurse
assignment in Phoenix we did a road trip to the Grand Canyon. We ended up doing a very poorly planned hike
in the middle of the winter down Bright Angel Trail (12+ miles) with a lot of
ice/snow at the top and shortened daylight hours due to the time of year. It took us sunrise to sunset, walking in
sneakers, and using just about all the supplies we traveled down with to make
it back out that evening.
We knew we had to go back and try it again but this time a
little wiser and more prepared. We had
the right shoes, liquids, snacks, etc. and this time we would hike all the way to
the bottom and stay a night at Phantom Ranch then hike back out the next day.
Even with all the preparation we still had to deal with temperatures near 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom and a thunderstorm and rain at the rim when we started the hike prior to 5 am. We took the South Kaibab trail down which is shorter than the other options but with no water stops and nearly no shade. It was a long day’s hike but the views were amazing. We were definitely sore and hot by the end but made it down with nearly no injuries (nearly).
 |
| This log tripped Jolene and she gracefully ended up where she stands now... |
At Phantom Ranch we actually stayed in a couple of small
cabins. One had bunk beds for the women
and the other for the men. We caught up
on our water intake, sat in the cool stream rushing into the Colorado, ate some
Hikers’ Stew, and met our doppelgängers (A couple that had been married for a few years and was living down in Nashville until recently moving up to Chicago).
The next morning, we were up bright and early for a 5 am
breakfast so we could start our hike out of the Canyon before it got too hot. We took the Bright Angel Trail back out which
is longer but a little less steep and had a couple of water spots. We definitely still underestimated how tough
this 11-mile hike would be right after our long day hike down. The views were amazing but we definitely had
to keep pushing to make slow progress out, especially during the second
half. This time we were at least
prepared with electrolyte tablets, our snacks, and then Phantom Ranch set us up
with two sack lunches as well.
While the hike seemed to take forever we actually made
pretty good time out of the Canyon and did lunch at the South Rim. We have both agreed the hike out of the
canyon is the second toughest day hike we have ever done next to the day where
we hiked up to Salkantay Peak in the Chilean Andes (Jolene barely survived that
day!).
After resting up a little, we were back in
the car to finish our small loop out West and headed to Kingman, Arizona for
some rest.
0 comments:
Post a Comment