M - Hike the Grand Canyon - Vol 2

If you'll recall from my last installment, we are just beginning the hike down around 0715. It's pretty cold and very windy at the rim. The South Kaibob Trail is probably the most common route down to the bottom of the canyon. It's a pretty steep 6.9 mile hike down so you should expect your knees to take a good pounding.

Within the first several hundred yards you can see how much vertical drop we experienced. The entire trail wasn't ALL this steep, thankfully, but it was overall quite steep! Did I mention the significant amount of ice on the trail? I can't imagine going in a colder part of the year and dealing with this for the majority of the trip.



There are SO many part of this trail where, if you are not careful, you could SERIOUSLY die! It's actually a good lesson in personal responsibility because there are no handrails, safety nets, or otherwise people along the way to hold your hand and keep you safe. I don't know how far you'd have to fall before you hit something solid but check out these pictures and what one mis-step or dizzy spell might cost you!



The little speck at the top right of this picture is another hiker. Watch that step to the left...it's a doozy.



Of the many GREAT things about the S. Kaibob trail is that part of it follows a ridgeline which gives you unobstructed views and many 300 degree sweeping panoramic views of the canyon. To get a better scale of the picture, click on it for the full size view and you'll see my hiking companions.





We stopped for lunch at Skeleton Point and at this stage of the game I can honestly say my knee was in surprisingly bad shape. I mean it REALLY hurt. I had been in Chicago just a few days prior and walked a total of 7 or 8 miles one night to dinner and doing some sightseeing. It must have been strained then but this hike really finished the job. OUCH! Of course we plodded on though. It's not like you have an option of catching the cable-car back out of the place. You really are pretty much on your own unless you have a REALLY strong companion to give you and your pack a piggy back ride!





Here is a picture of a nicely groomed and much-welcomed ascending section of the downhill trek. The mechanics on your knees are totally different on a slight incline.



Here is a GREAT example of one of those places where you don't want to be prone to dizzy spells or tripping. This is also one of those places, with smooth rock on the trail, that reminds me I DO NOT want to ride a donkey into or out of the canyon!



Another:



I committed to spending as little money as possible on this trip and, about 4 days from leaving, I decided I really should have spent some money on good shoes. At that point it was really too late to break in a new pair so I was pretty well stuck with what I had. This meant hiking into and out of the Grand Canyon on a cheap pair of Salomon Trail Running shoes I bought from http://www.steepandcheap.com/ last October. It turns out, these shoes were fantastic and my feet never bothered me the whole time. I did 'splurge' on a pair of North Face hiking socks while on the magnificent mile (Michigan Ave) in downtown Chicago. 'Magnificent' really just refers to the premium you pay, I think.



This fine young thing was watching all the hikers pass by for the day. I get the feeling that 'hiker watching' was his thing to do and he rather enjoyed himself each day doing just that.



This was such a welcome sight! It's the 'black bridge' tunnel. There are only two bridges across the river. This one and the silver bridge several hundred yards further down the river. The other bridge connects Bright Angel trail to Phantom Ranch and this one of course connects South Kaibob.



A WARNING...Phantom Ranch looks so close to this bridge but it's NOT. At this point in the hike we were very much ready to plop down on the bed and take the load off our weary bodies. It turned out to be another MILE to the lodge from this bridge. If you ever make the trip you'll probably be glad I told you this. :-)



I'll leave you with a picture of the cabin and plan for my next installment to be about our experience at the Ranch. A few key words: family style stew dinner with 40 or 50 of our closest friends, 10 men to a cabin, snoring, ear plugs, family style breakfast with same friends, LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of stars in the night sky.