Grand Canyon Descend

The big day: we were starting our two-day hike into the Grand Canyon. Good thing we went to the backcountry office first to check road conditions. The ranger there advised us to rent trekking poles, since the upper part of the trail (the first 300 m in elevation) would be icy. Good thing we followed his advice, because first of all the trail was very icy (we managed – but of course Kevin had to slip once – nothing to serious luckily) and second, it’s just so much easier to hike with poles! 

We chose to follow two different trails: South Kaibab Trail for the descend and the Bright Angel Trail for the ascend. The South Kaibab trail has a higher elevation change and is shorter, meaning it is a lot steeper. This trail has no water available along the trail: the main reason we chose this one for the ascend. Because we would have to carry a lot of water just to climb this trail (at least that is what we were told…). 

At the first rest stop – Cedar Ridge – a little squirrel was watching from up close as we had lunch, to see if we wouldn’t feed him – which we of course did not =). We even tried to scare him away but he was very brave and kept coming back… 

The way down was not to hard (the trekking poles were a great help) and really beautiful, but we still felt it in our legs the next day! We managed to finish the 11 km down in approximately four hours. 

At the bottom of the canyon, we were staying at a campground close to the Colorado river. To cross the river, we had to pass a small tunnel that ended at the top of a bridge. Once past, we felt like we had stepped into a fairytale. The area north of the Colorado has an amazing structure, a lot of vegetation and some mule deer running around. We were with the last to arrive (we had left just before noon) but we still found a nice spot to set up our tent. 

As we arrived before 4PM, we still had some time to kill: we had an early ‘dinner’, walked a part of the North Kaibab trail (if we would do the trip again, we would probably descend this trail, because it crosses the entire canyon), listened to a talk from a park ranger and had a drink and played some cards at the phantom ranch canteen.. Oh yes, there is lodging, electricity, running water and a canteen at the bottom of the canyon… All supplied with mules, a pipeline, and power lines coming from the South Rim.

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