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Published: October 15th 2010
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Alarm went off at about 5am this morning; we got changed, ate breakfast and packed our bags ready for our hike into the canyon. We caught the free express shuttle bus to South Kaibab trail head at 6am, arriving there shortly before 6.30am. We managed to catch a little bit of sunrise before setting off on our hike. Now, I must start off this blog by saying that every official bit of information from parks services tells you not to hike to the river and back in one day as there is serious risk of illness or death due to dehydration/exhaustion. I had looked into these hikes before we left and thought if we had enough food/water we should be right. My brother had done the same hike a few months ago and didn’t have any food or enough water, so I thought if he could do it without being properly equipped we could totally do it properly equipped. The plan of attack was to hike down the South Kaibab trail which is approximately 7 miles or 11.3 kilometres, then hike back up the bright angel trail which is 9.6miles or 15.5 kilometres. Now as you are reading this it tells
you we survived!!!
So the story begins at the top of the South Kaibab trail, all really went to plan on the south Kaibab trail, we headed off down into the canyon at about 6.30am at a fairly steady pace. Whilst it was steep there were switchbacks the whole way down which helped to break the steepness. We passed all of the markers we were meant to - Cedar Ridge, O’Neill Butte, Skeleton Point and The Tip Off. The views were just amazing in all directions, hard to put into words and the photos just don’t do it justice. By about 10am, we were crossing the suspension bridge at the bottom of the canyon over the Colorado River. We sat down at bright angel creek for some lunch and a rest before we started our ascent. It was funny as we spotted an old naked man going for a swim...ewww. Had a toilet break at Bright Angel Campground where they actually had flushing toilets and we saw a helicopter land. Walked along the campground until we came to the second suspension bridge to cross back over the Colorado River. Was a fairly easy walk along the river, and we even
managed to see a weasel. The bizarre thing is that 4400 feet down from the top of the canyon there is sand, just like you’d find at the beach! Once we started to get away from the canyon river ridge, we started to climb up alongside garden creek, which was just so scenic and different from South Kaibab trail. There was water cascading along down the canyon and lots of green trees and a fair bit of shade. Then we hit devil’s corkscrew...as you can tell by the name it is pretty nasty. This is the point that Scott started to fade, however I was still OK at this point my time came later!! We hiked up towards Indian Garden, past Pipe creek and we even managed to find a few cascades of water....so pretty!! After hiking in the exposed sun for quite awhile we made it to Indian Garden by about 12.00. Indian garden is so named as the Indians who once inhabited it planted cottonwood trees, as they used a lot of water and drew water to the area. It really is quite a sight in the middle of the canyon to see such a green tree lined
area amidst all the browns, reds of the canyon rocks. In fact this area stands out on all photos looking down from above. Stayed at the Indian Garden for about 20 minutes to grab another bite to eat and rest as Scott was really fading now. At this point we had travelled 3.5miles up from the river and had another 4.5 miles to go to the top (plus the 7 we had hiked down earlier). I was pretty confident at this point and wondered what all the warnings were for, as I was still going strong. We took about 2 hours to get from Indian Garden to the next rest point - 3 mile rest house. Scott was not in a good way, so we stopped for about 1/2 hour to try and get him some rest so he could keep going. We got to the rest stop at about 1.50pm and stayed until 2.20pm. We even managed to see a squirrel that was foraging for food. In hindsight, he may have had a little bit of heatstroke as he had eaten enough and drank enough water. It was at some point between the 3 mile rest house and the
1.5mile rest house that I started to wither, my legs were sore, my muscles ached and I was getting tired. After a lot of walking, stopping, walking stopping we got the 1.5 mile rest house in about an hour. We stopped for a break, not as long as the last rest stop and then continued our climb. This last 1.5miles was the hardest walk of my life and I think Scott’s. We could barely walk one length of switchback before we had to rest for a few minutes. Finally, after about ½ hour we could actually see the top of the canyon and buildings sitting on it. Was a great sight to be able to see the top and know it really wasn’t far. We got up to the top by about 4.30 and man it felt great. Our legs were killing us we were covered in sweat, but such a great feeling to be at the top.
We came back to our room, laid down for about 10minutes, had a hot shower which was just divine and then headed out to dinner at about 5.15. Went to different restaurant this time at the lodge - Arizona restaurant. I had
Enchiladas and Scott had steak. Scott really started to tire at this point, couldn’t’ even finish his beer or his steak - so obviously he must have been in a bad state! We then headed back to cabin and Scott fell asleep pretty much straight away and I’ve been doing the blog. Even though was such a tiresome day and every muscle in my body hurts it was totally worthwhile. The views we got of the canyon rim, inner gorge and river were just spectacular. Would recommend the day hike to anyone who is fit enough to complete it - but be warned it is very strenuous and you must be prepared. Off to bed now as am exhausted!!
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Mum
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Nearly 2 deaths in the family
I am very relieved to see that you made it out of the Canyon hike. Couldn't bear to go through another "death video" in the family. It should have worked off all the supersize American meals that I have been seeing in your photos. Looking forward to your next blog. Luv ya Mum