The Grand Canyon! Day 1 - South Rim to North Rim

The things they say about the Grand Canyon are true. First of all, you need to see it for yourself. The pictures do not do it justice (I say that about everything, though). But really, the scale is difficult to appreciate without standing there on your own two feet looking down into it. Second of all, it is breathtaking. My first glimpse was through the window of a shuttle bus to the trailhead, as I was talking to my friend, and I just stopped. I didn't bother to finish my sentence -- I couldn't remember what I'd been saying anyway.

When you hike across the Grand Canyon, it is called an "R2R" ("rim to rim") hike. It is strongly advised against. When you hike from one rim to the other and back, it is called an "R2R2R" hike. Here is the story of the first half of my journey. Expect many pictures. It is the Grand Canyon, after all.

This is a map of the bus system at the South Rim. You pay $25 to drive through the gates to the National Park, and you find yourself in Grand Canyon Village, where there are hotels, cabins, campgrounds, restaurants, gift shops, buses, etc.

At the bus stop around 5:00a waiting for the shuttle bus to South Kaibab trailhead.

You encounter this sign early in your journey down into the Grand Canyon. The message is essentially this: do not attempt to climb down into the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out in one day. I didn't really find the illustration of a man holding his hand to his head to be all that convincing that something terrible might happen, but it is true that people have to be rescued by helicopter (at their own expense) from the Grand Canyon all the time because they do not take this sign seriously. Even so, I knew I'd be okay (that's what they all say).

I look like crap. But there are many reasons for this.

Me and Nikkie.

They use mules to carry supplies down into the Grand Canyon. There are campgrounds and a store down there, and they also need to bring down materials to do trail maintenance. Also, people can pay to have them carry down their camping gear. Tourists who can't/won't walk down also ride them into and out of the Grand Canyon. They poop and pee everywhere and it's gross.

Colorado River.

This is Phantom Ranch. The best thing they do here is they sell ICE COLD LEMONADE. They have a restaurant and cabins and sell other things that you might need. They also have a place to refill your water. There are many places along the way in the Grand Canyon where you can stop and get water.

It was Nikkie's birthday, so I had carried brownies down to Phantom Ranch to celebrate. When we were done, I just went around giving brownies to everyone down there because I didn't want to carry any of them back out. It was kind of hard to fit a tray of brownies in my backpack.

I know I mentioned the fact that there are many places to refill your water along the way in the Grand Canyon. HOWEVER, on this particular weekend, the pipes burst in many places and water was unavailable for many miles of trail, so we had to carry extra water on our backs and be careful not to drink too much so that we would not run out. That's water from a broken pipe on the trail above.

This is the water bubbling up from the broken pipe. Aside from it being a little crunchy from the rocks, this water would be totally fine to scoop up and drink.

We took a detour to Ribbon Falls. Absolutely stunning!

And refreshing! This is me and Sergio.

Sara, guess what? Your bathing suit has been to the Grand Canyon...

Hi!! 

If we had not done this, I do not think I would have enjoyed the rest of the hike as much as I did -- it was really hot down in the Canyon and it felt so great to cool off.

This is at Cottonwood Campground.

Roaring Springs.

Almost done.....

I made it!!!! North Kaibab trailhead! This is still 1.7 miles away from where we were staying. Nikkie and I were the first to finish, and we flagged down a car and got a ride to the Grand Canyon Lodge.

This was not an easy hike -- nearly 23 miles, 11,698 feet of elevation loss and 12,726 feet of elevation gain. You might think the downhill is a breeze, but it isn't! The South Kaibab trail is steep as hell and it does a number on your knees. I kind of prefer the uphill. It's hard, when you're doing all that uphill at the end, and your water is warm and it doesn't taste good anymore. All I could think of was freezing cold iced tea. And I made sure to get some as soon as I got to the Grand Canyon Lodge. The journey was not over for me, however, and you will get to read about day 2 of my adventure in my next post.

The "X" marks the start, and that far away red pin marks the end.