Grand Canyon March 18 – 22, 2004

Grand Canyon March 18 – 22, 2004 Jeff and I left the Fruita-4 place at about 8 AM and tooled west on I-70 to exit 202 at UT-128 near Cisco, Utah. We drove south on UT-128 through the Colorado River canyons to US-191, just north of Moab. We turned south and drove through Moab on US-191 to US-163, past Bluff, Utah. US-163 veers southwest through Monument Valley into Arizona and the little town of Keyenta. At Keyenta we took US-160 west to US-89, then south to AZ-64. We drove west past the fairly spectacular canyons of the Little Colorado River and into the east entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. Jeff had a Parks Pass so we saved $20 and got in for free. Entry included the park information paper, The Guide, which included a park map that was especially detailed around the main tourist center: Grand Canyon Village. Near the village was our pre-hike destination, the Backcountry Office. We stopped at the office and got an update on the required shuttle to the trailhead. We read in The Guide that mule rides into the canyon would not begin until May 23, after we were done with our hike. Satisfied that we had the situation under control we skeedaddled on outta there on US-180, south to I-40 and Williams, Arizona. Jeff had tried his cell phone quite a few times on the trip from Fruita, but no signal. Finally the signal was strong enough in Williams. Jeff noted that Kent had called and returned the call. Kent said good luck and was sorry he could not make the hike. He was somewhere on the road in New Mexico on his way to Texas. We quickly located the Econo Lodge in Williams. The California Clan had yet to arrive so we checked in to room 112 and then went in search of beer and a place to eat. Found a few places to eat and found beer at the Safeway. When we returned to the motel the California Clan had just checked in (room 212 … had to change it to 111, as requested when Jeff and I checked in). We drank a couple of beers and then went through the gear and packed what we would carry. We weighed the packs on the bathroom scale I had brought. It was obscene! For weeks, or even months, prior to the official deployment date of March 18, 2004 I frequently checked the Grand Canyon weather. Temperatures had warmed from the 22 ° seen in mid winter at the south rim. It warmed all the way into the 50s. Then at the beginning of March rain and snow moved into the area and the reports were a bit worrisome. We brought rain gear, warm layered clothing, plus all the other camp fixin’s: two tents, cooking and eating hardware, sleeping bags, first aid, and of course a bunch of food. While weighing packs at the Econo Lodge we wondered what could weigh so much. All the packs were close to 45 pounds. After deployment preparation we then drove over and ate at Pancho McGillicuddy’s. It was March 17 th , St. Patricks Day, and Pancho was offering your favorite beer in color green. But we had regular colored beer. Plus some good Mexican food. We had a side order of sopapillas that were pretty good. Everyone had a different entree. After dinner we returned to the motel and went to bed, probably around 9 PM. Carol, Leroy and Dad slept in room 111 and Jeff and I slept in 112. The rooms were about $50 a night for two, and about $60 a night for three. We were up before it was light and were on the road before 6:30 AM. We read mom’s pre-hike note, ate a few of her pre-hike sweet rolls, jumped in the trucks and took off. We stopped at a convenience store for coffee, and politely listened to the clerk tell us about the biggest elk in the world that like to frequent the hiway. Promising to be careful we bid him farewell and drove north on AZ-64 and US-180 to the park. Jeff and I drove first in my truck and almost smacked a deer just before entering the park. The truck definitely got a test of the anti-lock brakes. They worked. Never did see those huge elk though … or any other elk. We arrived at Grand Canyon Village and the Backcountry Office about 6:50 AM on Thursday, March 18. The skies were clear and the temperature was in the 50s. Maybe we didn’t need to carry all that rain gear in our packs. South Kaibab Trail hikers must take a shuttle bus to the trailhead because no private vehicles are allowed on the short road to the trailhead. We had arrived a bit before the 7AM shuttle, but we decided take our time and catch the 8 AM shuttle. So we drove over to the Bright Angel Lodge to check out the curios. We drove past the mule corral and it was packed with mules. We were hoping that they would not be on the trail later. The north side of the Bright Angel Lodge is only feet away from the precipice that is the Grand Canyon. We walked out to look for a bit. We could see Indian Garden Campground, where we would camp 1 in three days. It looked like a long way down there. We then returned to the Backcountry Office Parking Lot and got the final pack and walking stick details taken care of. We then walked a 100 yards to Maswik Lodge and the hiker’s shuttle stop. The shuttle showed up right on time, 8:05 AM. We boarded the shuttle with about 30 others and rode about a mile or so to the Kaibab Trailhead, on the Yaki Point Road east of the Grand Canyon Village and Market Plaza. At the trailhead we dragged the packs off the bus, used the outhouse, donned packs, took one photo, said the Lord’s Prayer and started the hike. It was 8:37 AM, March 18, 2004 South Kaibab Trailhead The trail initially goes UP! But only for the first hundred yards. It then abruptly drops off the pinion and pine treed Coconino Plateau and into the Canyon against which all others are measured . The contrast of the pine and pinion Kaibab National Forest on the Coconino Plateau and the expanse and brightness of the canyon is surprising. The miles of smooth forested plateau changes in mere feet to chasms dropping nearly vertically hundreds of feet before changing to impossibly steep slopes or sheer cliffs. The sunshine illuminates the red, orange, yellow and brown canyon rock to the point of making a person squint. The canyon is unimaginably huge and deep. How the path would take us down these cliffs we could only guess. We dropped off the plateau just to the west of Cedar Ridge. The trail is very well maintained, and very heavily used. We would step down and reverse directions a thousand times on the stepped, switchbacked trail. We were the last of the 8 AM shuttle riders to get on the trail and we could hear many of the others on the trail in front of us and below us. Some of the hikers already were far enough away to look small. Most of the hikers were day hikers and would return to the trailhead later in the day. The South Kaibab Trail follows Cedar Ridge for about 2 miles, dropping 1140 feet, beginning on the west slope of the ridge and crossing the ridge to the east slope. In that 2 miles of trail are thousands of log ‘steps’, built into the trail to slow erosion. Often these steps are worn very badly on the downhill side, making 12” to 18” risers (the vertical drop of the step). These steps are torture on those with weak knees. By the time we reached the outhouse at Cedar Ridge, less than 2 miles from the top, Dad’s knees were causing him some serious suffering. Only a 4½ miles to go. Jeff made his first hike-ahead-and return-for-Dad’s-pack (HARDPack) mission to help Dad with his pack. This tack helped, but the steps were still killing Dad’s knees, even without the pack. But he kept truckin’ on. Soon we rounded the east side of O’Niell Butte and made it to some relatively flat area just before Skeleton Point. Some of the relatively new residents of the canyon were flying around O’Niell Butte: three to six endangered California Condors. I was on a HARDPack mission when the birds first appeared. They were flying quite a distance from us, too far for pictures. Not to fear, though, I had my trusty zoom lens. But as soon as I stopped and got the zoom lens out of my pack the big birds disappeared. We didn’t see them again for two days. We took a long break at the Skeleton Point rest stop. Quite a number of day hikers and backpackers, maybe 50 to 75, were on break at Skeleton Point. Skeleton Point has a small outhouse, but no water. But it offered some spectacular views, including a view over the Garden Creek Canyon to Plateau Point where we would camp on the way back up, less than 2 miles to the west, but over 8 miles of trail and 3800 feet of elevation changes.

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