Went for overnight hiking last weekend, sat and sun. Very tiring, but definitely worthwhile.
Tried the Bright Angel trail and south kaibab trail before that, not too bad, and this one was to link up the gaps between the two trails, and of course to see the colorado river. Our plan was to descend from south kaibab all the way to the river and then up again by Bright Angel trail. It was really an impromtu trip, as in we only brought up the idea on thursday night, and friday i was already at the backcountry office to collect the overnight camping permit.
It was definitely an experience for me coz i obviously havnt had any chance to hike overnight, especially at the canyon! It cost 5 bucks for employees to book a place at the campground, and they will print you this document that says you are the "trip leader" and stuff to take note when u camp there, and you are supposed to hang it on your bag so that the rangers can check at night. Totally shiok and shuang when i got it =P Hahas.
Went with limin (should be spelt this way ba) and guanyu on sat, starting from the south kaibab trail head and all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. We took about 1.5 hours to hike from the trail head to cedar ridge and then to skeleton point (which was where i ended the last time), and took a break there. It was really different from the day hike coz we need to carry our hiking bags with food water and clothes, and the bags were so heavy as if they were pressing us down. What a burden on our shoulders =x It was a hassle to remove our bags and put them on again and hence we seldom stopped to take out our cameras for photo-taking. By the time we continue to descend from skeleton point to the river, it was already past 10am and the sun was getting hotter and hotter. The temp that day went all the way to 89F, which was like 40'C! It was advised not to hike from 10am to 3 pm coz it was the hottest time of the day and we can get easily dehydrated at such a high altitude. But we had no choice coz we need to reach the phantom ranch at the river fast so as to leave enough time to hike up to our campsite before sunset.
It was horrible coz no matter how long we walked we just couldnt see the bridge, which we were supposed to cross before we reach the river, and as the sun became hotter we can really the energy draining away just standing on the spot =x After walking for another 2 plus hours, we finally saw the bridge, from a distance, and we were a little relieved. But it was quite tormenting coz you see the bridge just in front of your eyes but yet you have to walk rounds and rounds around bends just to get down there. But still, every bend you walk you see the bridge getting closer to you and it just feels great =)
By the time we got to the Black Bridge it was already 1 plus pm, totally scorching, and we were so worn out we had to take a break inside the tunnel (leading to the bridge head) for some time before we could cross it. The bridge was very very nice (a suspension bridge!!) and as you stood on it, u can see and hear the river water gushing past and shimmering under the bright sunlight =) Like crystals!! There was even a mini beach below the end of the bridge, sort of a stop point for the people doing smooth water rafting. Reallt smal though.
After that we crosses the bridge and got to the Bright Angel campsite (which was not our campsite), before making our way to the Phantom Ranch, which was like a mini rest area with dorms and rest houses and a small cafeteria. Phantom Ranch was located right at the bottom of the canyon and it was the final destination for the people taking mule rides down and up the canyon, also for hikers hiking down. It was right beside the colorado river and you can have a grand view of the river close up. By the time we reach the canteen we were totally shagged and all we want to do was to sit down and rest our poor legs. There were packed lunches there but only for people taking the mule ride and for those staying in the rest houses. Nevertheless we could still grab an ice-cold lemonade which was like the most wonderful drink in the world at that point of time =P. They also sell two kinds of T-shirts, which can only be found there at phantom ranch, and not up at the south rim, which means you can only buy it when you hike all the way down to the ranch. Quite ex, but still i bought it. Boon bought me one when he hiked down the last time, so i bought the other one =)
By the time we decided we can continue to hike up. it was already close to 4pm. Our plan was to hike all the way down to the phantom ranch and half way up to Indian Gardens on the 1st day, rest for the night at the campsite, then ascend up on the 2nd day. There were 2 campsites, one at the ranch called Bright Angel campsite, and the other one was the Indian Gargen campsite. Initially i wanted to book the Bright Angel campsite so that we can take a rest right after we reach the river, but if we did so, we have to hike about 10 miles all the way up on the 2nd day morning, which was very tedious. So i booked the Indian Gardens campsite instead, which means we will finish about 3/4 of our hike on the 1st day, so that the next morning we only have to hike about 5 plus miles up. Also, we planned to reach Indian Gardens at about 7pm on the 1st say so we can continue to walk to Plateau Point (a separate route) from Indian Gardens to watch sunset.
By the time we reach Phantom Ranch we have already walked about more than 13miles
(1 mile= 1.6km) and we quite tired. Although we were about 2 hours behind time, we still decided to walk to the river to soak our feet before continue to ascend up Indian Gardens from the ranch. It was amazing coz the sun was super hot, about 40'C but the water was freezing cold!! Our legs were numb straight away when we stepped into the river. It felt really great coz you finally got to have a feel of the water from the colorado water after staying in on the top of the canyon for more than a month, and all these was achieved by your feet alone!! =)
We crossed the 2nd bridge, Silver Bridge which led us to the Bright Angel trail from the ranch. The thought that we still have to hike 5 miles up when we were almost half dead was quite tormenting, but we knew we had to do it in order to reach our campsite before it turns dark. A lot of people have been telling me that they were afraid to go go hiking coz they are scared that they cant hike up, and i always tell them they will definitely be able to do so, since there's only one way to leave the bottom of the canyon, which is to hike up!! Unless you want to stay at the bottm forever..hahas..=p
And no matter how unsure you are, once you start to hike up, u will naturally move towards your goal, coz theres no turning back =P As the sun was setting, it was really hot when we embarked on the river trail, before we reached the Devils Corkscrew, which was this extremely winding path with about 5 bends and extending all the way up to half of the height of the canyon cliffs, which means you need to walk constantly up for about an hour on this very steep road under the hot sun with our heavy hiking bags. Really devilish. Exhausting. By the time we passed the corkscrew the sun was already setting and it got a bit cooler. Still, there was no sign of the Indian Garden and we just have to continue walking. On the way, we saw a mountain goat charging all the way down the steep cliff, as if it was about to kill itself..=x Amazing though.. Later we met this women who said that we were only 3/4 miles away from the Indian Garden, whom we later discovered to be a cheater coz we obviously walked closed to 2 miles from the point we met her to the Indian Gardens.
When we finally reached the Indian Gardens we were almost dead, and totally exhausted, and since it was already close to 8pm, we couldny make it in time for sunset coz we had no energy to walk another 1.5 miles to Plateau point from there. So we decided to hunt for our campsite instead before it turns dark. The campground had many sheltered huts with picnic tables below them, and each comes with a piece of open area where people pitched their tents. We didnt bring tents so we just lay our sleeping bags on a mat. It was so nice coz when we lie down on our sleeping bags, the entire night sky was filled with bright stars, and it was right above our eyes!!! There was no light in the campsite so the stars were exceptionally bright and beautiful =)
We cooked instant noodles and milk tea using the camping stoves, containers and solid fuel we brought and it was really interesting =) But the light from the torches invited moths and flies and we had to scoop out all these insects from our soup every 5 minutes or so..hahas. Soon after that we changed out of our dusted clothes and tried to make ourselves more comfortable using the powder bath..hahas =p Didnt really sleep much coz my legs suffered from cramps from the walk and i kept hearing footsteps above my head, which was weird =X But still, i enjoyed being embraced by the sounds of nature and i really like the evening air =)
The next morning we cooked milo and cereal and ate the bread that we brought, which was good coz we wanted to empty all our food stock so that our bags could be lighter on the way up. After that we went to Plateau Point to enjoy the beautiful view of the river, before we hiked back up. Plateau Point was indeed the most beautiful point in the canyon coz you can have a full view of the river without any obstructions and you can sit on this cliff with your legs dangling in the air while the morning breeze blew away your exhaustion and sorrows =) It was pretty hot though coz it was a plateau and you have to walk for 45 mins without any shelter and trees in order to reach there..
When we finally start to hike up it was already about 12pm, coz we met another friend on the way back from plateau point and she wanted to hike up together with us. Hence we spent some time waiting for her at the Indian Gardens. It was again the hottest time of the day and by the time we start to ascend we have already walked more than 20 miles in total!!! Again we felt the torment of having to walk up when we were really starting to doubt the ability of our legs to carry us further =x We had to stop a few times in between each resting point (there were 3 in total) coz our legs were starting to cramp really bad. But we were quite lucky though coz there were a lot of clouds in the sky and most of the time the sun was covered up, so it was not very hot even at noon time.
We took a total of about 4 hours to hike back up, which was quite surprising to me coz i took about 5 hours the 1st time i hiked the Bright Angel trail!! And by the time i saw the Kolb house, which was at the end of the trail, i was so relieved =)
We hiked a total of about 30 miles, which was about 48km!! Cant believe i actually completed the whole thing (i thought i will be dead by the time i reach the river =P )..hahas
Nevertheless, it was a great experience and definitely a worthwhile one =) Everything really paid off when we stepped into the waters of the colorado river =)
It is all in the mind. I strongly believe =)
Labels: Grand Canyon14
