Grand Canyon Flashback:

We flew to Phoenix where a buddy, a local of Arizona, picked us up at the airport.  That night we were to drive to Flagstaff, get a hotel and some dinner, and head to the Grand Canyon the next morning. 
Once we got to Flagstaff, checked into the hotel, whats next? Yep, the pub.  After dinner and a few drinks we walked back to the hotel and decided to go through our gear and "shed", some extra weight.  Did I mention this was after a few drinks?  Good idea??

We needed to get up early because we wanted to be at the Back Country Office when they opened at 8:00.  Why so early? Because we didn't have camping permits yet. Our logic was the earlier we arrived at the office the better chance of obtaining permits.  An organized group would have had all of this taken care of well before the trip...  Of course if we couldn't obtain permits our entire plan would have to change. 

While driving to the Back Country Office I received my first glimpse of a section of the Canyon, absolutely amazing.  The view hits you because of the shear size of it.  Sadly they say the average time spent looking at the Canyon is 17 minutes.  We plan on spending three days hiking, climbing, sweating, and getting abused by it.  I can't wait to get inside.

Well of course we're late getting up in the morning, late getting breakfast, and late getting to the Back Country Office.  Our hopes of a permit were shrinking.  Luckily we were early enough in the season that they did have some permits for us.  It would have been a shame if our procrastination caused us to miss out on what we experienced.

The Plan:

Start at the South Kaibab Trail head on the South Rim.  Hike around 14 miles to Cottonwood Campsite for the night.  In the morning we'll hop on North Kaibab Trail taking only the basic for an water for a lean trek up to the North Rim. Once we reach the North Rim we'll hike back to Cottonwood Camp to pick up the rest of our gear, eat dinner, and hike to Clear Creek Campground for our second night.  The next morning we planned to wake-up early for a final push back up to the South Rim via Bright Angel Trail.  I believe we approached 40-45 miles on our 3 days and 2 nights trip.

When I first saw the Canyon I couldn't believe the vast size, kind of like the first sight of the ocean, or one of the Great Lakes.  It's just massive, and the views are absolutely amazing.

At 11:00 when we headed out on South Kaibab Trail it was around 80degF.  Perfect weather to hike into the canyon.  Being a Midwesterner this was my first desert hike and my first hike hovering around 7,000 ft. 

Snow in the evergreens on the South Rim. 

I'm going to let the pictures do a lot of the talking because I'm unable to explain what was seen or felt hiking through this amazing place.

My first view of the river.  I remember thinking, "I can already see the river, I'm almost to the bottom....."  Of course I was wrong, we still had a ways to go before crossing the river.  It just shows the vast size of the canyon and the ability to see a lot of geography from this height.

Brilliant.

Getting deeper into the desert climate.

Getting closer.....

The river crossing.  A few hundred more switchbacks we should be there. 

You can catch a glimpse of some switchbacks in the lower portion of this picture.

The mighty Colorado.  This would be an amazing paddle.

At the bottom.

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Camp.  It was a strenuous hike to Cotton Wood.  We were able to unpack and finally have time to absorb our surroundings.  We were now camping off of North Kaibab Trail.  About 7 miles to the North Rim, which we plan to summit  tomorrow.   

 Sunset on the first night.

  We were unsure if the water was open on the North Rim since technically it's closed, so we decided to filter some water from the river at our campsite.  

Going up. 

It was a very difficult hike up to the North Rim.  When I started to drag I would take a second to observe my surroundings.  The view and the feeling from inside the canyon seemed to give me energy to continue...  It's just an amazing place.  

 

 The North Kaibab Trail seemed to be a little more rugged, but I think it also showed us the best views.  

Snow again.  There is more where that came from. 

White Birch, Pine, and snow.  Am I in the North Woods?  Just yesterday we were hiking in the desert at near 90 degF.....

Lets go back down!!

 Back at Cotton Wood Camp around 18:00.  We need to pack our gear, eat something, and take off for Clear Creek Campground.  We know we'll be in the dark for most of this 7mile hike.  

We were cold, tired, and wet from the timely rain showers.  We decided it was time to pull our packs off and break.  Clear Creek campground was another couple miles and 1600 feet up the canyon, not happening. The new plan was to "rest" for a couple hours, head to Phantom ranch to eat some breakfast, then hike up to the South Rim via Bright Angel Trail.  I probably got 45 minutes of sleep that night.  

About 4:00 everyone was cold, wet, and ready to get up and moving for warmth.  We hiked about 1mile to Phantom Ranch to eat breakfast, fill our water supplies, and hop on Bright Angel Trail for the hike out.  Hiking at night showed us a different aspect of the canyon, I enjoyed it.
We were met with intense winds while crossing the bridge over the Colorado River.  We stood in the middle of the bridge for a few minutes just to feel the power of the wind, it was insane.  The wind didn't let up the entire hike out.  At some points we were hiking in what felt like a sand storm.

With the sun rising I received another energy boost.  I was also hoping to receive some warmth too, but that didn't happen.  It felt as though I never warmed up the entire hike up to the South rim.  

Weather changed like 3 times on the final day.  It was sunny, then cloudy, foggy, rainy, then sleeting.  

I always loved those backpacker pictures with miles of trails surrounded by beautiful scenery.  I would look at those pictures and think, "I'd love to do that".  Well, I'm doing it, and it hurts.  That's a lot of trail. 

At the top, one last shot of the Canyon.  The last day was definitely the toughest.  I was pegged, cold, and tired. After getting out of the canyon we drove to Flagstaff for a celebration lunch/beer.  After lunch we had to rush back to Phoenix for the flight home. I'd like to apologize to the guy I sat next to on the flight home.  After three days of strenuous hiking and no shower the harry stinky person sitting next to him probably didn't make for a pleasant flight for him.