We woke up early Wednesday morning to find the sun streaming through the windows. We showered and dressed and walked to the patio of the Kaibab Lodge. It was still too early for breakfast so we sat there waiting for the restaurant to open at 7:00 a.m. We visited with a lady from Texas who had just finished the rim to rim hike. She told us about her experience and the difficulty she had with the knee high steps in the trail. She must have been a well trained hiker because she said her group was able to descend and ascend in times that I thought were very fast. We ate our breakfast that included waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, juice, and milk. The shuttle arrived after 7:30 a.m., and we found seats in the middle. There were 10 passengers and the driver going to the South Rim. I had taken some Dramamine, and I allowed myself to relax and try to sleep if possible. The road from the North Rim to Highway 89 was winding, and it dropped in elevation considerably. I was very glad when the road finally straightened out and leveled.
We stopped at a gas station in a tiny town somewhere in the Navajo Reservation along Highway 89. I was struck by how barren, hot, and dry it was. It was hard for me to imagine anyone living in those conditions for any length of time. I bought an ice cream cone and used the restroom, and then we were off again. We eventually turned off Highway 89 towards the South Rim, and it didn’t take too long before we arrived at the Grand Canyon Village. The whole drive only lasted a little more than four hours. We took our gear and walked to the South Rim to get our first view of the Grand Canyon from that direction. We could see the Bright Angel Trail heading down, passing through Havasupai Gardens Campground, and then disappearing towards the Colorado River. It didn’t look too far from that perspective.
Because of the high temperatures we decided to wait until after 2:00 p.m. before descending into the canyon, so we looked for a place to eat. Tyler left us with our gear to go inside the Village and he found a table at the Harvey House Cafe. He called us on the cell phone and told us where he was. We walked inside just as a huge line was forming with visitors who had just arrived by train. We went directly into the restaurant, dropped our gear in a space provided for strollers, and found Tyler already sitting at our table. It was good timing because had we been ten minutes later we would not have found a table. Our server told us that they were expecting over 600 people on that train's arrival. I had a chicken sandwich with fries.
After lunch we walked to a small visitor’s center and gift shop with restrooms behind it. This is where we put ourselves together for the long hike and topped off our water supplies. We walked past the Lookout Studio and the Kolb Studio to the Bright Angel Trailhead. We had someone take our picture and then we started down. It was clear, sunny and warm with a rim temperature around 90 degrees. We took several pictures as we started down, and we passed several people who were slowly going up the other direction. As we passed through a rock tunnel we saw a family with young children struggling up the trail, and we all agreed that they did not look prepared for the hot hike out of the canyon.
At some point along the trail, and before we reached the 1.5 Mile Rest House, my foot slipped on a sandy rock and I went down. I was up almost as quickly as I went down, and I didn’t think much of it, but I think this is where I bruised my right knee. It didn’t bother me right away, but the ache and pain of it increased as I continued the rest of the hike. There was a park ranger sitting in the shade of a rock overhang as we approached the 1.5 Mile Rest House and he had us stop to talk with him. He wanted to know why we were hiking in the heat of the day and what our destination was. We explained that we were camping overnight at Bright Angel Campground, and he agreed that we could continue. He suggested that we get our clothes completely wet in the water spigot at the rest house, along with several other words of advice. He also said that we would probably be the only ones on the trail going down. We each had a cooling towel that we used to get ourselves wet, and I was so glad to have it. Getting wet really went a long way to cool us off.
We continued hiking until we reached the 3 Mile Rest House. We sat in the shade of the shelter along with several other people who were also trying to escape the heat. We topped off our water supplies and got ourselves wet again with our cooling towels. I believe the temperature was now approaching 100 degrees. There were restrooms here as well, and we stayed for about 20 minutes to rest our feet and legs from the steep decline of the trail. All of the people using the shelter were hiking up the trail. We spoke with one man who told us that they had left the South Rim early in the morning and hiked to the river. This was their return trip, and he said that he was not going to do that again. I still can’t believe that people hike to the bottom and back in a single day.
We left the 3 Mile Rest House and the trail quickly descended into several sharp switchbacks. We found ourselves in the shade of the canyon and out of the direct sunlight, however the temperature did not go down at all. The trail eventually straightened out until we reached Havasupai Gardens. We were again stopped by a park ranger who asked us about the details of our hike. She also provided several words of advice. We topped off our water and cooled off again. We were still in the shadows of the canyon, but Tyler found a thermostat that showed the temperature over 100 degrees. The trail returned to several switchbacks that descended quickly into what I could only describe as Hell. It was very barren, rocky, and hot. A wind was blowing, but it felt like a furnace. It seemed like forever before we reached the Colorado River. While I was happy to see the river, we couldn’t stop because our day was quickly fading, and we knew it would be completely dark soon. We wanted to reach the campground before it got too dark, so we trudged along on a sandy trail that followed the river until we reached the pedestrian bridge that crossed the Colorado River. We had made it to the North Side again. The campground wasn’t too much farther. We found a campsite near Bright Angel Creek and set up camp. I had difficulty with my tent stakes that kept bending when I tried to hammer them into the hard ground. After bending three of them I was finally able to get my tent staked and my air mattress ready. We ate dinner, but I found it very difficult to eat anything. I would chew my food for a long time, but it would take a large gulp of water to get it down. I wasn’t nauseous or dizzy, but I wasn’t getting enough food in me. I went to the water spigot several times to cool my head and get wet. We retired to our tents around 9:30 p.m.
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