Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon

I hope you caught the next-to-last photograph of my last post because this is the view from Kaibab National Forest. It's imperative that you never tell anyone it's so great here, because we saw no one but a perfect view. Unfortunately we can't take entire credit for finding this amazing place; we have to thank a woman we met at the gift shop on the North Rim. Thank you so much for all of your help and ideas.

To everyone else, welcome to the Grand Canyon. I had never seen this place before but Mike had told me a tremendous amount about it. He truly loves the grand vistas and the deep depth. I wasn't sure what he meant until I saw it for myself.

On the way in we passed a tremendous amount of controlled burns. The park service has to manage the underbrush because what one might call natural fires indiscriminately take out tens of thousands of acres of forest, and if we step in and manage the land we can ensure that the most beautiful places that people want to see are open the majority of the time to tourists.

Our rim to rim to rim through-hiking permit started on the North side of the Canyon. This is the only side of the Canyon that Mike had seen, which is funny because only about 10% of visitors come here.

When we arrived, Mike was very disappointed about two things. Number one, you can see the forest fire residue sitting in the canyon. Also the grand lodge was closed! He had very fond memories of sipping Cocoa while looking at the canyon. Unfortunately we may have to come back to relive this.

On the upside, we got to walk out and see the North rim views.

Here is a panorama from where we walked down to Angels Point. This is possibly the most famous and well-visited portion of the North rim.

As we walked back to the car I marveled about the beauty of the housing on the North rim. The park service has done a beautiful job making sure that the visitors' lodging blends in with the forest. I'd like to say that we'll come back here, but probably not because we liked the East rim the best!

On the way in and out of the park, we saw a beautiful herd of 70 Buffalo. They are just Buffalo now but keep them in mind for the future. I promise that they will be more than just beautiful animals on the horizon.

If you're lucky enough to know that this place exists, you just have to drive more than five miles off the paved road and park. Then you get to see this view. I call it the great sea monster view of the Grand Canyon.

It's very stressful in this portion of the Grand Canyon. Just ask Mike... whenever he wakes up.

I mean he was required to make breakfast!

Oddly this pancake mix is a bit sentimental. We picked it up in a Bear Box while hiking the Great Traverse in Gros Morne, way back in Newfoundland. We saved this pancake mix to use somewhere special, and I think that seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time qualifies.

Obviously they came out perfectly!

Relaxing yesterday was important because we started our rim-to-rim-to-rim hike today. This is a beautiful view from the first overlook, Coconino. If you're curious what the title of this blog post means, it means that we started on the North rim, hiked down to the base of the Grand Canyon, across to the base of the South rim, ascended to the South Rim where it was very windy, then descended again, crossed the base, and then went back up to the North rim to the Beaver Lodge.

From the North rim we took the North Kaibab trail to the bottom of the Canyon. The crazy thing is that we saw two trail runners going down this path past us this morning... and I thought that we were in shape!

We are hiking the Grand Canyon in what most people would consider the off-season. In fact we knew it was possible that we would lose our permits for the North rim altogether if snow came and they closed before December 1st. Luckily that didn't happen. I also wondered if we would see any mules because I know that they are not for rent during this period of the Winter.

Now that we started to hike down the canyon I can see why Mike is so taken with this place. I love watching the walls grow higher above me as we descend down. The North rim is the higher of the two and you have to go down from 8,241 feet to 2,460 feet before you hit the bottom. Unlike most trails, this one has very little up and down; it's pretty much all down.

When we first walked across this bridge I wondered why it was reinforced so much. Much later on I came to understand it's for the mules! They really are the only way to get things in and out of the Canyon.

When you look at the walls of the Canyon you realize that you're looking at 2,000 million years of geological history! In these walls is evidence of the four major geological eras; late Precambrian, Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. When it's put like that, I think it stops being just red and white rock and takes on a much greater meaning.

Before I came to the Grand Canyon I really thought it was going to be much more of a deep hole in the ground. I had no idea that as I walked down these canyons there would be full grown trees displaying their fall colors, waterfalls, and so many park buildings.

The park service works really hard to make sure that through hikers and day visitors have a good experience in the Canyon. You saw the first set of bathrooms next to the mule sign and this one, called Manzanita, has a nice seating and bathroom too. It also has park housing right next to it. One of the other nice things about this area is that we were able to get potable water.

These signs are all over the bathrooms. The really funny thing is that half way up the South rim trail we ran into 2 guys who looked just like the guy in this picture. It was almost noon and they said, "Do you think that we can make it to the river and back today?" The fact that you don't know the answer to that question means you can't!

Here is a picture of the seating area. The only odd thing about it is that the benches have their backs turned on the Canyon and look out over the bathroom. Mike and I had a good laugh about the person who designed this one.

The only thing that we could figure is that it allows you to sit and take a selfie with the Canyon in the background.

This is not the Colorado River that cuts the main portion of the Canyon, but it is one of the many tributaries that have cut the side canyons.

This is Ribbon Falls. It is just a short way off the North Kaibab trail. As you hike towards it you need to cross several small streams, push through reeds, and to get this photo climb up a large amount of rocks so that you can see the falls and the pool beneath. I know it sounds crazy at the end of November, but the weather in the canyon is 20°F warmer than it is on the rim, so almost wanted to go for a swim!

Once you take in the view from the front, you may want to climb up and around to view the falls from the back. As the water falls and the sun scatters it, you see rainbows in the water. It is a great place to take a break and relax.

Now that being said, DON'T put your bag down anywhere near the "closed" bridge. Unfortunately people leave their belongings here, and the ravens have picked up on this. They wait until you leave, rip open your stuff (they are able to use zippers, snaps and buckles), throw it everywhere, eat what they want and then leave a calling card. We were warned by a lovely hiking Hispanic family who had just gone through it... we carried our stuff with us.

After Ribbon Falls you enter the flat middle of the canyon. It is a reasonably easy hike between here and Phantom Ranch. You get to cross four bridges and see side canyons like the one above. I have been told that in the summer it's very hot, but we had a blissful walk along this area.

This is the famed Phantom Ranch. From the North side the first places that you run into are bunk houses. They house somewhere between 8 and 10 people.

After that you run into the cottages. They are beautifully constructed out of locally hewn stone. When you look at them it's clear that they blend directly into the surroundings. Phantom Ranch did a good job trying to fit in with the Grand Canyon rather than trying to improve it.

When we were in the Canyon it was clearly the rut in Arizona. If you'd like to see this 4 by 4 mule deer try to pursue his chosen partner, you can head on over to YouTube .

But of course we're not staying at Phantom Ranch. We were lucky enough to stay in the Bright Angel campground. The campground is first come first served so we weren't lucky enough to get a spot by the water this time. The campground is actually quite full because we're still in the Thanksgiving weekend.

The campground also does a nice job trying to help you keep your stuff safe from the rodents of the area. We never saw any, but it's lovely to have somewhere to hang your pack. Also they provided bear boxes so you didn't have to hang your food on the local trees. Remember this is still a desert and the trees have a hard enough time without campers grabbing at them.

When you leave Phantom Ranch heading towards the South Rim, there's a mark on the map that you're not sure what it will be. It turned out to be a memorial marker.

I was very touched by the fact that this trail pioneer's final resting place is still visited and honored by the many people who walk on the path that he created. Once you walk all the way down into the canyon, you realize how difficult it must have been for the people who created the path you walked on.

Just past his memorial marker we ran across the ruins of an Ancestral Puebloan settlement. It's just four houses and a kiva as well as some grain storage areas. It's fascinating to see how they had already chosen this spot long before we got here to observe it.

If you look at the beach area just beneath the bridge, the Ancestral Puebloan Village is right behind it. Just wanted to give you a little bit of perspective. Also the beach area that you see is where the people who come down the Colorado River on rafts pull out. This bridge was a hard-won victory. What could be brought down on mules was brought down on mules, but the large metal crossbars had to be hand carried by men. I can't imagine bringing even one of them all the way down from the South Rim.

Here is a close-up of the bridge. Note the heavy wooden beams in the middle that are placed there so that the mules can use them. Also when you look across the bridge to the back, you can see a pass through a mountain. When Mike saw it he said, "It looks like were going into the mines of Moria." If you're not a Lord of the Rings fan, don't feel bad if that reference is not for you. You're just not mellon enough.

Once we got up above the bridge I finally got to see the sun rise on the Grand Canyon. Mike had really wanted me to see it at the North Rim but it just didn't work out. I think seeing it over the Colorado River was perfect.

Not very long after the previous photo we hiked up to this location. It's definitely not one of my better photos but I wanted you to get an idea of how much trail there is to go such a short distance. It's kind of like the PCT; if there is a short way, you're not going that way.

Part of the way up the South rim I finally got to see the mules on the trail! If you'd like to see them just click here and head over to YouTube.

As we headed up the South Rim the views changed. Mike told me that from the North rim you see the expanse but from the South Rim you see the depth. As we hike up this side I understand why it's the more popular of the two.

There are almost twice as many outlooks here as there were coming down the North Rim.

When we finally made it to the top I was desperate to get on my jacket. Do you remember the 20ﾟF difference between the bottom and the top? When we started hiking I would wear a jacket and long pants. It's really hard to put on a T-shirt and shorts when you get out of the tent in the dark, but I really should. It usually takes me less than a mile to need to change. When we got up to the rim I was wishing for all the garments I had. There is so much infrastructure on the South rim! I wasn't ready for it and we had to run to catch the bus, but we did finally make it to Mathers Viewpoint which is one of the most famous in the park.

Here is a panorama from Mathers Point. It gives me the opportunity to really discuss all the formations that you see here. I know that you can't actually see the Colorado River from this vantage point, but it divides the park into North and South. The distance across is, on average, 10 miles/ 16km wide. Here you can see many buttes, spires, mesas and temples. Yet if they were not surrounded by the taller walls of the canyon alowing one to view them from the top, they would in fact be mountains in their own right. One of the hardest things about the Grand Canyon is trying to convey how big the spaces and distances are. It's almost impossible to get this kind of spatial perspective in a single photograph.

Technically you're not allowed to leave painted rock items in the National Parks, but I'm so entranced by this new form of hidden item that I took the head to re-home. If you remember the alien that we were given in Big Bend, it's the same hobby. Stay tuned and I'll be sure to post where we put this rock.

When I said there's a lot of infrastructure on the South Rim, I'm not sure I was clear enough. There are multiple hotels, places to eat, and even an enormous grocery store that sells things like fresh vegetables, souvenirs and of course Mike's beverage of choice, beer.

After going to the grocery store we settled in to make dinner. This might seem like a mundane activity, but when we checked into the Mathers Campground, the ranger tried to convince us to check into one of the hotels. Why, you ask? Because the weather was slated to drop into the high teens and the wind was supposed to pick up to 50 miles per hour. We got the cold weather, but luckily the wind topped out around 30 miles per hour.

When we were taking the shuttle around the South Rim, the driver of the mandatory shuttle bus indicated that there is a Pioneer Cemetery located at a stop called Shrine of the Ages . I'm glad that he mentioned it because it was not really visible from the road. Mike and I enjoyed walking around and seeing the unique gravestones. In this picture you can see that several are made from native stone and several are made from petrified wood. The people buried here range from members of the United States government all the way to simple Park Rangers. There's also a whole lot of private citizens who are buried here and I'm not entirely sure how one gets that ability, but as of June 2017 the National Park Service has said that no new individuals can be interred on the South Rim. That's OK because I am hoping to donate my body to science.

After spending the night at Mathers campground, Mike and I continued to do our rim-to-rim-to-rim hike. There is a dedicated stop on the bus that drives around the South rim to put you at the Bright Angel trailhead.

I want to take this moment to discuss our plan for getting up to the South rim. Most people come up Bright Angel and go down South Kaibab. This is because South Kaibab is a shorter and steeper trail. As soon as Mike and I heard that, we knew that we were going to do the reverse. Our mantra seems to be that going up, no matter how steep it is, is just effort. It's much easier than having to go down something this steep. We definitely made the right decision.

As we headed down the Bright Angel trail, we ran into another hiker who was coming down to look for the pictographs on the wall. I know that they're not easy to see, but it is the red paint on the very white section in the middle. It was not easy for me to get good photographs of these markings.

I didn't want to climb up the delicate cliffs to get a close-up photograph so I relied on Google to give me one.

As we hiked down the Bright Angel trail, a ranger was coming up in the opposite direction from us. She passed us and something about her told me that she was Becky. Just as she passed, I turned around and said, "Hey are you Becky?" When she said, "Yes." I said, "I met your Dad in Little Finland. He gave us a ride back to our car and told us about you." At this point she gave me a very odd and suspicious look. But after a few moments of conversation she realized that we were genuine and she spent half an hour of her free time just chatting with us. I wish that we lived closer because she is a spectacular person and someone I know I could be good friends with. Seriously, what are the odds of hiking past her as she is going on her "weekend" out of the canyon? Hopefully when we hit Virgin near Zion National Park, I'll get to run into her father again and bring this whole crazy scenario full circle.

The Canyon, like any other environment, has different plant zones as you go up and down in elevation. As we were coming towards the middle of the Bright Angel trail we ran into Indian Garden Campground. It is a wide open area that allows enough sun to get in to support cacti...

...as well as enormous Cottonwood trees. On the North and South rims, Fall has long since come and gone, but in the Canyon we ran smack into the height of the Fall colors. There is no way that we could have planned this because by the time we retraced the section going towards the North rim, all of the trees there had dropped their leaves and were in full winter dress. We literally chased Fall all the way across the Canyon and it was magical.

At the Indian Garden campground I ran into this sign. I don't know why it cracks me up so much that squirrels carry the black plague! Perhaps it entertains me because I have seen so many dumb tourists encouraging their small children to feed and pet the ground squirrels. I swear if this sign doesn't scare them off and encourage them to let the squirrels fend for themselves, I don't know what will.

Just past the Indian Gardens campground we decided to stop and have some lunch. We were steadily descending, and realized that this might be one of our last great views from the South side looking North.

And we were correct! Not too many miles later the trail started to flatten out and we ran smack into the Colorado. You can see that during this time of year it's a very greeny color. For much of the year it's supposed to be brown and all roiled up. Unfortunately because of decreased snowfall, thereby decreased snow run-off, the Colorado has become clearer and clearer. This may not seem like a problem but there are many species indigenous to this area that rely on the river being cloudy.

These fish are being out-competed by the channel catfish and various non-native trout species.

I put this photo in to give you perspective once again. When we hiked to the South Rim we made a big loop. Up the South Kaibab Trail, 3 miles across the rim and then down the Bright Angel Trail. The bridge that you could just barely see in the background of the picture is the bridge that we crossed after staying at Bright Angel Campground on our first night. The bridge in the foreground is the one that we will take to get back to Bright Angel Campground.

I know that I'm a little in love with the mule trains but here they are leaving Phantom Ranch and heading back up the Bright Angel trail to the South Rim. If you like to see them as we did from our campground then take a look here.

Also this time Bright Angel was empty enough that we got a spot right along the stream. Also because of the temperature differential, camping by the stream wasn't a problem at all. In fact it was nice to dunk our feet in after our long downhill hike.

Bright Angel campground has a pedestrian bridge at each and. This shot down the stream gives you an idea of what the camp spots look like. It really is incredibly enjoyable to be right along the stream as the Cottonwoods change from summer to Fall.

We got into camp early enough that we walked around between Bright Angel campground and Phantom Ranch quite a bit. There are lovely trails along the stream with benches that you can sit at and just observe the canyon.

Early the next morning we began our hike out. Most people do the rim-to-rim trip in four days. They start on the South Rim and hike to Indian Garden Campground, then to Bright Angel or Phantom Ranch, then to Cottonwood Campground and then out onto the North Rim where they shuttle the 203 miles from the North to South Rim. This means that you average about 7 miles a day. Of the through-hiking people whom we met in the Canyon, 90% were doing this exact itinerary, or this itinerary in reverse. We did double the distance in three days. No shuttle for us.

Hopefully you remember this day-use area from the way down. We are back in Manzanita and about to seriously start our climb out to the North Rim.

I have to say that this last climb is a bit of a slog. I actually put on my iPod to help motivate myself along.

Even though this is ground that we already covered before, the weather was much more cooperative and the views were much better. I want you to look at the trail and this terrain and imagine trying to walk it blind. On our way up this portion of the trail we met a blind gentleman and his two companions who were helping him to hike rim to rim.

Almost there! Here is a much more brightly lit version of the Coconino outlook on the North Kaibab trail. It's amazing to think that less than three days ago I was standing right here wondering if we were going to make it all the way across and back. When I have thoughts like this, they inevitably drift back to the blind hiker whom we just saw. I can't imagine the tenacity and trust that it takes to make this hike without being able to see your own way.

When we got to the North Rim we met a group of slack packers who were staying at Cottonwood Campground. One of them was clearly ex-military and was hiking with his service dog. That's one lucky puppy!

Meet Sciurus aberti kaibabensis, the Kaibab Squirrel. In the past the he was given species status as Sciurus kaibabensis but because of modern DNA testing we now know that he is a subspecies of the more common Abert's squirrel, Sciurus aberti. This squirrel is special because its entire population is found in an area of 20 by 40 miles confined entirely to the ponderosa pine forests on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the northern section of Kaibab National Forest where you saw us camping before our hike. This squirrel is not found anywhere else in the world.

If you're intrested in the biology of how this species came to be a keep reading. If not skip over the portion that I italicized and continue with our trip.

The Kaibab squirrel's subspecies was created through an evolutionary process called is geographic isolation. You might assume that the Grand Canyon was the source of the geographic isolation between the Abert's squirrel and the Kaibab Squirrel, but that would be incorrect. As the climate has warmed the distribution of the ponderosa pine stands have changed. They no longer exist continuously from the South Rim through the Grand Canyon to the North Rim. Both species of squirrel rely on the ponderosa pine for the vast majority of their food needs, so as the Grand Canyon lost its ponderosa pine the two populations became geographically isolated by the lack of contiguous ponderosa pine, not by the continued formation of the Grand Canyon itself. These isolated populations eventually morphed into the Kaibab squirrels that you see today.

I also wanted to show you what a small prescribed burn looks like after it has gone out. Do you remember the smoky conditions when we first arrived? This photograph was taken in the same area.

Because we loved the Kaibab National Forest and the East Rim so much, we decided to go back and spend one more night here. Remember we needed to be out of the National Park area by December 1st or we would have been locked in for the season because they close the gates. What we didn't know is that Route 67, which runs to the North rim of the Grand Canyon, also has a gate that closes. The problem is we couldn't find anyone who could tell us exactly what date that occurred on. Everyone's best guess was that it happened on December 1st as well. We certainly didn't want to take any chances and so planned to leave the next morning.

Mike and I had collected a lot of wood so we made another fire and he grilled polenta for breakfast.

It's funny we barely used the cast iron at all, and then twice in a week here at the East rim.

We spent the last of the day luxuriously relaxing and blogging. As soon as the sun went down the temperature got so cold that we had to hunker down inside.

Now I want you to think back... do you remember those Buffalo that I told you were going to become really important? Well here's the story to go with that. When Mike and I woke up in the morning, he turned the key and nothing happened. We didn't have a good or adequate explanation for why we suddenly didn't have battery. We weren't terribly worried because we have 4 other batteries in the vehicle that we can use to jump ourselves, so we set about doing that. Mike had no explanation for why this didn't work either! We had two 6 V in series which is a 12 V battery so it should have been more than enough to get us started. On top of this, all of my wonderful 4G service from the previous day had vaporized. I couldn't make a phone call if my life depended on it. So we did the only thing we could...we divided and conquered. Mike got on the bicycle and rode it the five plus miles to the "main road". Now keep in mind that the National Park Service just locked their gates at 8:00 a.m. that morning. This means no visitors coming in and no staff coming out. Before he left I packed him some snacks, gave him toilet paper as well as bottles of water, and hoped that he would be OK because we had no idea how long he'd be there. My job was to hope that my service would come back so that I could call AAA. Finally I was able to call 911. This started a very long chain of me being transferred to many law enforcement offices in Arizona. The really fun part was every time I got disconnected I had to call 911 again because I couldn't make anything but emergency calls! Finally someone transferred me to the local sheriff's department who were extremely helpful. They told me that they could call a tow truck and have it sent out to help us. Just as I was about to say, OK yes please!, my service dropped. At this point I almost cried. Then I thought perhaps I could send a text message to my mom and ask her to call AAA. After so many failed attempts a message clearly got out and she told me they were on their way!! This might seem like very good news, but I had no way to communicate this with Mike. I was sitting in the back of the van and brooding about what to do when lo and behold a large black truck drives down the state forest road. I squeek so excited!!! I can't believe my good luck. I know that this is a road that ends 2 miles down, so if I jog I'll probably get to wherever they are before they leave the vehicle. Then all of a sudden a truck stops and turns around and there is Mike! The story concludes like this… Mike decided to go towards the National Park for help. Many of these remote locations have emergency phones with help information on them. On his way there he sees this big black truck coming down Route 67. He can see that the driver is trying to decide whether or not he should stop. In the end he did stop, though later he confided that he thought it was possible that Mike was trying to lure him Into the woods to kill him. I guess when you stop by the side of the road for a grown man on a bike in the middle of nowhere, you're not sure what to expect. His name is Steve and he was originally from Bucks County PA but now lives in Phoenix. Of course the logical question is what the heck was he doing in the middle of the woods. The answer is that he pulled one of Arizona's highly coveted Buffalo hunting tags. Just to put in perspective how absurdly unlikely it is that we ran into him, Arizona only gave out 6 tags this year and Buffalo is the only game in season in Kaibab National Forest right now. So he and Mike set about trying to jump the Beaver Lodge. In the end we realized that the reason we couldn't jump ourselves is that the jumper cables had somehow gotten damaged between Oklahoma and Arizona. Once the car was started and we knew we were going to be OK I called the sheriff's office back to let them know everything had been resolved. When I told him the story he said, "Oh Buffalo hunters to the rescue, we get that all the time." He then burst out laughing and said, "Glad to hear you're safe, thanks for checking in." I then made one last phone call cancelling AAA.