5/16–5/23/21

Just want to see the pretty pictures? Click here.

First Glimpse

The sun slowly setting in the western sky, I stepped out of the car at Grandview Point and looked north. It was then that I caught my first glimpse of this geological wonder. The low angle of the sun cast bright light and heavy shadow on its surface, and tints of yellows and blues added to the sharp contrast. Every undulation of the earth’s surface was held in relief. Its majesty was overwhelming.

Like every American, of course I had heard of the Grand Canyon. But I don’t think anything could have possibly prepared me to see the Grand Canyon with my own eyes. I shivered with excitement, knowing that later that week I would be 4,800 feet below where I was standing, totally immersed within the beauty of the canyon.

Kaibab National Forest

I set up that camp for work that week in Kaibab National Forest – literally a 15-minute drive south of the Grand Canyon. Of course, I had known what to expect as I had researched this location ahead of time, but I was still amazed at how different it was from my idea of what Arizona was like. I was in a forest, it was nice and cool, and I even saw some elk as I drove through. I’m no climatologist, but know this is in part due to the elevation of the area. The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is at about 7,000 feet, and where I was, just a bit south, is about 6,000 feet.

Interestingly, the varying levels within the canyon supported very different climates than the one at the South Rim, or even the North Rim, which is even higher in elevation (at about 8,300’). Additionally, the deep canyons affect solar heating and air circulation. So while the average high in May on the South Rim may be 70°F, it’s 92°F in the Inner Canyon, and 62°F on the North Rim. And while I go on and on here, oversimplifying something complex that I know very little about, I could just direct you to the page from the National Park Service, written by people more knowledgeable than I am.

Basically what I’m trying to say is, no, there were no cacti to be seen here by the South Rim. But there would be plenty in my near future.

Preparation

My backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon required A LOT of preparation, more than any I had done for this road trip so far. This was because of the distance (57.2 miles over 3.5 days), lack of bail-out points (i.e. being stuck in the canyon with no way out), heat, exposure, and lack of water sources (sounds like a grand ol’ time, right?). In addition, I was unfamiliar with the desert when I was planning for this months ago. And though by this point I had a few desert trips under my belt, I was certainly no guru (yet).

Like I said, heat was a big concern. As I mentioned before, the average high in the Inner Canyon in May is 92°F. So it was very possible I could have a bad week of 100°.

Exposure was another concern. During mid-day when the sun is directly overhead, there is very little shade in the canyon to protect from the sun. It’s actually recommended, that you don’t hike in the canyon between the hours of 10am and 4pm in the summer. Coming from the East Coast, where plentiful tree cover is the norm (there’s a reason the Appalachian Trail is often referred to as the “Green Tunnel”), I was not used to this much exposure in heat. Even in the White Mountains of New Hampshire – where I had spent the last seven months, and which has the most area above tree line in the Northeastern United States – there are few places once can walk very far without some tree cover. And even then, temperatures above 90° are certainly not the norm at any time of year in those mountains.

But my biggest concern of all was water, or rather lack thereof. After discussing my route with more experienced Grand Canyon hikers on a Facebook group, as well as consulting information from the NPS website, I realized that there would be long stretches without it (on day one, there was a 20-mile dry stretch). This meant carrying more at a time (I carried six liters to start), which is very heavy. And it also meant I had to estimate my water consumption accurately, or face grave consequences. I had not been as familiar with this sort of water management before this road trip. Everywhere I had been backpacking, up until a month ago, there had been plentiful water practically whenever I wanted it. So I would just carry a couple of liters at most and fill up as needed from streams along the way. Thankfully my last few trips in the deserts of Utah gave me some experience with this, but it was still a concern.

And even once I had done all this research and applied for a backcountry permit, I was met with this disconcerting response from the Grand Canyon Backcountry Office:

Nevertheless, I felt confident in my abilities and proceeded with this route:

Day One: South Kaibab Trailhead to Grapevine Canyon (20.3 mi, +2,735’ / -6,388’)

The forecast was a high of 94°F for this day, so in order to keep my hiking to the cooler hours, I got a shuttle nice and early, leaving my car at my Tanner Trailhead, and arriving at S Kaibab Trailhead before 5am. (I’ll let you take a guess at what ungodly hour I had to wake up for that.) So I got a nice view of the rising sun as I descended thousands of feet into the canyon.

My route today along the Tonto Trail was pretty easy-going, mostly downhill or flat. Though I quicky realized that I’d have to pay more attention to where I was going and check my map more frequently. At one point early on in the day, while daydreaming, I went down a side canyon, which looked very much like a trail, and ended up almost a mile off course. Whoops.

But I soon began to understand the tendencies of this trail as it wove around drainages, sticking to the edge of Tonto Platform, 1,000 feet above the Colorado River.

Something else I learned was that everything in the canyon is prickly and is out to get you – bushes, cacti, agave, various other shrubs, and even the few trees were all covered in sharp prickles. So by the end of my trip my lower legs were completely scratched up.

Speaking of plants, one of the strangest and most fascinating sights on this trip was the blooming stalk of the agave plants (agave utahensis var. kaibabensis) in this area of the canyon. I couldn’t get over just how tall (well over 10 feet) and bizarre and beautiful the inflorescence (stalk) is.

A little after 11am I found a spot in the shade of a boulder, just big enough for me to hide out from the sun. It was starting to get really hot, and the sun exposure made it feel even hotter. I rested there for a while, eating lunch, napping, reading a book, until about 3pm. This is a habit I would continue for the rest of my days in the canyon. Though one frustrating part of this practice was my shade slowly disappearing over the course of my siesta, as the sun’s relative angle changed. By 3pm I was bunched up as tight to the boulder as I could be and still my legs were sticking out in the sun.

So I continued on, and as I neared my destination for the night I ran into two guys, taking a rest next to the trail. They were the first people I had seen since early that morning, so it was a bit startling. I stopped, we greeted each other, and it quickly became apparent that they were beat. Their faces were flushed and red and glistening with sweat, and they sat there limply, leaning on their large packs.

It turned out that they were doing exactly the same route that I was, only they had started the day before – their plan was to do it in 6 days, while mine was to do it in 3.5. This meant that they had to carry water for two days during the initial dry stretch, while I was only carrying for one. So how much water did they start out with? 14 liters. At 2.2 lbs a liter, that meant they had started out with 30.8 lbs of water, plus all of their food for 6 days (probably about 12 lbs), plus their pack weight, and it didn’t appear they had packed light. I wouldn’t be surprised if they started out with over 65 lbs per person. Meanwhile, I had started out with about 36 lbs in total. No wonder they were so exhausted; that’s significantly more weight than I was carrying.

By the end of the conversation, we decided to meet at Grapevine Canyon and camp together for the night, and I went on ahead. According to the ranger I had spoken with, the water source was upcanyon from the trail, so I turned off the trail and wandered up in search of it. I must’ve walked for over a half-mile before finally finding a faint trickle. But that trickle was more than I had seen all day, so I patiently filled up my reservoirs before heading back downcanyon.

I enjoyed camping that night with those two guys, whose names I honestly can’t recall anymore. It was just nice to commiserate with a couple of friendly people while eating dinner and setting out my quilt to sleep under the stars. I never saw them again after the next morning, so I hope their trip turned out alright.

Day Two: Grapevine Canyon to Tonto/Escalante Junction (17.4 mi, +3,021’ / -3,986’)

Day two turned out to be quite interesting. For starters, the clouds were looking rather ominous in the morning and presented dramatic views.

And then I found myself on a trail that followed rather close to the edge of the canyon, with steep 1,000-foot drop-offs to one side. I guess this would have been a bad day to slip.

Thankfully, I had sure footing all day and followed the trail until it eventually meandered down from the Tonto Platform to the bottom of the canyon by the Colorado River, where I cowboy camped on the beach. And I thoroughly enjoyed the views the entire way.

Day Three: Tonto/Escalante Junction to Tanner Beach (12 mi, +3,345’ / -3,251’)

First thing in the morning I was presented with the Papago Rock Slide, a steep and somewhat sketchy scramble up loose rocks (image 1 shows the view from the bottom, and images 2 and 3 show the views from the top). What a way to start the day.

On this day I followed the Escalante Path, which generally followed along the Colorado River, though occasionally it would go up a side canyon and follow a platform for a bit before dropping back down to the river. The most difficult part about this day is that the “trail” really was more of a “path,” meaning at times it was very hard to follow. I frequently had to stop and pull out my map and compass to reorient myself, which resulted in a much slower day than the ones previous.

Another difficulty that slowed my progress was the crazy wind on that day. At times it must have been gusting at 70 mph, and I would have to hold onto my hat and lean into the wind to avoid being knocked over. All in all, I’m grateful I only had 12 miles to do that day.

Toward the end of the day, with only 3 miles left, I decided to rest for a moment on Cardenas Beach, by the river. As I was coming out of a thicket after… erm… answering the call of nature, suddenly there was a motor boat pulling up on the shore, with a dozen seniors disembarking.

“Hey, you want a beer?” called out one of the men on the boat, looking right at me.

“Absolutely!” I replied without hesitation, suddenly perking up.

Well that one beer turned into two, which was then followed by a gin and tonic; and an hour or so later I found myself waddling the last three miles along the river to my intended campsite for the night at Tanner Beach. And I slept very well that night.

Day Four: Tanner Beach to Tanner Trailhead (7.8 mi, +5,389’ / -676’)

This was short, but challenging morning, gaining 5,389’ in only 7.8 miles, straight up and out of the canyon. But I was well-rested, the trail was very clear, I and didn’t have any real problems.

And finally, there I was, standing on Lipan Point, 57.5 miles from where I had begun over three days ago, my most daunting desert backpacking trip an unqualified success. (I mean, if I walked 57.5 miles through the Grand Canyon, didn’t die, and somehow got two craft beers and a gin and tonic out of it, I can’t see how it would be considered anything other than an unqualified success.)

Stats

Miles driven this week: 315
Total miles driven so far: 3,398
Miles hiked this week: 57.5
Total miles hiked so far: 168.75
Elevation change: +14,490’, -14,301’
Total elevation change so far: +36,956’, -39,626’
Nights slept in Obi the Subaru: 4
Nights cowboy camped: 3
Total nights slept in Obi the Subaru: 21
Total nights tent camped: 2
Total nights cowboy camped: 5
Total nights slept in an AirBnb: 2
Time since start of trip: 30 days
States visited since start of trip: 9
Number of blooming agave utahensis var. kaibabensis seen: 58