Grand Canyon – South Rim

I have to say that the first day of this trip to the Canyon was a wealth of nature and sights. I walked to the post office 3 times today from the campground. First was to mail postcards then I was going to purchase more but no wallet so back to campsite I went. Then I purchased the cards and back to site to fill them out, don’t want to be drunk each time I send postcards. A third trip to mail the cards and then it was late so why not watch the sunset over the canyon. So I did just that and it was pretty cool. I also saw some cool animals today.

Mathers campground – the campground is very nice and they have some water areas and nice restrooms.  I am in a spot not far from both the water and bathroom so I am lucky but then again I chose the site 8 months ago!  It is right in the park and a short walk to the blue line but as luck would have it the blue line is not running.  The walk is a bit further to the rim trail but that I less than 1 mile and about a 1/2 mile to the grocery store, post office and bank.  The campground has over 300 sites and it has 6 loops for campsites, mine was the Aspen Loop.  Aspen is the first loop you come to and has 59 sites that are all wooded and not close to each other.  There is water and restrooms in the loop and some of the sites are closer to restrooms that service another loop.  There are quite hours that I found people respect for the most part.  A funny thing happened when I arrived.  Two young ladies were setting up their tent next to my site and then left.  I also left for the post office and when I returned the first time there were 6 Marines setting up camp at the same site as the two girls who had left.  I did not say anything as I thought they were together as the Marines were looking at how to hike down to the river tomorrow and backpack.  Well as luck would have it on my third trip to the post office the girls returned to be a bit perplexed that someone else was in their spot.  Seems the Marines who are he men going to backpack in the bottom of the canyon can’t find their site in Mathers!  I had the unfortunate incident that my fire wood was removed from my site when I was out hiking one day.  It would not normally be a big deal but the wood was $10.00 for 4 pieces!  I mentioned this to the ranger and the host brought by 3 bundles of wood for the wood that I lost and it was not 3 bundles.  I returned 2 of the bundles to the camp host and had a pleasant conversation with her.  She mentioned that last season the campground only allowed certain number of sites so she and the other host were able to clean up all the trash before they left for the winter.  Sad to say this spring it was already not perfect.  Why do people come to the great outdoors and leave trash?  Also she mentioned that people created their own group sites and drove off pavement during the winter.  Can I ask the question Why be so selfish?  Back to the campground, its sites are wooded for the most part and on my next visit to the Grand Canyon I will be staying here again.  A shout out to Kody the ranger who gave me some tips about the Bright Angel trail and to be on the lookout for some fossils when walking.  Kody gave me the tip after I came back but it is a good tip so I am sharing.  OK other than that there is a bit of road noise at my site in Aspen loop but other loops it may not be present.  I would come back here in a heartbeat as the campground is very nice.

South Kaibab Trail – The trail has 4 stops on the way down.  The first is Ooh Aah point and there is a little sign there and you know when you have arrived.  The view gives the point its name.  The hike is 1.8 miles round trip and has an elevation gain of 760 feet as you go down to the point and then back up.  The hike down is not so bad but there are switchbacks and I wanted to stay to the inside part of the trail.  The cliff did not look like fun to go over.  Ooh Aah point is the first official stopping point on the way down and there are many people who have their photos taken Flat Smokey and I had ours taken.  If you are adventurous and want to take on some additional hiking the next way point is called Cedar Ridge.  I think it gets its name from the cedar trees on the ridge that is cool to see for the additional 1.2 miles round trip and 360 feet of elevation loss/gain depending on your direction.  The second part has many more switchbacks and is a harder hike.  I did enjoy Cedar Point and view. On the way down to Cedar Point I was passed by 2 ladies who were on a rim to rim hike in 2 days.  The one lady started at the border of AZ and Mexico and is walking to Utah while her friend started today and is going to Utah.  We chatted with the volunteer for a bit then then headed down and I went up.  Did I mention that the up part was 1120 feet gain in 1.5 miles?  If you forget I am still overweight after looking the weight last year and have to say I am not sure I could have made the hike if I was that fat!  Now I made it just a bit sore and sweaty but is that not a reason for hiking?  No animal sightings except for squirrels and mules.  The mule train stopped on the way up at Cedar Point from the bottom of the Canyon.  The mules take supplies down and trash up and out.  The guys on the lead horses are much better men than me as I don’t think I would ride a horse on the trail down or up.  The trail has two additional stops along the way and I did not make it to those two stops.  The first stop is Skelton Point and it is additional 3 miles from Cedar Point and it has 900 feet of elevation loss/gain.  The 3 miles is round trip to that gain/loss is in 1.5 miles.  The last stop is the Colorado River and you need a permit to do this hike along with it is NOT a day hike.  When I was coming up there was a group of campers going down to spend the night so they had a long journey ahead of them.  Tips from me don’t forget to bring plenty of water as there is NO water on the trail and in the summer it gets HOT!  Second is to make sure you are physically able to do the hike back up as that is the only way out.  

Bright Angel Trail – the trail is down hill like the rest of the canyon hikes.  There are two stops one at 1.5 miles with 1120 feet of elevation change and one at 3 miles having an elevation change of a total or 2120 feet.  The two rest areas that I went to had water outlets to refill your bottle and also rest room with composing vault toilets.  I set no land speed records when I hike but it took me 3 hours down and 2.5 hours back up.  The down is much harder on my knees that the up so all I have to do is get my heart in better shape and loose some additional weight and I can cut that time down as I had many rest breaks on the way up.  Some of the breaks was to take photos but a majority was to make sure that I was not going to die on the way up.  I knew I was not going to die but by heart and lungs were working OT.  On the way down I saw deer on the trail near the top at two different occasions causing me to stop.  You are not supposed to approach animals nor get within 75 feet of them as we are in their home and have to respect them in their home.  The trail itself was very dusty in some areas and I have to say that hiking this in the summer months would be much harder than in May.  The temp was chilly when I left at 0830 but by the time I go out of the canyon it was in the 80’s.  Along the way you can find many places to stop and rest or in my case view and take photos of Canyon.  The trail also has mules (a male burro and female horse) which will take you down to the river and back up.  These bad boys have the right of way on the trail so when they come move over and let them pass.  There are a few places on the trail that you have to go through a rock tunnel and that is pretty cool with many instagrammers taking photos of these two areas.  The trail has some long and steady climbs which are good for the tortoise in all of his old out of shape hikers.  The “stairs” seem to be bad for me as I have to take two steps when others go from top top.  What every happened to rise over run on the stairs that was taught in stagecraft construction?  I did run into a guy who went to Gilman today and another hiker was wearing his O’st-shirt and hat.  Additional items if you wanted to keep going down there is a a campground at 4.5 miles down and 3040 feet in elevation change total.  That is an additional 1.5 miles and 920 feet of elevation.  There are also longer paths to take that will allow you to camp at the bottom of the canyon and even get to the north side.  Tip from me what goes down must come up so if you want to hike all day and go to the bottom then be ready for the hike out.

Observations – you can take the orange line from the visitor center to the tail head and it seems to be the easiest way to go.  The trail head parking is closed but no signs or notice of that until you are at the turn for the trail head so off the side of the road Dundee went.  The shuttle service is good and has stops from various points to/from the visitor center however the blue line that going to my campground is not running so I was either walking to the visitor center or driving.   If you like to bike you can bike the rim trail and it is fairly flat if you are not a good rider.  Bikes can be rented at the visitor center