October 3, 2016

October 3, 2016

With no TV and no Internet we were in bed early last night.  And up early this morning.  After a quick breakfast we are dressed and driving to the North Kaibab Trailhead.  We are a little nervous.  It is below freezing, and the 8240-foot elevation of the North Rim makes even small chores exhausting.

Because the North Rim is higher and gets more rain than the South, it has eroded much farther from the Colorado River.  Which means the trail is 50% longer.  It will be our longest hike.  I take a couple Aleve as a precaution hoping my hips will endure the downhill pummeling.

The first half of the trail is beautiful but does not come with the great expansive views we are used to on the South Rim.  On the other hand there is no crowd and we almost have the whole trail to ourselves.  We take it slow to avoid any slips that could cause us problems on this relatively remote section of the Grand Canyon. Parts of the trail are narrow and hug a cliff.  With the brisk wind, Aimee is nervous.

Cottonwood Campground at the seven-mile mark is halfway.  The final leg of the trail follows Bright Angel Creek another seven miles to the Colorado.  It is mostly flat eventually meandering its way through the Granite Gorge.  It seems to go on and on.  We are in no hurry so by all rights we should have slowed down and taken longer breaks.  Instead we push on and arrive at Phantom Ranch just before 2 pm.  We both have a cold beer in the Canteen.  Maybe that was why we hurried.

Fourteen miles of downhill is a killer and not surprisingly we are in bed right after our 5 pm dinner. Instead of the normal same-sex dorm, we have a four-person cabin all to ourselves.  We are living!