Day 1: South Kaibab to Indian Garden
Woke up bright and early this morning to catch the shuttle for our 2 night/3 day backpacking adventure in the Grand Canyon. We got on the shuttle at 6:00 and started on the South Kaibab trail-head around 6:30. Sounds early but it was honestly later than we needed to get started to avoid the mid-day heat. We decided to go in via the South Kaibab Trail because unlike the Bright Angel Trail, there is no water at all on the trail and it is exposed to the sun since it travels across a spine for quite some time. To see the sun rising while you're hiking in this massive place is something else.
After hiking the first four miles descending 3000 feet it was approaching 11:30 so we had a snack in the shade of the only pit toilet facility on the trail and prepared to hike what we knew was going to be a pretty nasty 4-5 mile stretch across the Tonto formation. The problem is that it is completely sun exposed for the duration and water is questionable. As we got started we both immediately realized that the trail was very narrow and this looked like rattlesnake heaven, but we pushed on.
The trail was what we thought it would be.........HOT. We rested by a small trickle of a creek around the 2 mile mark and tried to cool down in the shade of a small boulder, but it offered little comfort. Brett filtered some water out of the nasty looking creek and we drank it hesitantly. We pushed on. After another two miles we were both getting extremely hot and only had about a liter of water left. Fortunately we knew that Indian Garden, the site of our first nights camp was just around the corner. When we arrived around 2 pm we were absolutely beat. On the positive side, Indian Garden is an actual oasis there in the middle of the Grand Canyon complete with large shade trees and a nice cool creek to lay in.
After washing off in the creek and waiting for the sun to go down we set up camp and cooked supper. After we had eaten, one of the rangers came up to check our permits and invited us to watch the sun set on the deck of the rangers quarters. We accepted that generous offer and sat there with a few other backpackers as the sun set. We also spoke to the rangers, Helen and Della for a while and during the conversation mentioned that we had tried to acquire permits to hike the "Rim to Rim" trail which is down and across the Grand Canyon, but were unsuccessful. I guess they liked us because they said that, since they were heading in the same direction, we could do the rim to rim permits or no permits!!! As tempting as this was we just could not accept because of our tight timetable. We may regret this one day because they turn down something like 97% of applicants for that hike.
Della & Helen!!!!
After leaving the rangers cabin, Brett grabbed a book out of the campgrounds "loaner" box called Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau. This was a great find because he had been wanting to read about the formation of the Grand Canyon and this book fit the bill. As I went to lay down, he was still laying on the picnic table reading it by headlamp. The weather that night was perfection. Mid 60's with a nice strong breeze blowing through the trees all night was so absolutely blissful. I remember it was strikingly odd to be in such a lush, green place in the middle of a canyon so massive, dry, and otherwise desolate. It was an experience we'll remember forever