Wednesday 5/16/18
We stuck to the 5AM plan pretty well. We didn’t really cook breakfast since the ravens stole the oats and I think we were back at the silver suspension bridge by 5:20. The only real stop we took before Indian Garden was at the River rest house. We realized that we had never actually went all the way down to the Colorado River, so we made a quick diversion to go touch the water before starting the climb out. We made one other brief stop for sunscreen, but after that it was pretty much straight through, but the early part of the trail is the less steep and strenuous portion.
As expected, the early start gained us some shade for a good chunk of the hike up. We didn’t really stop until 3 mile rest house other than a quick water fill and bathroom break at Indian Garden. Our long stop to eat, again fill water and use the bathrooms at 3 mile rest house was followed by a shorter stop at 1.5 mile rest house. The last of the significant shade ended between 3 mile and 1.5 mile and we started taking short breaks in the shady corners the rest of the way up. The stretch between 3 mile rest house and the top is the more intense portion with lots of shorter switch-backs and it’s also where we started to see most of the other hikers (enviably carrying less gear than us) as the two rest houses are common day-hike endpoints. We ended up getting to the canyon rim right around 11:00, a time of around 6 hours and getting us to the top just as the worst of the day’s heat hit. Even then, the sun combined with the climb was pretty intense.
There wasn’t anything more on the list for the day, we were plenty tired, and it was hot, so after some quick refreshments at the hotel / visitor center we headed out of the Grand Canyon driving back south. We did stop at a McDonald’s for coffee and ice cream. Our next real point of interest was Joshua Tree National Park, and we got into town just before sunset to get some good and crash at the Super 8 for the night.
The mule pen just before leaving the bottom of the canyon.
The bridge "out" of the campground
Looking back over the silver bridge
The silver bridge and the black bridge in the distance. Last glimpses of the campground.
We were there...
We realized we had never actually gone down to the river, but the trail dipped back to river level, so we seized the opportunity to splash goodbye.
The first real climb of the trail after hiking along the river for a while.
3-Mile Rest Area view from just above
The upper rest area, with a view of the upper toilets.
This was the last "structure" of any variety before the canyon rim.
Bright Angel Trailhead sign
The post-hike reward. I was not so patient about eating my ice cream.
That was THE BEST coffee and ice cream…the canyon wasn’t too shabby either 😛
SORE CALVES!!!