During spring break of 1999, my advisor Professor Chris Brennen, Clancy Rowley, Christine Pajak and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon. Our original intent was to obtain a backcountry permit and spend a night or two camping at the canyon bottom. From an initial conversation with a ranger in the backcountry office, this seemed feasible despite the short notice, as we were visiting in the off-season, during mid-week.
However, other schools were on spring break as well, and permits were hard to come by. With our names on the waiting list, we spent our first day at the canyon exploring the South Rim. As the sun set shortly after our arrival, the canyon came into full color.
A view from along the East Rim Drive. The South Kaibab trail makes its way down the ridge at right.
We spent our first night in Mather campground. This wasn't our ideal of escaping civilization, but our hopes were high that we might be fortunte enough to obtain a permit the next day. After a good night's sleep thanks to the warm spaghetti expertly prepared by Clancy, we awoke the next morning to inquire about the permits. Once again, we were unsucessful.
Not wanting to be denied access to the bottom, we naturally concluded that there was only one option remaining -- to hike to the bottom and back in one day. Park literature, signs, and rangers all warn against this, but with the cool temperatures of spring and a good deal of resolve, we figured we would try.
As a warm up, and to get a feel for hiking in the Canyon, we spent the day hiking a short distance down the Hermit Trail, to Santa Maria Springs.
Mark and Christine shortly before catching the shuttle out to Hermit Point.
Despite being labelled as an "umaintained" route, the hiking was quite smooth on the Hermit trail, much better than most of the hiking we had encountered hiking closer to Los Angeles. After a modest descent, we encountered the Supai Sandstone, which forms a very distinctive red band around the Canyon.
Clancy, barely visible, amidst the Supai Sandstone cliffs.
Despite the recommend hiking time of eight hours, we managed to finish the hike in only three and a half hours. Encouraged by what seemed to be overly precautious hiking guidelines by the NPS, we were optimistic about our chances the following day. We spent the rest of the day leisurely exploring the views offered from the West Rim Drive.
Hermit Rapids a seen from Mojave Point.
Mark sitting above the Hopi Wall, with Hopi Point behind.
Our next day began early, with a departure from the trailhed at shortly after 7:00 am. We made steady progress down the Bright Angel trail, reaching Indian Gardens at around 9:30, and the canyon bottom shortly after 11:00. This day was all about getting down and out safely, so precious few pictures were taken, if only to serve as evidence of our journey.
A view of the Colorado River at River Resthouse.
The hike back out was indeed more difficult, but with steady progress we again passed through Indian Gardens slightly before 2:00, and reached the rim just after 5:00 pm. Indeed, quite and exhausting trip.