July 20
No, I’m not going to tell you whether I made it to my goal, and no scrolling down to the bottom of the page to find out early! I’m a writer— how can I create narrative suspense if I tell you the ending right away? It’s bad enough the mere existence of this blog post tells you that whatever I did, I made it back safely. (Or did I? Maybe I’m typing this from a hospital bed after a dramatic search and rescue.)
To recap: I’ve had this hike in mind since I planned my Epic July Road Trip, and I’ve been trying to get prepared for it all along. In many ways, it’s the climax of my trip. The goal is to hike Bright Angel trail all the way to Indian Garden campground (I believe I called it Indian Springs in my previous post, but I was mistaken: it’s Indian Garden), 4.5 trail miles, and 3000 feet down, from the trailhead.
This would be the most difficult hike I’d ever done (and no, I’m not the least embarrassed by the fact that lots of hikers who make it more of a regular pastime can do much harder). Preparing, I’ve tried to accumulate 9 miles of hiking each day on this trip, sometimes in a couple of long hikes, sometimes in a bunch of smaller ones: a mile here, a half mile there, and so on. But the biggest elevation change I’ve done was 1000 feet and that was with the uphill on the outward half.
The National Park Service has warnings posted all over the place about being sure you’re ready for this. They strenuously warn against trying to hike from the rim all the way to the Colorado river and back in one day— that’s another 4 miles and 2000 feet over the hike to Indian Garden— but even for Indian Garden they warn it’s very difficult, and they point out that they have to call out search and rescue for around 350 people every year who tried it but weren’t ready for it. Besides the embarrassment, they bill you for the cost if you need rescue!
My plan: hike to the 3-mile rest house. That would be an achievement, doubling the distance down into the canyon I’ve done before. Once there, think very carefully about whether to go on. Obviously I won’t be out of breath, you don’t huff and puff going downhill, but I’d try to see how my legs were holding up, and try not to be misled into thinking I could go farther than I really could.
| I met my first check right away: by the time I rode the shuttle bus from the hotel to near the trailhead, it was pouring rain. In order to stop the rain, I went into the general store, bought a poncho, and added it to my backpack. It worked: the rain stopped, and it didn’t rain again. But I ended up starting down an hour later than I planned. |  |
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Clouds were hanging around down inside the canyon as I approached the trailhead. If the rain held off, that was an advantage: the park service says that in July, temperatures at Indian Garden are 110 in the shade (it’s cool year round on the rim). Clouds would make for a cooler— and less difficult— hike. |
Bright Angel trail is the oldest trail into the Grand Canyon. It predates the National Park, and in the days when Grand Canyon village on the south rim was first being developed as a tourist destination there were disputes between the guy who owned the land it was on, and the railroad company that owned the hotels on the rim and operated the train that brought tourists there. The owner of the trail put up a gate and charged people a toll to go down.The railroads would rather have paid him a flat fee so that all their guests could have a hike on the trail included with their rail ticket.
But the trail even predates that, going back to a trail used by ranchers attracted to the water available at Indian Garden, and even before that to Native Americans who crossed the canyon this way.
I set off down the historic trail, starting my stopwatch to find out exactly how long it took me.
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A first glimpse of my intended destination: the litte patch of green down there is a stand of cottonwood trees called Indian Garden. |
| At the 1.5 miles rest house, doing fine. |  |
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After two hours of hiking, destination one: the three mile rest house.
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| And, it was decision time, as the park service helpfully reminded me. They say to allow twice as long coming up as going down. I’d taken one hour for 1.5 miles on the first two stages. Keep that pace and I’d reach Indian Garden after three hours of hiking. That meant 6 hours coming up. What time would I reach the rim? Exactly how miserable would I be? What were the odds of becoming a search-and-rescue statistic? |  |
Well, wisely or unwisely, I decided to go on. Next stop: Indian Garden.
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An hour later, I arrive: I’ve reached my destination.
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| Of course I can’t call it a success just yet. I’ve only done the easy part. Once I’m done with the picnic lunch I packed, I’ve got 4.5 miles and 3000 feet uphill still to do. |  |
My plan for the return was to take it as easy as possible. I’d walk as slow as felt comfortable, stop whenever I started huffing and puffing (even if that meant every ten yards), follow park service advice and eat lots of high-energy trail mix along with drinking lots of water (I bought the “camelback” backpack specifically for today). I wouldn’t care if I didn’t get back out until midnight, just so long as I got out without becoming a search-and-rescue statistic.
Well, to paraphrase Marvin the Android from Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: the first mile was the worst. Then the second mile? That was the worst too. The third mile I didn’t at all enjoy. After that I went into a bit of a decline.
tr>Looking back toward Indian Garden. Look how far up I’ve climbed!
Still not halfway yet.
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The view from inside the 3-mile rest house. I rested there a good long while. Only a third of the way up! |
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There’s the 1.5 mile rest house! Two thirds of the way home! But what sadist put it at the top of a flight of stairs above the trail? |
| Half a mile to go, and I was wrong in an earlier post: these are the Stairs of Cirith Ungol. |  |
And success! After 8 hours and 36 minutes, I am back at the trailhead, and although I’m completely wiped out, I am not a search-and-rescue statistic.
I made better time than the expected “twice as long as going down,” which was a bit of a surprised since I thought I was going quite slowly and resting, toward the end, every 20 yards or so. In the end it was 3 hours down, a half hour eating lunch in Indian Garden, and 5 hours up.
The climb was every bit as miserable as I feared it might be, but I’m glad I decided to go all the way to my goal. The misery is now over, but if I’d turned back at the 3 mile rest house, the regret would have lasted a lifetime.
Tomorrow:
A leisurely day looking at views from the top of the canyon.
