Hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon has been on my bucket list for quite some time. Just this last summer, Walter and I were able to get a backcountry permit to make the trip. I have tried before with no success because getting a permit is a lottery system with passes doled out months in advance.

We had a wonderful time. The hike down was a bit painful on my knees, but we stopped frequently to take pictures. Honestly I wasn’t hurting too bad the rest of the day. For the hike down, we chose the

 South Kaibab trail. This trail offered amazing unhindered views of both directions of the canyon as we hiked down a ridge line. We had targeted to catch the sunrise at the first lookout and though we were a few minutes late, the view was still breathtaking. We then continued on hiking the very steep trail filled with switchbacks and slightly loose stones. We stopped a few times for snacks and to tape up a blister I could feel forming. The guys enjoyed the breaks to do a little exploring and take some pictures. The rest of our hike was fairly uneventful and a bit stinky. The mules passed us and left many a stinky reminder of where they had been. When we got to the bottom, it was quite exciting; we went through a tunnel out 

onto a bridge over the Colorado River. It was very beautiful. We knew we were almost to the end, and so we cruised through the last little bit of the hike. It took us roughly 5 hrs to hike down, arriving at 11:30 am at the bottom. The nicer sites right on the creek were all claimed; however, the sites across the trail were spacious and well shaded. We relaxed in the shade for a few minutes before setting up our dinner and packing away our gear. The squirrels at the bottom show no mercy and will literally chew hoses of hydration packs, so properly stowing away gear is a must. For dinner, we solar cooked our meal, but everyone else brought little burners, dehydrated meals, or peanut butter sandwiches. I had actually read a post online about cooking hot dogs in a solar cooker made from a Pringles can, so we gave that a go. We had 3 cans of Pringles, a package of hot dogs, and buns. You can see in the picture how we cut the cans and then once the hot dogs were loaded we put them in a zip lock to hold in the heat. Honestly, not sure if we even needed the zip lock as the 

temperature in the sun read 120F! We left the hot dogs in the cans for a couple of hours and they were quite warm all the way through. Since Walter and I love hot dogs, it was the perfect treat to celebrate making it to the bottom. Before and after dinner, we sat in the shade with our feet in the water reading and talking. Later in the evening, we caught the Ranger talk called Ask a Ranger, where we were literally able to ask anything, from what creatures live near the campsites, to how do the rangers get their food down. The rangers are allowed to fill up one mule pack worth of food, which is then brought down after them if you’re curious. After the talk we grabbed drinks at the canteen and enjoyed Walter reading the stories from a book in the library, entitled “Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon.” A real cheerful pick me up to prepare for our hard hike the next day, yikes. Moral of that story was stay on the paths, drink and eat lots, and don’t travel with an estranged spouse. The next morning we got up about 4:30 am and hit the trail by 5 am. 

Nearly everyone was packing or had already left at that point, with just a few groups still sleeping. After crossing the bridge, the first part of the Bright Angel trail wound along the river where the trail had stretches of soft sand. There is really nothing worse than hiking in soft sand, so I didn’t care much for the start of the trail. Before long, we hit more firm footing and started to climb. I had read we would cross a few streams, but it seemed, like for about a mile, we just kept crossing back and forth on the same stream. It was quite beautiful and shaded through this section, so we hiked pretty fast. We actually made it up to Indian Garden Campgrounds much faster than we had anticipated, so after a break and some snacks we decided to press on before the canyon really heated up. As we climbed, we ran into familiar faces at our rest breaks and soon we picked up a couple of solo hikers. Our group started to slow down a little and we had to shift around packs to help relieve the weight on some of the group. This is when I traded for a much heavier pack and I will tell you again, PACK LIGHT. Our motley crew then trudged our way higher and higher, with breaks becoming more frequent as the temperature rose and our legs fatigued. These frequent breaks afforded us to swap stories and learn a few things from our new found group members. One of the additions to our group actually told us about some petroglyphs right before you go into the second tunnel/arch near the top. Turn around to your right and look up when you take this trip and you will see some pretty cool red markings on the stones high up. There are no signs or marker anywhere to tell you to look for these, so be on the lookout. All in all the trip took us 6.5 hrs to get to the top, which was much better than we had planned for, even with frequent stops the last few miles. Those last few miles are the ones that really get to you. I loved the trip and I cannot wait to go back. Next time I would like to hike all the way to the North Rim and spend a few nights there before hiking back. I read somewhere that the average visit to the Grand Canyon is only 4 hrs! Please stay longer, even if you are not sure a hike to the bottom is for you, stay long enough to enjoy a sunrise and sunset. Slowing down to take in the colors of the canyon slowly changing before your eyes is soothing to the soul.