South Kaibab Trail

We set our alarms for 4:30 a.m. and actually made it out of the house shortly after 5:30 a.m., on our way to the South Kaibab Trailhead. We drove over to the Visitor Center parking lot to pick up the orange shuttle, since we weren't sure of the early morning schedule on the blue shuttle that picks up at the campground.

We started down the trail at 6:14 a.m. It was still quite chilly and very windy. I was wearing my Grand Canyon t-shirt, my long sleeve 30 SPF yellow Columbia shirt, and two light packable jackets. Ken was equally bundled up. We expected to be sheltered from the wind once we got below the rim and to warm up a lot once the sun rose higher.

The South Kaibab Trail is steeper than the Bright Angel Trail. The section we hiked, to Cedar Ridge, is 1.5 miles. Altitude at the rim is 7,260 ft. and at Cedar Ridge it is 6,060 ft. The trail is maintained, and mule trains frequent it. One passed us on the way down, and it's easy to see evidence on the trail! It seems remarkable that the mules are able to move as quickly as they do. The trail is full of obstacles and uneven footing as it zigzags its way down the canyon.

All thought of such things fades away as we look around at the canyon vistas. The morning sun brightens the red on the redwall layers, and we can look up at the moon visible in a deep blue sky. When we get to Ooh-Ahh Point, our reaction is the usual one: Wow! Making the turn around the point, the whole canyon opens up, and we can see for miles.

Pretty soon we both stripped off our extra jackets as the morning sun warmed us, but we were never overly hot. We were careful to rest, drink plenty of water, and eat our salty snacks, just as advised.

We were using our hiking sticks to help us balance, but I still managed to slip on the loose gravel and fall (fortunately, only to the trail and not down into the canyon). I got right up--nothing broken or twisted--but later I could tell I'd bruised some ribs. We were actually more exposed to the blustery winds than we expected, especially when the trail followed a ridge line or turned around a point. Ken was knocked to one knee by a sharp blast at one point. I tried to stay low to the ground and shade my eyes from the blowing dust. Fortunately those areas were relatively short.

When we made it to Cedar Ridge, I was actually a bit surprised that we were there already. The trip back up wasn't as difficult as we expected either. Both of us were pleasantly surprised that we actually could have gone farther. We made the round trip in three hours.

Along the way we met or were passed by lots of other hikers of many nationalities, mostly young people. Some were carrying backpacks and clearly planned to spend the night in the canyon. Others traveled light. We are always a bit taken aback by the number of people we see on trails who seem quite unprepared, carrying little or no water and wearing unsuitable shoes.

What a glorious way to end our visit to the Grand Canyon! We got home, tired but buoyed up by the experience. After lunch we both took naps, um, rested our eyes.... I took some ibuprofen to help with the bruising. We gathered our laundry and took it over to the laundromat at Mather. Not the best laundry experience ever, but we have clean clothes and are ready to travel tomorrow.

[photos later--our Internet connection is extremely slow and rickety!]