Day Three Below Rim: Grand Canyon - Sep 18, 2019
Happily, there was no need for an alarm to rouse us from our tent at Bright Angel Campground. Our plan for the third day of our Rim to Rim hike was to relax and explore the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The loose schedule was to hike the easy River Loop Trail in the morning before it got hot, find a place to stay cool in the heat of the day, then enjoy our dinner reservations at Phantom Ranch.
Just like we did the previous night, we left the rain fly off to allow more air flow through our tent. Right Buddy (RB) slept well, but was awakened in the night when the light of a nearly full moon shined into her eyes. Laying in the tent as the sun was rising, RB could see the moon just above the canyon wall. She leaned out of the tent and snapped a picture (yes, she sleeps with her camera in the tent with her). RB was up at 6 am. Left Buddy (LB) got up a short time later at 6:30 am.
RB’s chafing from the day before seemed pretty well healed, but she decided to leave her spandex shorts on under her hiking pants to prevent the chafing from returning. A tarantula spider kept her company in the bathroom stall that morning. Unbelievably, she did not have her camera with her, so she hurried back to the campsite to grab it and returned to the restroom to take a picture of the spider. Another camper said they saw a scorpion in the outside sink of the restrooms. RB was disappointed that she missed it.
After a leisurely breakfast at our campsite, we headed over to Phantom Ranch to pick up our reserved sack lunch before starting our hike. On the way, we took note of the temperature on the campground thermometer. It was a pleasant 70 degrees at 8 am and at 8:20 we started our 1.7 mile hike on the River Loop Trail.
We decided to take the trail in the clockwise direction. At the south end of Bright Angel Campground where the Bright Angel Trail splits off from the North Kaibab Trail, we continued on the North Kaibab Trail as it turned to the east and follows along the Colorado River. After about a quarter of a mile, the trail crosses the Colorado River over the Black Bridge (or Kaibab Suspension Bridge) and becomes the South Kaibab Trail. Just as you start to climb up the South Kaibab Trail, the River Trail branches off to the right (to the west), less than a quarter of a mile from the bridge. The River Trail then follows along the Colorado River until it joins into the Bright Angel Trail at the Silver Bridge (or Bright Angel Bridge).
Before we reached the Black Bridge, we walked down to the small, sandy beach on the Colorado River. This is the Phantom Ranch boat beach. We stuck our hands into the water just to say we touched the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. Just past the beach are some ancestral Pueblo ruins. There are several signs there that explain the site.
As we were crossing the Black Bridge, a pack mule train carrying cargo came up behind us. We hurried through the tunnel on the other side of the bridge and stood alongside the trail to allow them to pass. There were two trains of about six mules each loaded with cargo (not tourists) and each train was led by a single wrangler. As the second mule train was passing us, the last mule broke away from the train. There were several of us hikers standing alongside the trail and several of us yelled up to the wrangler “You lost one!”. The wrangler stopped the train and applied the emergency brake on his mule. He did this by turning his mule sideways on the trail to face the drop off and lashing the mule’s two front legs together. The stray mule at the end just stood on the trail while the wrangler walked back and reattached him to the train. One of the hikers was trying to give the wrangler a hard time and said something like the wrangler ought to tie his knot better so it won’t come undone. The wrangler was quick to reply that there was nothing wrong with his knots. He went on to explain that the mules are connected together using what they call a breakaway line (it's the broken orange line in the picture), so, if one mule falls over the edge, the line will snap so they don’t pull the rest of the train down with them. The wrangler made it sound like this particular mule was just causing trouble and this was not the first incident with it today.
The mule trains that visit Phantom Ranch, both passenger and cargo trains, start from the South Rim. They come down the Bright Angel Trail and return up the South Kaibab Trail. Mules have right-of-way over hikers. Hikers are told to step off to the side of the trail and follow the instructions from the wranglers leading the trains.
The River Trail along the south side of the Colorado River was in the shade almost the whole way and there was a strong breeze flowing through the canyon. We were very comfortable and in no hurry to come out of the shade, so we turned the 1.7 mile hike into a three hour stroll. At the Silver Bridge, we came across a small group of people who were just hanging out. They said their only goal was to make it back to Phantom Ranch in time to have a beer before the Canteen shut down to prepare for the evening meals.
As we were crossing the Silver Bridge, a group of rafts were coming down the river. We waited and watched them float underneath the bridge. Shortly after crossing the bridge we stopped at the restrooms back on the north side. There we spoke with a gentleman who was on a ten day rafting trip. The trip started at Lee’s Ferry and would end at Diamond Creek, in the Hualapai Indian Reservation. He sounded like he was having a spectacular time.
It was 11:20 am by the time we made it back to the Phantom Ranch Canteen. The Canteen has a swamp cooler which makes it much more tolerable than sitting outside. It seemed rather silly that we picked up our box lunch that morning and carried it with us on our hike, only to return to the Canteen to eat it there, but that’s exactly what we did. We hung out inside the Canteen for a couple of hours, eating our box lunch, drinking many refills of ice cold lemonade, and writing postcards. It’s been about thirty years since we’ve written and sent a postcard to anyone, but where else can you have a postcard delivered by mule? The Canteen sells postcards and stamps and there is a leather mail pouch hanging on the wall inside the Canteen to drop off your completed postcards to send them on their way. The postcards are stamped with “Mailed by mule at the bottom of the Grand Canyon Phantom Ranch”.
The box lunch is large, but somewhat pricey. Ours contained a bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jam, beef sausage, an apple, Babybel cheese, almonds, craisins, a Huppybar (nut and seed bar), and electrolyte powder. RB couldn’t finish it all and saved some for later. Well, she’s not a big fan of nuts, so she never did eat the almonds. LB had been carrying and using electrolyte powder since the North Rim, but RB has never taken electrolytes before. She figured that her diet on the trail was so much higher in sodium than her normal diet that she would be OK. However, after having issues with the heat on the first day, she started drinking electrolytes.
We don’t know if it was from the heat or the electrolytes, or both, but we were both having issues with our feet swelling. The toe box of our hiking boots were getting rather tight. LB was wearing sock liners in addition to his hiking socks, so he stopped wearing the liners to give his toes more room. RB did not have that luxury since she uses Wright Socks (paid link) which have two layers sewn into one sock. She could tell that blisters were starting to form on her toes.
After lunch, LB took a nap on a bench under a tree at Phantom Ranch while RB explored Phantom Ranch with her camera. Heat does not stop RB from taking pictures! After she got her fill of birds, bees, flowers, lizards, squirrels, and mules, we headed back to the campground to cool off in the creek. On the way back, we checked the thermometer in the campground again. At 2 pm, it was 124 degrees in the sun and 102 in the shade!
Bright Angel Creek was very refreshing. We soaked all our clothes in the cold water and sat down to soak our feet in the creek. As we sat there, we noticed that small fish were nibbling at our toes. A free fish pedicure. Don't tell anyone because fish pedicures are banned in Arizona! RB dunked her hair in the creek and brushed it out. That would help keep her cool for a little while.
When we arrived at Phantom Ranch the previous day, we thought it was so special to have such a close encounter with the deer on the trail. We later learned that there are quite a few deer that live at Phantom Ranch and are quite used to people being around. They are so tame that you sometimes almost have to chase them off the trail so you can pass by. So much for feeling so special!
Also the day before, we noticed some telephone lines along the North Kaibab Trail that didn’t look like they were in working order. RB wondered why they had not been repaired or removed. At Phantom Ranch we came across a plaque that stated the Trans-Canyon Telephone Line, built in 1935 by CCC workers, is in the National Register of Historic Places. Oh, that’s why the telephone lines are still here!
As we were walking through the campground, we came across a small tree with large yellow fruit hanging from it. Were those pomegranate? Yes, they were. Back when David Rust operated Rust’s Camp in this location from 1907 to 1919, just before Grand Canyon became a national park, he planted an orchard of peaches, plums, apricots and pomegranates (Phantom Ranch Historic Walking Tour). The Fred Harvey company also maintained an orchard to help feed the Phantom Ranch guests after Grand Canyon National Park was established. The tree we saw is probably a descendent from the trees of those orchards.
We met an elderly gentleman who hurt his knee the day before. His companion, who is a physical therapist, diagnosed it as a torn meniscus. The man was trying to arrange for a helicopter to fly out; however, it is up to the Phantom Ranch Park Ranger to decide when or if a helicopter can be brought in. It sounded like the man would be waiting at least a couple of days. We overheard that it was too windy to bring in a helicopter. The man told us that he couldn’t go up steps the day before (Tuesday) without assistance. His knee would lock up on him. The day we were talking to him, he was able to struggle up steps on his own. We’re thinking that the ranger may be waiting a couple of days to see if the man’s knee heals enough that he can hike out of the canyon on his own. The man said he only had five days worth of food left. Between the Canteen and the daily mule trains, we would think that arrangements could be made to get him more food. It just makes us realize that despite all of the conveniences at Phantom Ranch, this is still a remote location that can present quite a few challenges and complications.
Earlier that day, we found ourselves walking along the trail between Phantom Ranch and the campground alongside Ranger Kaylee, who had led the ranger programs we went to the day before. Through our conversation with her, we found out that she normally lives in a cabin on the North Rim. She is a seasonal employee, working only six months at a time. She said that she cannot work for the park service in the winter or she loses eligibility to apply to work in the Grand Canyon the following summer. On the North Rim, they work four ten-hour days and then have three day weekends. At Phantom Ranch, they work ten days in a row, then have four days off to give them time to hike out on their days off.
We saw a group from New Zealand dressed in wild clothing, reminiscent of the sixties, with the men in dresses and skirts. We learned from a couple other hikers who had talked with the group that they were doing it for fun. The men were putting on dresses whenever they were around other people. It seemed like they were enjoying themselves.
Dale from Michigan was in the campsite right next to ours. His brother left that morning to hike out in one day to the South Rim. He had a business meeting he needed to attend. Dale’s son-in-law hiked down from the South Rim that day in four and a half hours to join Dale at Bright Angel Campground. His son-in-law would be his companion for hiking up to the South Rim over the next two days. Dale's brother and son-in-law were not part of Dale’s original rim to rim plans. Dale’s original hiking partner had to cancel due to some health issues.
Our dinner reservations at Phantom Ranch were for the 5 pm seating. There are two seatings, a steak dinner at 5 pm and a beef or vegetarian stew at 6:30 pm. Somehow having a steak dinner in the middle of a backpacking trip seems like cheating, but we really enjoyed it! The only thing we would want to have changed was how long we had to enjoy it. Since all the tables in the Canteen are filled with the dinner guests and the next seating starts at 6:30 pm, the 5 pm diners are shooed out in less than an hour to allow time to prepare the tables for the next seating. You would think that an hour is plenty of time to eat, especially since Phantom Ranch does an excellent job of having the food ready to go so the diners are not waiting for anything. However, you are sitting at a long table with strangers you have never met before, each with interesting stories to tell. We had to keep reminding ourselves to stop talking and eat. The guy next to us was from California. This was his sixteenth time hiking in the canyon. The previous time was just one month ago.
Before we started eating, one of the Phantom Ranch staff gave us a short history of the Canteen. The Canteen is one of the original buildings designed by architect Mary Colter in the 1920’s. A few of the original cabins that she designed are also still here, the ones made totally out of stone with no wood. On the outside wall of the Canteen is a baseball mitt with a ball made out of stone and incorporated into the wall. Of course, most of us had to walk around the building to check it out right as we left the Canteen after dinner.
Right after dinner, we hustled down to the Colorado River to watch the sunset cast beautiful colors on the canyon walls. As we took advantage of the restrooms near the Silver Bridge yet again, we witnessed a few hikers slowly passing by. The first two were what looked like an older husband and wife couple. As they went by, the man said that the woman was having a hard time. We gave her words of encouragement as she methodically continued past us. A few minutes later, a one-armed woman came along. She looked dazed and dejected. “Are you headed for Phantom Ranch?”, we asked. She nodded. “You’re almost there! Not much further!” we added. Later we learned that a couple of the hikers staying in Bright Angel Campground noticed her struggling along the trail through the campground. Through talking to her, they found out she had dinner reservations at Phantom Ranch, so one of them ran on ahead to let Phantom Ranch know she was coming. She missed her dinner seating, but Phantom Ranch rounded up some food for her to eat later.
When we got back to the campground, we started getting ready for bed. We had breakfast reservations at Phantom Ranch for the 5 am seating the next morning. So we set our alarm for 4 am and were in bed by 8 pm. Before drifting off to sleep, LB did some stargazing up through the screen roof of the tent watching not only the stars, but airplanes, satellites, and even a very bright crossing of the International Space Station. Eventually though, he had to give in to dozing off to sleep as tomorrow we start hiking out of the canyon!
Check out the related video on our YouTube Channel: Day Three Below Rim - Phantom Ranch: Grand Canyon
(RB)