I am looking for someone that has been to the Grand Canyon. I got my permit for the Bright Angel Campground in the Grand Canyon. It is for the first weekend in April. I am thinking of bringing my tarp. Is this a good idea? I hear the scorpions are out at the time of year. Are they really a bother, or just a figment of my imagination?

Craig

I think you should have posted in the Trips section, but there are always scorpions in the GC. However, they do not go crawling about hunting for humans to sting. Their venom is an extremely precious commodity that they use to hunt with and they won't waste it on non-food unless they are intruded on.

If you get one of the Photon UV lights, it's fun to shine around on rocks and stuff where scorps live and see them at night. Otherwise, they don't show up. Usually there are scorps on or near the flagpole at Phantom Ranch. Look in the built up stone structures around the passenger mule corral right near there.

So, scorpions are not a figment, but neither are they a bother. Just don't reach into brush litter or into cracks on rocks. I normally sleep on the ground without a tent and none in our group has ever had a scorpion issue. I did talk with a ranger who got nailed on both thighs when she crawled into bed in the ranger HQ there at Phantom . . .
Be sure to shake out your boots in the morning before you put them on -- although, again, this precaution has never produced a scorpion with anyone in any group I have had in the Canyon.

Are you wanting a hiking companion or just info? Clouldn't tell from the way you wrote.

Just info, I wanted someone that had been down there before. My wife will be my partner.

You will need something to keep your food safe, if you don't already have it. There is a topic about that in the food forum.
I slept on the ground without a tent for a week last year, and I also can report no issues with scorpions. There were critter tracks all around our sleeping area each morning. I am taking a tarp this year but I am still trying to decide what kind of stakes to use.

I will be camping at the Bright Angel Campground, and they have storage for food. Each campsite has a sealed metal container.

Never camped at B.A. but last year the ground at Indian Gardens and some of the backcountry sites was like concrete. I was wishing for my Groundhogs.

I will only be at B.A. for one night. I'm applying for Clear Creek for two nights and then I am meeting a river trip. I intend to take a set of groundhogs and I also need something for the sandy beaches along the river. I want to use my tarp the whole time. I prefer to sleep under the stars but I will set it up for a staging area and in case of a shower. Have you tried any stakes that work in the sand?

If I camp in snow or soft sand I use regular tent stakes. What I will do is dig a "T" shaped trench. Tie the guyline to middle of the stake. Place the stake in the top part of the "T" shaped trench. Run the guyline out the bottom of the "T", and then bury the stake and guyline. That usually will secure the stake. I learned this in Antarctica. There is a name for it, but I do not remember it. I am sure somebody out there knows the name.

I believe you're talking about a deadman anchor.

An alternative is to get some sort of a stake that's designed for snow/sand. They make fairly beefy ones, but I typically carry a single lightweight SMC perforated snow stake, dual using as a backup stake and as a trowel.

Serendipitously, I'm headed to the Grand Canyon to do some hiking early next month, but I won't bring more than one of these stakes, as I anticipate cowboy camping. Should I need to use my poncho as a rain shelter, and should I be in soft soil when that occurs, I'm sure I'll find something, big rocks or ... something (perhaps a deadman anchor of some sort).

I never bring sand specific stakes because I don't like camping on sand. If I do end up on sand I make do with what I have.

I suppose between the deadmans, large rocks, and the tamarisks (saltcedars), I should be able to manage in the sand along the river.

I did a river trip in July on the Colorado through the Grand Canyon and we did cowboy camping for the most part. One morning when I picked up my sleeping bag there was a scorpion underneath it, but thankfully he wasn't interested in me.

"tamarisks (saltcedars)"

What's that? A tree?

Tamarisks are a bushy tree that sucks up hundreds of billions of gallons of water a year and crowds out native plants along creeks and rivers. It can grow up to a foot a month, to a height of 30 feet. The leaves secrete salt, making nothing else grow on the ground below. They were imported from Asia in the 1800's for ornamental gardens.

Gee, I've heard of some aggressive non-native plants before, but that one takes the cake.