We left our hotel near Zion NP in the morning rain and cut through the park to travel east to the Grand Canyon. The clouds made for very dramatic views of where we had been the day before and the ceiling was high enough that we could still see the checkerboard and other diverse rock formations on the eastern edge of the park. After a while we passed signs for Paria canyon, another place on my list especially since we missed out of the slot canyon hiking at Zion. We checked into our room at Bright Angel at Grand Canyon Village on the south rim and walked west on the rim trail to a point overlooking Horn Creek, where we hoped to spend out last night below the rim in four days. We ate an amazing meal at the Tovar, set the alarm for 430, packed, and went to bed.

We took the 5AM hiker shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead where we spoke with a guy who has been doing Rim to Rim to Rim runs every year for the past 22 years. He said that he has an 8PM dinner reservation at the Tovar. We hit the trail at 5:30 (well after sunrise in Arizona MST) and arrived at Phantom Ranch at about 9. We drank some lemonade and sat for a bit and then started the Clear Creek Trail at 10AM: just the time they recommend a break in hiking. It starts with a steep climb up 2000 or so to a ridge just short of the Tonto Plateau and then completes the climb gradually over several miles. There were only a few shady rest spots. When we stopped for a break at 12:00 I was shocked to see that it was only 72 degrees: it felt much hotter in the sun. I’ve never used an umbrella on a hike, and didn’t see anyone this trip doing it, but I think that it would have been well worth its weight for this particular trail. Still, the views were amazing and we had plenty of water so I’m glad that we didn’t wait it out and risk finishing the hike down the red scree into Clear Creek in the dark. We arrived at the first creek campsites at 2PM and after a nice foot soak in icy water all was right with the world. In contrast with the silence I’d experienced in my only other night below the rim (at Indian Gardens) the frogs were making quite a racket here. They sounded like chainsaws. There were also a few mice poking around but they gave up pretty quickly because all of our food was hung on a thin line strung between two trees.

In the morning we had a quick breakfast of coffee and oats and headed north up Clear Creek. My goal was to find the granary that’s supposed to be there a few miles up the creek. I had two sets of coordinates and had cached the area on Google Maps but both locations were duds and I never found any ruins. Free of our packs, we did quite a bit of pointless scrambling up scree piles just because it was fun and enjoyed seeing the little canyon from lots of different positions. I’ve never really done the base camp thing but I like it. We got back to the site in the afternoon and chilled until the sun got a little lower. Our original plan was to hike towards Sumner Wash that evening and stop at near sunset to get an early start on the Utah Flats the next morning. It was nearly a full moon and although I prefer a dark sky for the stars I thought that the moonlit canyon would be nice. We got a bit put off by the wind which we heard from our protected spot and decided to stay put.

We’d made friends with a party of four camped nearby who had been marveling at our tiny packs as they were lounging on chairs and cots. Later in the evening as I walked by their site to get water they produced a full-size glass bottle of Islay Scotch and a set of shot glasses. Not wanting to be rude, I sat with them for a while and enjoyed the fruits of their glass burden while watching the last of the highest peaks give up their direct illumination. In the morning we rolled out at about 6 and made it back to near the Phantom Overlook before 10. On the way we met a girl who was headed for a climb up Brahma Deva but didn’t see anyone else. I don’t really mind the crowds on the corridor trails but the relative solitude we’d enjoyed the past few days was nice.

This is where the trip got cut short. We had been radio silent for the last two days due to lack of cell coverage. As we approached civilization we got a text about a death in the family and realized that we had to get home. I tried to call family for details but could barely hold a connection for more than a few seconds at a time. We waited out the heat at Phantom Ranch drinking lemonade and writing a eulogy for my hero: the man who among other things introduced us to western camping in the Sandias 25 years ago. I tried to make a call from the payphone but don’t have a phone card and the ATT operator actually laughed when I asked if I could charge a call to my ATT home phone.

Before leaving the Bright Angel campground we ditched our packs for a minute and did the first bit of the scramble up towards Utah Flats. It was fun without packs and I think that the climb would have been fine even with them. We crossed the river at about 3:30PM and broke for dinner at Indian Gardens where I gave my permit to a grateful ranger (we never saw a ranger at or around the Bright Angel/Phantom Ranch ranger station) and emerged on the chilly south rim at about 8:30PM with no hotel or travel reservations. I first tried the rim tent campground but it was booked. I then got the last room available in all of Grand Canyon Village at Maswik Lodge and made travel plans to get home. We booked an afternoon flight out of Las Vegas, got some pizza, and crashed. In the morning I woke up early and went on a walk on the rim trail and scoped out the Clear Creek trail using my monocular. I’d looked for the trail from the rim before we left but couldn’t see it then. This time I found it and was able to follow our path pretty far east. One thing I love about the Grand Canyon is viewing features from multiple points. It’s like an interactive 3-D puzzle trying to build a model in my head and keep track of the major peaks.

On the drive back we stopped briefly at Hoover Dam and wished we’d allowed enough time to tour the inside. The last time I’d been there a few years ago the highway bridge that bypasses the dam had not yet been completed: at the time it consisted of two precarious-looking structures poking out from the rocks towards each other but still open in the middle. It was nice to see it completed. It’s a beautiful structure and I’m sure that the folks who have to use that road are glad that they don’t need to cross the top of the dam anymore.

I’ll be back in late June for 4-day trip with my sister and her son. This will involve solely corridor campsites (BI-CG-BI-IG) and two Phantom Ranch meals (one steak, one stew). I plan to ditch my pack for a few hours and take a peek at Piano Alley and maybe Phantom Canyon from the top. The Grand Canyon is a wonderful place and I doubt I’ll be tired of it even after this next trip.