My sister, her son, and I camped four nights below the rim on the main corridor campgrounds during the end of June and early July. It was hot but we embraced the brutality and enjoyed the trip. I put a few pictures on https://www.instagram.com/d41253/ but there are so many better ones out there I won't bother trying to figure out how to post any here.

We converged on Las Vegas from Florida and Texas and arrived at the South Rim late in the afternoon. We ate dinner at the Arizona room and settled in at our Mather Campground campsight. A little after sunrise we drove to the Visitor Center, as close as you can get in a rental car to the South Kaibab trail, and took the park bus one stop to the trailhead. I wish I'd thought of parking at the Visitor Center back in May when we were staying at the Bright Angel Lodge: The bus leaves more often from there and the ride is much shorter.

This was the third time I'd been down the South Kaibab trail and it was still breathtaking. It was even better seeing it through the eyes of Florida-dwelling canyon newbies. We didn't hurry or dawdle and arrived at the Bright Angel campground in about four hours. It was well before noon and already hot. I think that the high was about 108 that day and every day below the rim this trip. We spend most of the day soaking in the lovely Bright Angel Creek. It felt ice cold. My thermometer showed the water at 70 degrees. It wasn't too hard to get comfortable as long as we stayed in or near the water.

I wore a long-sleeve thin hoodie that I got from a race and put the hood up in the brightest part of the day. We were never far from water this trip so were able to keep parts of our clothing wet and also had wet bandanas against our skin pretty much the entire time. Most days by evening it got down to the mid-80s and wasn't too bad for sleeping in minimal clothing the help of wet bandanas. We all wore big old gooney hats that helped a lot with the sun. I kept sunscreen on the upper exposed parts and never got burned.

That first night we ate a steak dinner that my sister had generously reserved months in advance. We also had stew reserved for two nights later. It was nice not having to worry about packing so many meals or getting sick of dried food. The steak wasn't great: they were all cooked beyond well-done to a solid grey. I preferred the stew two nights later and the novelty of fresh salad was much more appreciated after several days deprived of fresh food. If doing it again I'd carry something nice down and cook it myself for the first night. A decent steak probably would have been medium rare without a fire by 6PM.

After dinner we watched an interesting program on the history and uncertain future of the trans-canyon water line. Someone asked why they don't pump water from the Colorado and Ranger Elisa said that it's because the park doesn't have water rights. I thought that it was funny that they could pump water from a creek a few minutes before it flowed into the river but couldn't instead remove that same amount of water from the river instead. They're forced by politics to build and maintain a cludgy pipeline down a crooked fault line and in the end the Colorado still has the exact same amount of water in it downstream of the Silver Bridge than it would if they'd pumped if directly from the river. The inertia of the water in the pipeline does reduce the pumping energy to the South Rim by a factor of two, but I wonder how that energy cost compares what it will take to re-build the pipeline as time goes on. It's already well past its design life.

Earlier in the day we'd chatted with a ranger about what to see on our way to Cottonwood the next day. He suggested that we head straight for Ribbon Falls as early as possible and stay there until at least 5PM. That was great advice. We enjoyed a slow hike through "The Box" and still got to the falls just as it was starting to get toasty in the sun on the trail. The bridge to the falls is marked as closed because the decking is about shot but it wasn't too scarey. The air was noticeably cooler near the water and the place was absolutely beautiful. We spent several hours a few hundred yards downstream of the falls lying and playing on rocks around a little pool of cool water. After a while I blew up my Neoair, cracked open a chilled Firestone Walker Leo v Ursus Fortum, and floated in the cool, shaded pool. That beer was worth every mile-ounce of portage. As the sun shifted we headed upstream and hung out on the upper ledge behind the falls. It was even cooler up there with the mist and perpetual shade. The view into the bright, hot desert canyon from our cool oasis was stunning and felt like cheating. Context is everything, but that has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We spent hours there scanning around at various features with binoulars, wading, and dozing. I was amazed that we only saw two of three other groups there all day.

At 6:30, a little more than an hour before sunset, we headed for Cottonwood. That campground is not a place where I'd want to spend much time. Since we didn't have to worry about the sun we picked a treeless site and had great views of the stars after the moon set. We headed back to Bright Angel Campground the first thing in the morning, having spent less time there than we had at Ribbon Falls. Back at the campsite my companions were happy to settle in at the creek again but I wanted to get a taste of what I'd missed when last month's trip got cut short. My son and I had planned to hike up Utah flats and stay in upper Phantom Canyon.

At 10AM, exactly when sensible people are hunkering down, I told my companions that I'd be back within two hours, grabbed some water, soaked my clothes, and headed up the rocky path from the north end of the campground. I made it to near the top of the scarey part but not quite to Utah Flats proper. I finally turned around when the rocks I needed to grab were too hot to hold onto and I got a mittfull of cactus in my left palm. I headed back down, re-set the panic clock with my companions for three hours, and headed alone to Phantom Creek.

On the way I met a girl who was running back to camp with some empty bottles. She asked me if I had any extra water for her friends resting in one of the few shady spots a little ways up the trail. I had a full liter of tap water and my Sawyer Mini so when I saw her friends I gave them my tap water. The moral of that story is that it makes sense to either bring a little water filter or don't be afraid to take a chance on drinking Bright Angel Creek water in case you run out.

Phantom Creek was a much better plan in the middle of the day than Utah Flats! If fact, if the weather had been much cooler it wouldn't have been as much fun. The creek is noticeably less cold than Bright Angel Creek. This is a good thing because I spent most of my time in it. I spashed upstream for about 20 minutes and was blocked by a large waterfall with a rubble pile on the left side. I'd read about this and had no trouble carefully climing the rock pile to an amazing wonderland of sequential stone bathtub pools flowing into one another. At one point the only path upstream was through water above my head against a decent current and up a small waterfall. I did that and just rested there for a while. I wished I'd budgeted a little more time to explore farther upstream but it was nice just hanging there for a while. Again, I'm amazed that I didn't see a soul anywhere around after I turned off the main trail. The falls weren't as dramatic as Ribbon Falls but the canyon walls were beautiful, varied, and fascinating. This is definitely a part of the canyon I want to expore further the next time.

On the way back I ran into Masked Ranger Betsy (I hope I got her name right) who (along with Ranger Elisa) helped my son and me out when we'd overextended ourselves in the canyon a few years ago. I thanked her again and we chatted briefly before she continued her afternoon sweep up the North Kaibab. That night we enjoyed the stew dinner at the Phantom Ranch canteen. After sundown it was crazy-hot! The wind was blowing strong like a convection oven. Sand blasted into our eyes and hair. I put a rock on my Neoair to keep it from blowing away when I got up one time and it sprung a leak so I woke up on the hard ground.

We woke with the sunrise and headed up to Indian Gardens. The hike was gorgeous and we took our time to look around and explore side features like a little cave that looked like an aborted tunnel. When I found the intersection with Old Bright Angel Trail near the top of Devil's Corkscrew my companions wisely rejected my plan to take a shortcut and maybe see some Indian ruins. They're familiar with my shortcuts. We arrived at camp a little later and I grabbed an early lunch (rehydrated black bean burritos seasoned with Flaming Hot Limon Cheetos, again!), set the panic timer for three hours, and headed back to try to catch the Old Bright Angel Trail from the Tonto. I found it (using the phone line as a marker) and realized that doing that particular stretch of decommissioned trail with packs would have been a very bad idea. I searched around a bit and never found the ruins. I wish I'd looked at the Youtube videos ahead of time instead of after I got back home because I now know that I was very close. The trip was still worth it, though, because I got to see more canyon and trail features from more angles. I really enjoy the 3-D puzzle aspect of the canyon.

That night about an hour before sunset we all headed out to Plateau Point. The flat rock viewpoint at the end was a little scarey for us; we quickly retreated back to just before that point. From there you can see just about every trail we'd been on, including the top of the Devil's Corkscrew and the Old Bright Angel intersection. Again, it was fascinating to see the geographical feature that the old and new trails follow on either side. We enjoyed the sunset and headed back. I was awfully tempted to just lie there for a few hours until the moon set and maybe fall asleep for a while (napping isn't camping as long as all your stuff is at your permitted site, is it?). I probably would have done it if I'd been alone.

In the morning we did the last bit up the Bright Angel in about four hours and had a huge breakfast at the Bright Angel Lodge restaurant. We showered at Mather Campground (bring flip flops next time!) and headed back to Las Vegas with a quick stop at Hoover Dam.

Would I go back again in the peak of summer? Probably not, but I'm glad that I did it once. I will definitely be back to finally hike Utah Flats and explore the upper part of Phantom and Haunted Canyons. I'd also like to spend a little more time back Clear Creek. It really is a magical place. My sister and her son said that they were glad that the trip hadn't been any harder, but they were also glad that it hadn't been any easier. These will be some good memories.