Bright Angel Trail

I spent a glorious Saturday morning with my family following the Hermits Rest Route along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We took the park shuttle, stopping at most of the overlooks to take in the spectacular views.

Once we reached the far western end of the drive, Danelle and the kids were ready for a break back at the hotel.  I, however, was not.

Enter the Bright Angel Trail.

I'd read a bit about the Bright Angel Trail before we left on our trip.  It gave me flashbacks to a canyon descent I'd done a couple of times before -- Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado.  My most recent visit hadn't gone so well, but I took some solace in the thought that the Bright Angel Trail was not as steep as Black Canyon -- 1,140 feet of elevation change over the trail's first mile and a half as opposed to 1,800 feet of change over just a mile of trail.  And having just done a 14er with Zak a couple of weeks earlier made me even more confident that this would be no sweat.

No sweat?  Hardly.  I sweat a lot, and it didn't take long.  I started my hike at 1:30 when the temperature was about 90 degrees.  Sure, there's something to the whole "it's a dry heat" concept.  But that only counts for so much when you're hiking under a blazing sun.

Getting down from the rim a bit provided a nice change of perspective, though, as the canyon walls rose up on either side of me.  The hike, especially on my way back up, was a series of short treks from one shaded patch to another.

When you can't go around the rock, you go through it. 

The Bright Angel Trail isn't just for hikers.  Horses and mules are also common sights.

Mercifully, the trail had a lot of switchbacks.  That was a critical difference with Black Canyon, where the unmaintained route is so steep that a chain is needed to navigate one section.  Here at least some thought and effort have been put into making the pitch a bit more reasonable.

Splashes of vibrant color were few and far between in this arid environment.  So this thistle stood out dramatically.  The aphids on the blossom at left were less obvious; I didn't even notice them until I was working on the image in post-production.

The full trail descends 3,740 feet over six miles to Plateau Point.  Going down and back in one day is not recommended, especially in summer.  I was nowhere near that ambitious anyway -- the 1.5 Mile Resthouse was just fine with me.  And I was able to make the roundtrip in almost exactly two hours, which I felt pretty good about.  Joining up with a couple of young ladies who worked on the north rim for most of the return ascent definitely helped us all, as having someone else to talk to kept our minds off the high temperatures!

While putting this post together I saw a photo of the trail in winter covered with snow.  It's stunningly beautiful in those conditions, and without the heat contend with I'll bet covering the full 12 miles is a bit less daunting.  Maybe someday... :)