The Grand Canyon & Bright Angel Campground

Miles Hiked 90.3
Elevation 2,464
Miles Hiked Today 14.2

Before leaving camp, I packed some crackers and a breakfast bar in my backpack shoulder pouch. Then I left the backpack at the campsite while I visited the restroom. When I came back, the pouch was open and half my crackers were gone. The breakfast bar wrapper was almost undone, too. I looked around and there was this huge raven hopping away. I couldn’t believe it had opened the pouch, but there you have it. On top of that the raven flew up into a tree just above the backpack and was squawking. Incredible! He wanted the rest of the snacks. They don’t have bears here, but you definitely have to watch out for the birds.

I left the north rim campground at 7 AM and headed for the rim and way down – almost 6,000 feet. As expected, there were a lot of hikers going down plus a team of horses. Those horses really make a mess on the trail. It’s like they wait until they get on it before taking a dump.

So the first part going down is more or less a series of stairs; although much steeper and wider apart than regular building stairs. Most times it’s like making a short jump, which is really no fun when you have a 30 pound backpack on your body.

Another endearing feature of the trail down is what happens if you stumble. The trail is not all that wide. I had visions of stumbling and going over the side. Remember the part about going down 6,000 feet? Should be enough time to say a prayer and then kiss your ass goodbye.

I was extra careful going down. Yes, I have stumbled in the past and gone over the side, but not 6,000 feet. I had no intention of letting it happen here.

The trail is an almost endless maze of switchbacks. It was hard on the legs, but I had no knee problems. The scenery was just breath taking. Surprisingly, I didn’t have a lot of other people passing me. In fact the further down I went, the less I saw others.

While it was cold on the rim, it quickly warmed up the further down I went. I had on a down jacket, wool shirt, undershirt and regular shirt. Before I got too far down, everything came off but the undershirt.

Sunrise view of Angel’s Window, just east of Cape Royal on the North Rim of Grand Canoyn National Park. The guardrails that lead out to the overlook are visible. NPS photo by Michael Quinn. Cape Royal on the North Rim provides a panorama up, down, and across the canyon. With seemingly unlimited vistas to the east and west, it is popular for both sunrise and sunset. The sweeping turn of the Colorado River at Unkar Delta is framed through the natural arch of Angels Window. Look for the Desert View Watchtower across the canyon on the South Rim. This popular viewpoint is accessible via a paved, level trail. Cape Royal and Point Imperial are reached via a winding scenic drive. The trip to both points, with short walks at each and several stops at pullouts along the way, can easily take half a day. Lodging and food service facilities on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park are open for the summer season between May 15 and October 15 of each year. Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim, a Forever Resorts property, and Grand Canyon Trail Rides operate during this 5 month period.

Another hiker who I met at the campground caught up with me around the three mile mark. We talked some as we hiked down. He slowed down and I sped up to keep together. That was a problem. Like a dummy, I decided not to spend time on breakfast before I left this morning. Well, my legs started to shake and I thought I was going down. We came to a rest area and stopped to get water and rest. I ate two Spam singles and drank a lot of water. That fixed the shaking.

The other hiker took off before me from the rest area.. He’s much faster and was going up the south rim today, so he had quite a ways to go still. I continued on at my normal pace.

After the rest area, the trail flattened out somewhat, and I picked up my pace. Just before reaching Bright Angel Campground, I looked at my phone and it had crashed! Not good. That meant no more pictures and my trail navigation app was gone. I tried to force the phone to boot normally, but no go. I turned it off.

I reached Bright Angel Campground about 5 PM. What an idyllic setting. I snagged a campsite right on a beautiful, flowing creek. There is nothing else there but a restroom. No offices or stores – just the campsites. Just AWESOME! I setup my tent and then rinsed out my socks and shoes. They both had a heavy coating of trail dust on them.