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Trip participants were Becky Ryder, son Robin Ryder and
daughter Chrissy Holbrook. They were joined by two of
Becky's long-time friends, Darleen Schauer and Mary Ruth
Middlebrook. Becky and Darleen are 62 years old. Mary
Ruth is 67 (I think), Robin is 33 and Chrissy is 37.
Becky and Darleen first hiked the canyon when they were
in their 40's and again when in their 50s. Chrissy had
done a previous rim to rim about 5 years ago. This was
the first canyon hike for Robin (sub 3:00 marathoner and
triathlete) and Mary Ruth. Hollie Ryder and
granddaughter, Bailey were with us for the trip, with
Hollie acting as driver. While we were hiking from North
rim to South rim (24-25 miles), he was driving to meet
us at the South rim (over 200 miles).
Our trip began with Hollie, Robin and me driving to New
Orleans for the flight to Las Vegas. Upon arrival in LV
at about 9:30 pm, we learned that Chrissy and Bailey's
flight would be delayed until about midnight. So, after
getting our luggage and picking up the rental van, we
headed for the Stratosphere to check in. We were
supposed to have a King room for Hollie and me and a
double/double for Chrissy, Bailey and Robin. After
checking in, Robin said he would go up to his room and
we headed back to the airport to get Chrissy and Bailey.
When we got back to the Stratosphere and went to Robin's
room (1237), we found out that it was a King room. So,
thinking that they were in our room, Hollie went to the
other room (1637) to see if it had two beds. When he
came back he told us that it was also a King. Robin and
Chrissy said it was so late that they did not want to
fool with changing rooms, so they just stayed there and
Hollie and I headed to our room. I was really angry that
the hotel had messed things up so I wasn't paying much
attention to my surroundings. When we got in the
elevator I was still fuming. The elevator door opened
and we went to "our room" where Hollie found that the
key did not work. Then I tried my key and it did not
work. About that time, Robin opened the door and said,
"It's our parents! What did you do, just get on the
elevator and not go anywhere and then get off it?" By
this time I was falling out laughing. Hollie did not
find it to be funny and tried to explain how he had made
such a mistake. What we had done was get on the elevator
and push the 12th floor instead of 16th and when the
door opened, we had just gotten off and gone back to
their room. We'll probably never live that down.
On Friday morning, we met for breakfast and then drove
to a grocery store to get food for the hike. We then met
Darleen who had flown in to LV a couple of days earlier
and had been visiting with a friend. We then headed
toward the North Rim, stopping for lunch at a Mexican
restaurant in St George, UT. After lunch we drove on to
the North rim, stopping at the visitor center where we
learned that the fire that had been burning in the area
was spreading. We had seen evidence of this with the
smoke and ashes that we were beginning to encounter.
Just after checking in at the Grand Canyon Lodge
(actually cabins), we met up with Mary Ruth and Mac who
had been touring Zion and Bryce. They had arrived at the
NR earlier and had done a couple of short hikes. We then
spent a couple of hours hiking the shorter rim trails
and then met for dinner at the GCL.
After dinner we met at our cabin to share food and
consolidate our backpacks so that we would not have
duplicates of certain items. We all had purchased a wide
variety of foods and it was really fun discussing and
sharing what would eventually go in each pack.
Saturday morning Hollie and Bailey dropped us off at the
trailhead and we began our hike at 7:15 am. We all
started out together, but it soon became apparent that
Robin was in such good condition that the fact that we
were going at such a slow pace was causing him great
pain due to having to shorten his stride. After a couple
of miles, he took off ahead of us and we did not see him
again until we arrived at Cottonwood Campground.
This portion of the hike went well except for a small
detour that we took when I mistook the trail to Roaring
Springs for the short trail to the pumphouse residence.
This detour caused us to have to descend and ascend
about 1/4 mile elevation. At this point, Mary Ruth had
some issues with the heat. Once we made it to the
residence, we all took about an hour or so break during
which we soaked ourselves in the creek, ate lunch and
took a short nap. From this point it was about a mile
and a half to Cottonwood campground and we all made it
OK, even though the temperature was about 110-115
degrees. The hike from the North Rim to Cottonwood,
including the unplanned detour totaled about 7.5 miles.
Once we got to Cottonwood (3:00-4:00 pm), we set up our
tents and then soaked in the creek for an hour or so. I
have pictures of Robin sitting in the creek sucking on
his camelback which he claimed was his IV. All of us
stayed very well hydrated, consuming about 2-3 gallons
of fluids each day. The temperature at 4:00 pm was 115
degrees.
After soaking in the creek and cooling off, we ate
dinner and then went back to the creek for another soak
as we waited for the sun to go down and the temps to
cool. The sun did eventually set, but it did not
actually get dark enough for good star gazing until
about 9:30 pm. And, it really did not get "cool" until
about midnight. The ground was so hot that our sleeping
pads felt like heating pads. Darleen was the smart one
in that she slept on a picnic table and enjoyed a bit of
a breeze.
While at Cottonwood, we were very surprised that the
campground was only about 1/3 full. I knew that it had
been fully reserved for our date, but we were later
informed by a Ranger that the fire at the North Rim and
the unusually high temperatures had caused many people
to cancel. In fact, the next day, the North trail was
closed to hikers and the North rim was evacuated. We
were sure lucky that we had been able to get on the
trail before all that happened.
At about 9:30-10:00 we all retired to attempt to sleep.
I stayed in my tent until about 3:00 am when I woke with
a raging "caffeine" headache. By that, I mean I needed
caffeine. Prior to going to bed, I had filled my 70 oz
camelback with water into which I put 5 tea bags and 5
packs of sugar. My plan was that I would have it
ready to drink at breakfast. But, I started in on it at
3:30 am and after drinking about 20 oz, the headache
subsided. About that time I decided I would not be able
to go back to sleep so I took my sleeping pad and joined
Darleen at the picnic table. She was on the table and I
was on one of the benches. She awakened about 3:45 am
and we chatted as we watched the beautiful star-filled
sky. We were rewarded with what I think was a meteor. It
began as a "falling star" and then it became a very
bright "shooting star" and then it turned into a
fireball with a very long and bright tail. What a
beautiful sight!
By 4:30 am it was light enough for us to arise, have
breakfast and break camp. Robin left at 5:30 am,
followed by Mary Ruth at 5:45 am and Darleen and me at
6:00 am. The plan was that we would probably see Mary
Ruth at Ribbon Falls which is about 1.5 miles from
Cottonwood. Ribbon Falls is about .3 miles off the main
trail and our plan was to go there and then cut back to
the main trail by crossing the creek. The Falls were
more beautiful than the previous visit, but the creek
was running higher and Darleen and I felt that it was
too dangerous for us to attempt to cross. So, we ended
up having to retrace our steps. This trip to the falls
added about 1 mile to the planned 7 miles of main trail.
We later learned that Mary Ruth had bypassed the falls
and the Chrissy and Robin had been able to cross the
creek on their return to the main trail.
Darleen and I really enjoyed the hike from Ribbon Falls
to Phantom. When we previously did the GC, we had hiked
from the NR to Phantom (14 miles) in one day and had
encountered "the Box" when the temperature was the
highest and there was no shade. This time, we had a nice
breeze, much shade, and lower temps.
When we arrived at Phantom, the first person we saw was
Mary Ruth. We learned that she had hiked the 7 miles
from Cottonwood to Phantom in a little over 2 hours. She
was awesome! She said that she just knew that to avoid
any possible issues with heat, she had to get down there
as fast as possible and she certainly did that. We soon
saw Robin and Chrissy and they said they had done well
and already explored the river trail.
We got to Phantom early enough that we were able to get
lower bunks. After taking showers and drinking 4-6
glasses of lemonade/tea and eating bagels with cream
cheese, we were all feeling pretty good. Robin, Chrissy
and I explored the area around silver bridge and then
went back to the canteen where we played cards. Then, we
soaked in the creek for an hour or so before meeting for
6:30 pm dinner of stew, salad, cornbread, chocolate
cake, tea and lemonade. The food was wonderful! They
told us to eat as much as we wanted because due to the
fires in the area, they had a bunch of "no-shows."
After dinner, we had planned to play cards, but Mary
Ruth had met a group that had headlamps and planned to
begin hiking out at 2:00 am. Since she had problems with
the heat she decided to go with them. We all went to bed
about 9:00 pm and I did not move until 4:30 am when
someone pounded on the door to awaken us for 5:00 am
breakfast. Mary Ruth had left with the 2:00 am group.
We later learned that she had gotten to the rim sometime
around 10:00 am.
Just as I was getting ready to go breakfast, my daughter
came rushing in to tell me that Darleen had fallen down
the steps outside the dorm. When I got to her, she was
on the ground and I really wasn't sure how badly she was
injured. She said she thought she'd sprained her ankle.
I sent my daughter for ice and we attempted to determine
her injuries. She had hit on her side and bruised ribs,
along with a couple of scrapes on her leg and hand. By
the time we got ice on her ankle, we had decided that it
was not severe and we went on to breakfast.
All in all, this was a wonderful trip. The neatest part
was to observe the interaction of my son and daughter
who haven't spent much time together in recent years. I
kept telling them that I didn't know who had raised them
since they turned out to be such nice people. Examples
of this was when my son gave a large portion of his food
to a couple who had intended to hike to Phantom, but had
no food and only a 20 ounce water bottle between them.
He had met them at Cottonwood when they told him their
story and that they did not think they could make it to
Phantom and then hike back out to the NR the next day.
They had decided at 4:00 pm to hike back up to the NR,
but they had not had any food and had none with them. We
learned the next day that a volunteer ranger had met
them at the bridge and that they had spent the night
there.
The other example of my children's kindness was when we
found out that there was a 64 year old Japanese woman in
our dorm. It was her birthday and she was in a top bunk.
My daughter switched with her so she would not have to
climb up and down. And of course, that sure was nice of
my son and daughter to come back down the trail so we
did not have to carry our packs that last half mile.
Some things that I learned on this trip:
Moleskin is wonderful---I had a couple of hot spots on
which I put it and I did not get blisters.
Chaco sandals are fine for hiking the corridor trails. I
did about half in running shoes and half in chacos
without socks.
Six weeks of training by walking stadium steps, ramps
and hills in the heat of the day was great preparation
for the hike.
The recommendations on food and liquid consumption are
accurate. We drank 2-3 gallons a day and ate high carb/high
sodium.
Camping at Cottonwood made the trip much easier and more
enjoyable than the previous hike of 14 miles in one day.
Get it the creek and get wet as often as possible. Soak
in the creek at the end of the hike. It's like an ice
bath for sore muscles.
There are many, many people who attempt to hike the
canyon and have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
There is some sort of communication method so that
people who are in trouble on the main trails seem to get
help.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone on the Yahoo hikers
group for all the suggestions and cautions that I have
read over the course of the last couple of months that I
have been reading the list.
If any of you would like to see more pictures, I'll email
some to you.
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