GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
May 22, 2019: SOUTH KAIBAB TRAIL | Grand Canyon National Park, AZ • 👟
The Grand Canyon. How can you begin to describe it in words.. spectacular, magnificent, incredible, amazing, breathtaking. A major tourist destination with throngs of people from literally all over the world, milling about the South Rim.
We chose the South Kaibab trail to explore into the canyon. From the canyon rim it’s about 5400 vertical feet, approximately 8 miles to the Colorado River.. we chose to hike back up to where we started. People have been known to do “Rim to Rim” exploring both the north and south, within a few days or all at once, but we figured this was plenty to explore within our timeframe.
The morning was cold enough to start out in down jackets, hats and gloves! The first mile or so on the decent we encountered quite a few people..after that the crowds thinned out by mile 3. There were a few mule tours so you certainly needed to watch where you were stepping! One thing to note is that the vast majority of people who visit the Grand Canyon never leave the rim.
By the time we had descended the 5400 ft to the canyon floor all our layers had been shed and put away in the day pack. It was beautiful and warm at the bottom of the canyon. We chilled out at the river for an hour or so, ate some snacks and started our ascent back to the canyon rim, by which time coats and hats were needed again! Caught a bit of rain, sunshine, hail, rain, sunshine, wind.. was a whirlwind of a day!
What a great hike; 16 miles of pure beauty in every direction. I took so many photos.. hence below.. and thats’s even after deleting 200..
That evening we had Pizza Hut (haha, my favorite!), drank a few beers at a bar with saddles for chairs, and slept better than I had the entire trip. The next morning we were in for a heck of a surprise!
DAY 16 RECAP: climb: 4843 ft • distance: 14.8 + 2 = 16.8 mi