Down The Trail

morning at Bright Angel Campground

This is the second of a three-day Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim hike. The itinerary looked like this:

9/15 Day 1: South Kaibab Trailhead to Bright Angel Campground – 6.7 miles
9/16 Day 2: Bright Angel Campground to the North Rim via North Kaibab Trail – 14.3 miles
9/17 Day 3: North Rim to South Rim via N. Kaibab and Bright Angel Trail – 23.5 miles

After yesterday’s full-moon-night-hike down the South Kaibab trail, I finally got moving this morning around 10am. The campground was deserted – most sensible hikers were long gone. In fact, I woke early this morning around 5am for a nature call, and the area was full of activity. I had to wait in line to use the outhouse!

Bright Angel Creek

This is actually one of my favorite photos from my Grand Canyon hikes, because it shows such a good representation of the typical climate. As you can see, the temperature when I started my hike today was in the nineties. By the time I reached the North Rim in the evening, it was almost freezing!

Most of the North Kaibab Trail follows Bright Angel Creek, and its corresponding canyon. This lower section is called “the box,” and the remarkably well-built trail through here is the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The trail crosses the creek numerous times.

Eventually I’m out of The Box. The canyon widens into a surprisingly swampy, marsh-like area – something I never expected to find in the Grand Canyon.

I soaked my shirt in the creek and was thoroughly enjoying the day’s hike.

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