Start: Cremation Creek
Finish: North Rim Campground
Daily Mileage: 18.9
Trip Mileage: 801.1
Elevation gain/loss: 7014/2425ft
I didn’t sleep well last night at all. I was on a slight slant, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I was up and at it as soon as it was light enough once again. The other people in the area were still in their tents, stirring a little bit.
I had just a little bit more trail on the Tonto Trail before I hooked up with the main hiker highway between the North and South Rim. The trail went quick and easy, and I enjoyed a nice sunrise along the way. I got to the hiker highway, and it was a very wide dusty path filled with mule droppings and debris. The Park service uses mules to get supplies in and out of Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. After being on the small trails for a while, I didn’t really like this huge multi-use thoroughfare.
I was on the south side of the Colorado and had to cross over to the north side to climb up, so I had to go down to the Colorado River a little over a thousand feet to hit a bridge. A lot of the trail today was blasted from the mountains years ago to carve the way down through the steep cliffs. I’ve never minded that kind of trail work since it makes trail possible in a lot of places where it wouldn’t be otherwise.
Across the big suspension bridge over the Colorado River, and there were some Pueblo ruins with plaques explaining them. I was looking at the ruins and reading the plaques when a mule train told me to get out of the way so they could pass. Then, they proceeded to stop in front of the ruins for a lecture to the tourists riding on the mule train, blocking me from seeing or hearing. I thought that was incredibly rude, and it really upset me that they kicked me out of the area when I’m paying to be here as well, just so they could park in the spot that I was in. It really pissed me off in addition to all the mule shit I was walking through, and I just waved them off and stormed down the trail.
I got to Phantom Ranch, and it was just a tourist haven filled with the stink of mules and really busy, and I was completely turned off by this entire area. It was just a cesspool, and I wanted to get the hell out of there. More wilderness for me. Yesterday was fine, but for the past few days, I was constantly being buzzed by helicopters flying tourists over the canyon. What’s wrong with just having a wilderness experience in the National Park? I’ve really enjoyed the park itself but am turned off by all the catering to the tourists.
I really put the afterburners on, leaving Phantom Ranch as quickly as I could. I was doing 3.5 mph uphill, which is pretty good for me. I stormed through the narrow Bright Angel Canyon, and I just couldn’t enjoy it because I was upset. It took me probably an hour and a half before I calmed down and started to look around and enjoy the scenery again.
Shortly, I came to the turnoff for Lower Ribbon Falls. I did the short side trail and was glad that I did. The waterfall comes off a spout and drops straight down onto a mound of moss that has grown. The waterfall then streams down the side of it — an incredibly scenic area. You can even walk behind the waterfall, and it has a pool at the bottom — an extremely idyllic spot, and I’m glad that I took the short detour. The Park service took out the bridge to get back to the trail, but it was an easy rock hop for me across.
From there, I hit a little bit of sun finally. It had been cool and good hiking weather up to this point, but the sun started drawing the sweat out of me. It wasn’t too bad, though the temperature wasn’t too high. I made good progress climbing up and enjoying the Bright Angel Canyon unfolding in front of me. There are so many colors, and I was just marching upwards through the layers of the canyon since I was going from bottom to top.
Most of today was just about climbing. Climbing, climbing, and climbing. The climb is about 6,000 ft. of gain in a single climb, which I think is the biggest single climb I’ve ever done in my life. It went pretty well though. There was water a couple of places along it, and my food load was light since I was resupplying at the top, so I was able to just cruise up it and didn’t really feel the elevation gain. It was such a spectacular canyon to climb up, with so many colors, and the trail was really cool winding on narrow edges to work its way up.
I climbed, and I climbed, and eventually, I got to the top! It was not as bad as I was thinking. I am in pretty good shape since I’ve done a lot of miles on this trip already, but I’ve not done a ton of straight-up climbing like this on this trip. Most of the canyons I’ve gotten in and out of are a thousand feet max, with rare exceptions.
On top, I found running water at the backcountry office bathroom and got rid of my trash and cleaned up a bit, hiker style. Or rather, hiker trash style in the bathroom sink. I found the backcountry campsite and claimed a spot on the very edge of the North Rim looking into the canyon. A friendly ranger helped me get power to recharge all my stuff, which was surprisingly hard to find. I was able to watch the sunset over the canyon straight from my campsite. An amazing view!
