Sounds of the Desert

Prologue 

It’s Friday night, Oct 13^th. Gabby gets to my house at about 7pm to go through gear one more time and toast our upcoming trip with a couple of Blithering Idiots. I’m frantically going through my apartment making sure I’ve got everything packed and in order. This is what happens when you work late every night so that you can take a week off of work only to come back to a mess anyway.

 

Saturday morning, at the butt crack of dawn, we get up, get ourselves together and load the car for the 10 minute drive to the airport. Our flight leaves at 7:30am and we get there plenty early to make sure all our bags are checked. I still had a kink in my neck, so we sat in the massage chairs they had at the airport. I think it made my neck worse. 

 

Our flight was uneventful. We did meet this really cool couple that used to live out in Phoenix, but are currently in South Carolina. (They were cool; their recommendation for an eating place in Phoenix was not. ) Did I mention the turbulence we went through as we approached Sky Harbor? It was like the roller coaster from hell. A lady sitting a few rows up made way, quite quickly, to the restroom to undo the snacks she had from earlier. I don’t think it was her best flight ever. 

 

Once in Phoenix, we gathered our bags and went to get our car. The rental agency upgraded our car to a PT Cruiser. Our thought was, “Perfect. Room for luggage and if we need to sleep in it, it should be great!” I’ll get to that later.

 

So, we stop at REI as we head out of town, do a bit of light shopping (Ha!) and head north to our destination. The further we get away from Phoenix I notice that we’re really gaining elevation and that the weather is showing signs of distress. The low laying clouds were very ominous and the temps dropped very quickly. The next thing we know, we’re driving ‘in’ the clouds.

 

We finally reach the South Rim of the Grand Canyon right before the sun would have been setting. We get to one of the many overlooks to get our first glimpse. The clouds were hanging low and the canyon took on a very eerie feeling. I got an extreme case of nervousness as I looked down over the rim toward the bottom of the Canyon. It’s so different knowing that you’re going to the bottom, rather than looking at it from the top. Not to mention, I tend to be a bit of a fatalist sometimes…..

 

 

We head to Mathers Campground, scope out our site for the nite and got our first wildlife sighting. A herd of elk were wandering through camp, minding their own business; a large bull and his harem. What a sight that was.

 

It was cold on the rim and the forecasted lows were to be right around freezing with rain the entire night. So, we decided we would just sleep in the Cruiser and keep our gear dry. We grabbed something to eat and made our bed for the night. Talk about a restless night. I will never attempt to sleep in a PT Cruiser again. Both of us ended up reclining the front seats. I think I slept maybe 3 hours that night. 

 

Day 1: Sunday, 10/15

 

We got up and got packed. We hit the bus route (prime parking right on the street near Bright Angel TH) that would take us up to Hermit’s Rest. The buses run every half hour, but they were running a tad late due to fog. So, we hung out, took a few more pics from above and anxiously awaited our ride. Most of the overlooks along the bus route up to Hermit’s Rest were socked in by clouds. We heard a lot of, “If it weren’t so foggy here, you’d be able to see……” Oh well, maybe next time. 

 

We got up to Hermit’s Rest, took the obligatory photo of us beneath the arch and headed in. The hike in on Hermit’s Rest down to the Tonto trail junction is 7 miles. I swear it’s longer. My knees demand that it’s longer. It’s a very pretty hike in. We ran into a couple of areas where rock slides had put big boulder fields in our way along the trail. Whatever you do, lean toward the rock and don’t look down.  My knees were good until we reached the Cathedral Stairs. Ouch! We got on the trail at 8:15am and reached the Tonto junction at about 3pm. Once we reached the Tonto, we decided we’d go west since it was so late in the afternoon to hit the campsite at Hermit Creek. We were supposed to be at Monument Creek this night, but underestimated the hike in, not to mention the stops for pictures and breaks.

 

When we reached Hermit Creek, there was one couple there and a group of 5 guys from Flagstaff there. We set up camp (read as, rodent proofed camp), went to filter water, ate dinner, and then went to visit the guys from Flagstaff. We turned in for the night at about 7pm. The wind really kicked up that night. The tent wasn’t going anywhere, though. We stuck our heads out of the tent at some point during the night. The stars were putting on an excellent show. So much beauty during the day and night should be illegal. But we had it at our fingertips. 

 

Day 2: Monday, 10/16

 

We got up and on the trail by 8:15am. We had decided, since we were already a day off schedule, to head toward Granite Rapids. It was yet to be determined if we would stop and camp at Granite or if we would try to make Horn Creek campsite today. We were on the trail when we past a couple of guys on their way out. They had just spent two nights at Monument Creek (north east of Granite Rapids) during which time they told us of the day hike they did down to the rapids. It was only about 4 miles from Hermit Creek to Monument, so we decided we’d stay at Monument and do the day hike they had done following Monument Creek down to Granite Rapids. We set up camp in a nice little stand of trees, rodent proofed the site again, put daypacks together and headed out. Our site was right next to the dry creek bed of Monument Creek. The further we headed down, water started to come out of nowhere.  The next thing we knew, we were in a beautiful granite slot canyon with 5 foot waterfalls to negotiate and some interesting scrambling to be done. We both made it out of the slot dry. My camera, however, was not so fortunate.  I had my camera velcroed onto my fanny pack with my hands on the wall in front of me and my feet against the wall behind me and water flowing beneath me when my camera case (containing my camera) dropped into the water. A few expletives followed.

 

Once we exited the slot, we were still in the creek bed of Monument Creek. As quickly as the water appeared, it disappeared into a big rock wall. We continued to follow it down to Granite Rapids. Once there, we took the time to soak up some sun, or in my case, become a lobster. Granite Rapids were incredible. The rapids were huge and the river muddy from the week of rain they had gotten before our arrival. We didn’t see any rafters or kayakers, though. We decided to head back up to our camp after a couple of hours of hanging out. We used the trail this time. It actually followed the dry creek bed that we had come down but we needed to watch for the cairns that marked where the trail picked up to take us up the 300 foot climb to the Tonto. This climb also takes us right past the very phallic Monument rock that erects straight out of the ground. It's really not shy. 

 

We had the campsite completely to ourselves until about 5 pm when a group of 5 individuals wandered in from Hermit’s Rest TH. Again, we ate dinner and headed to bed relatively early. It was a warm night and the wind only blew a little. I could hear the rodents scampering around camp looking for something to eat. I stuck my head out of the tent again to look up at the clear sky, completely lit up by stars.  

 

Day 3: Tuesday, 10/17

 

Day 4, we hit the trail at around 8:45 am after filtering water. We had about a 300 foot climb out of Monument back to hit the rolling hills of the Tonto Trail. It was raining this morning so we donned our raingear and headed out. We were supposed to be in Bright Angel Campground tonight, but decided that since we were so far off schedule, we’d talk to the ranger at Indian Gardens and see if they’d let us stay for the next two nights.

 

The Tonto trail between Monument and Indian Gardens (10.7 miles) is like a whole other world. Stark with views as far as the eyes could see. Funny thing is, as I’m looking out, the hills appeared so green. I’m still not sure if it was green because of all the rain or if it was from the blue-green slate we kept seeing.

 

We saw the group of 5 people that were in camp with us once. We’re not sure where they were heading, but we didn’t see them again the entire trip. There was a group of 3 people ahead of us that we also saw once and a couple we past going the opposite direction. What a trail to take to not see anyone. I felt like I had the whole canyon to myself. Such a peaceful and other-worldly experience. 

 

We walked for what seemed like forever. The trail follows along cliff line in places. Once step over the edge and it would be your last. It’s the first time I ever experienced vertigo. Your head plays a lot of tricks on you.

 

Once we hit Horn Creek, I knew we weren’t far from Indian Gardens. We started seeing more signs of wildlife, such as hoof prints of mule deer in the dried mud of the trail. The next thing I know, I looked over in the shadows and saw a small herd of mule deer. I put up an arm to let Gabby know to be quiet and she caught up and saw what I was looking at. We sat and watched them graze for a few minutes and continued on. We hit the junction of the trail that took you out to Plateau Point around 4 pm. We’d decided to head into and plead our way for a campsite at Indian Gardens.

 

We spoke with a ranger and they said it was fine for us to stay the next 2 nights there. We set up camp and got warmed up. It was cold in Indian Gardens. What’s up with that? Another early night and we were out.

 

Day 4: Wednesday 10/18

 

Next morning we got up. We’d discussed day hiking down to the river, but 4 miles down and 4 miles back, elevation gain and loss of about 3,000 feet, with a possibility of not getting back until after dark, we decided we’d only go part of the way. We hiked down about 2 miles before turning around. We were on the beginning of Devil’s Corkscrew when we turned around. I had more problems with my knees today as well. I was a bit concerned because the problems started when I was going uphill. Not what I needed the day before our hike out. We got back to camp and decided to try and find some sun to lounge around in and warm up. It only got to around 55* today.

 

Easier said than done. They don’t call is Indian Gardens for nothing. I was laying in a dry creek bed when I heard someone approach the ranger that was staying there. He said he had spotted a small cat near the second restrooms in the campground. There are only 25 documented mountain lions in the NP. The ranger said he probably just spotted number 26.  She believes he saw a mountain lion cub. Momma was probably not far away. She warned all the campers to be on the lookout that evening. I would’ve loved to have seen that!

 

That evening, about 2 hours before sunset, we headed out toward Plateau Point to catch the start of the sunset. I took in the beautiful colors against the rocks as the sun set. It started to get chilly and Gabby wanted to head back to camp to eat and hit the hay. That night, unbeknownst to me, I would be treated to shadow puppets and a disco in my tent. We laughed so hard everyone around us stopped to listen.

 

 

Day 5: Thursday, 10/19

 

Today we’d be hiking out, and I was ready. 2,000 feet up and 4.5 miles out. We’d start around 8:30am hiking out Bright Angel, the super highway of the Grand Canyon. It wasn’t long before we started seeing day hikers heading down to Plateau Point. We played tag with a couple of guys from KY. This was their first trip to the canyon as well. They were carrying huge external frame backpacks, lugging what looked to be at least 50 lbs each. Ouch.

 

We were warned by a day hiker or two that the park service had shut off the water at the two rest houses on the way. I was glad I had packed enough water to get me out. We took nice long breaks at each of the rest houses and took in the views on the way out. Dodging mule trains became an art. We made it to the Trailhead of Bright Angel at 12:30 pm. We took another photo and dropped our packs at the car and headed into the lodge for a beer. 

 

Afterthoughts:

 

What a fantastic first trip to the canyon. I really learned a lot about myself.

 

Those big rocks laying over the trail can be gotten across without plummeting to your death. 

Watch out for biting rocks. 

Slots Rock! 

You’d be flat too if people walked all over you. 

What goes down, must go up. 

Dried brushes along the trail are not your friend. 

Shadow puppets in a tent are the best! 

If you laugh hysterically, people will stop to listen. 

 

PICTURES!  http://www.soundsofthedesert.org/grandcanyon2006.htm