Grand Canyon: Bright Angel Trail

Saturday was the big hike day. The only day that we would actually hike down into the Grand Canyon. There are two main trails into the Grand Canyon from the South Rim. The Bright Angel Trail & the South Kaibab Trail. These are the well maintained and easily accessible trails into the Grand Canyon. There is also a third trail called the Hermit Trail which is less maintained, more difficult, and more remote. Back home I found there was a fourth trail that I was unaware of while at the Grand Canyon. This is the Groundview Trail. It appears to be the least used of the four trails.

We decided on the Bright Angel Trail, as it was less steep than the South Kaibab Trail, which seemed like a good idea given that Rebekah was going to be hiking the whole thing by herself. This was going to be the hardest trail that Rebekah had ever hiked and she was going to do it without riding on anybody's back. Rebekah often gets tired & bored on trails, so I wasn't sure how well she would handle it. She did have a meltdown after lunch, but we told her to get over it and like the little trooper she is, she got over it.

The worst part about the hike was that it was very cold, perhaps around 25º. The trail had a lot of ice on it, so we had to be very careful not to slip and fall while we hiked down the trail. In fact we were so careful on the way down, that it took nearly the same amount of time to descend the trail as it did to make our way back. This is very unusual. Most people say to expect it to take approximately double the amount of time on the return as it does to make your way down the trail. The people we were most worried about was the kids and Dad. The only person to fall was Dad. After only 5-10 minutes into the trail, we came to a very icy part and Dad fell flat on his back. We were all worried that he wouldn't go any further and we would have to turn around. But amazingly, he was able to get up and continue down the trail without any problems other than a pounding headache.

After an incredible two hours of some of the most spectacular views possible we made it to the 1 1/2 Resthouse. Yes, we were traveling at the incredible rate of .75 miles an hour. I admit that is slow, but we had two things slowing us down. #1 the ice. After Dad fell on it, he and Aunt Ann took every step with care, making sure that it didn't happen again. #2 the camera. Stopping to take pictures was an absolute must. Mom and I took many pictures of the views, the kids, the cliffs, and each other. One wonders what people did before the invention of the digital camera and the ability to take hundreds of pictures.

After lunch, we made our way back up. Amazingly, it was much easier on the return trip since it is harder to slip on ice when going uphill. The total hike was 3 miles and took us a total of 4 hours. We parked our car at the main Visitor Center and took a bus to the trailhead. On the way out this worked great. However, on the return trip the bus was jammed packed. Everybody was pushed against everybody else with more and more people cramming onto the bus with every stop.

Once the bus trip was over we made it back to our rental. Paul, Crystal, & Violet joined us that evening and would spend the next two days with us for the rest of our adventure at the Grand Canyon.