South Kaibab Trail to Colorado River

Monday 11th November

The cold woke us up around midnight after our early night. We tried zipping the sleeping bags together so we could generate some body heat between us but this meant we had to do synchronised turning over!

We had set the alarm for 5.30am but it was just after 6 by the time we summoned the will to crawl out of our cocoon. It was so hard removing all my layers down to running gear, especially exchanging jeans for shorts!
It was therefore a bit later than we had planned when we set off on our bikes to cycle to the South Kaibab Trail head. We cut through the woods and picked up the Greenway cycle path to begin with but had to cycle down the road for the rest of the way. It was just about light enough not to be dangerous, very light traffic that early fortunately.

As we set off down the trail the sun was just hitting the far side of the canyon and it was absolutely beautiful. The trail descended on fairly gentle switchbacks and therefore afforded us views in opposite directions. We soon reached Ooh Aah Point where we caught up a couple of hikers who had clearly been more disciplined than us about getting an early start. Fortunately they had stopped to admire the view (and probably to exclaim a few ooh, aahs!) so we got past them and continued on down to Cedar Ridge where we had to stop and remove our outer layers. After being so cold last night it felt great to be over heating!

We were a bit concerned about the fresh mule droppings on the trail as we didn't want to get stuck behind a mule train. Martin went into Great White Hunter mode saying things like, "it's cold so they must be at least 20 minutes ahead of us". We passed a few more hikers and ran through Skeleton Point and then we could see the mules way below us several switchbacks ahead. It was surprising how quickly we caught them up, there were about 12 pack mules with two wranglers who, having seen us above them, kindly stopped and let us clamber past.

Last time we came to the Grand Canyon in 2010 we did the same route but in reverse and it seemed a lot longer coming back up the SK Trail then than going down it today did. There were quite a few sections which were very easy to run, reasonable tracks and level but most of it was very rocky, sandy and/or with shallow wooden steps which threatened to trip the unwary runner. It did mean that you pretty much had to look where you were putting your feet but we paused frequently to enjoy the fabulous and ever changing views and Martin took about 3 million photographs.

As the river came into sight below us we could see tiny figures on the far side - another mule train. We continued on down and just before the Black Bridge crossing entered the short tunnel before the bridge and came face to face (face to nose?) with the mules. The rider of the lead mule said we had to go back so back through the tunnel we went to find a slightly wider section where they could safely pass us.

We could then go out onto the bridge and enjoy seeing the beautiful green water lazily swirling by beneath us. Once on the other side we turned west to follow the river down to Phantom Ranch with one short detour onto the "Boat" beach. We had planned to stop for breakfast at the picnic tables just below Phantom Ranch but they were shaded by the steep sides of the canyon so we decided to continue on until we found somewhere sunny to stop.

We crossed back over the river by way of the Silver Bridge where there seemed to be quite a lot of people loitering (who mostly looked at us as if we were totally insane as we ran by them) and turned onto the Bright Angel trail which at this point runs parallel to the river. Although the path was in shade the river was in full sun so we left the trail and clambered down closer to it to eat. Bad idea! Within seconds we were surrounded by a swarm of annoying little flies which were so prolific that we had to beat a hasty retreat back up onto the trail. A little further along we found some rocks conveniently bathed in sunshine and stopped again. Our break however was definitely doomed - we had brought bread and honey.........at least I thought it was honey when I put it in my backpack in the dark last night.....but it turned out to be a jar of sesame oil! The bread on it's own didn't have the same appeal.....

Whilst we had been having the breakfast fiasco several hikers that we had passed since crossing the river had got back ahead of us and had to be passed again. Initially the trail was quite runnable as it climbed steadily away from the river - the ascent was quite gradual, but it was going to get much tougher. The section from the river to Indian Gardens is my favourite part of the route, following a small lush valley gently upwards criss crossing small streams until the camp site is reached.

After this the path begins to switchback up the side of the canyon, the ascent becomes much steeper and there are a lot more people on the trail. It was made slightly easier by the fact that we were in shade but even so it got harder and harder as we got higher, the air got thinner and we got more tired. A first we were stopping for a few sips of water roughly every mile but our miles got shorter and shorter. It wasn't so much that we needed the water but more that it was an excuse to stop for a few moments. By now we were taking regular walking breaks on the steepest parts but as we neared the top and the trail head we made a final effort to finish at a run.

We arrived back at the Bright Angel Trailhead at 11.30am having started at about 6.50am......this is a route which the National Park Service advises that you do NOT attempt as a one day hike! I really don't get how it could possibly take 2 days, it's about 16.5 miles, admittedly there is around 6000 feet of climbing but it's pretty easy going down.

I was under the impression that our expedition was over and we were getting the shuttle bus back to pick up the bikes but Martin wouldn't hear of it and made me do the additional 4 miles, whining and moaning every step of the way. I don't know if it was mental or the altitude but I found it really hard and being on a paved trail with hordes of ambling tourists after the wilderness was awful. By the time we finally got back to our campsite we had run 21.7 miles and cycled 5.5........it was definitely lunchtime!

We had a very relaxing afternoon - in fact we were extremely lazy and drove over to the store where we bought coffee at the deli and made it last whilst we took advantage of the free wifi to catch up with goings on in the outside world. I also took the opportunity to book a motel room for Tuesday night in case Martin got any ideas about camping another night.

It was with some reluctance that we returned to the camp site, the temperature was already falling and I was not looking forward to another night under canvass.We lit the fire early and had mugs of hot soup as darkness fell and we discussed plans for the next day. I was very worried that our gas canister was going to run out until Martin had the brilliant idea of putting the grill over the fire to boil water.  This worked really well, we boiled water for noodles, water for coffee, water for washing up and if we'd had a bath tub we probably would have boiled enough water to fill that too! We huddled around the fire for as long as it lasted before diving into the tent and donning as many layers as possible before we lost too much body heat. At least I didn't have to set the alarm for 5.30am.....