The Way Down

aka the easy way!

Well to be honest, it depends on who you ask...in general the young people thought the way down was easier and the older crowd through up was easier on the bod. The debate continues.

We were all ready to go by about 6:30am (a small miracle in the Jones house haha) and hopped into two cars to make the 2.5 hour drive to the South Rim where we began our 3-day/2-night journey down to Phantom Ranch and back out.

It was a little breezy at the top but in general PERFECT weather for hiking.

And so the 10 of us put on our hats, backpacks and sunglasses and began making our way down the South Kaibab trail. Only ~ 7 miles and a 4,800 ft descent to go at this point....

Our first stop about a mile along the trail, aptly named "Ohh-ahh Point".

I wasn't kidding when I said we had ideal weather. Most of us started with light jackets and peeled them off about halfway down as the sun got warmer. The bottom of the canyon is also consistently about 30 degrees warmer than the rim this time of the year.

Karen and Jim. We all owe Karen a HUGE thank you for booking us in over a year ago to stay at Phantom Ranch. It is an extremely competitive processing and dialing and redialing (over and over and over) to get through the reservation line. Clearly she's an incredible lady, mom and mom-in-law :)

Patrick and Ryan have seen a lot of amazing things together on their travels through South America but I doubt they've ever been somewhere as breathtaking as the GC.

As if Patrick, Ryan and Andrew's banter wasn't enough - Uncle Steve was along to provide even more laughs. Uncle Steve had a huge backpack but was one of the fastest hikers by far.

Cedar Ridge was our first real rest stop on the way down. Most of us grabbed a snack out of our packs and reapplied any necessary sunscreen, moleskin, etc.

 

Clearly all in wonderful spirits, we were all so excited to finally be on our mini adventure and thankful for the chance to experience the GC in a way that less than 1% of visitors get to.

We passed a couple of mule trains (at least that's what I call them haha) on the way down. All food going down to Phantom Ranch and all trash coming out hitches a ride with these guys. Their speed and agility is seriously impressive.

The vistas were endless and opportunity to experience such beauty with family amazing. That's me, Steve, Andrew and Patrick down a ways on the trail - to give you an idea of the scale we're talking about here. Just incredible!!

About half way down our group started to break off into small groups based on ability/desired speed. We were able to mix-up the groups a couple of times which worked really well for everyone.

The pictures below is a pretty good example of the average down slope we were hiking. It was a little hard on the knees but made WAY easier by the use of hiking poles. At first dad, Courts and I were a little hesitant to use the poles - they look kinda silly and we didn't think they would do much. We were SO WRONG! I would highly recommend poles to anyone considering hiking the GC or doing any other major treks.

Here you can see the wooden beams used to help maintain the trail and acting as thousands and thousands of steps down to the Colorado River. The majority of the trail had very similar conditions.

We all stopped for lunch at a shady point we've dubbed "Hofflander Point" - us pale, Scandinavian Hofflander's avoid the sun and aim for the shade generally ;)

Karen did quite of bit of training to get ready for the hike and did an awesome job!

One of our first real glimpses of the Colorado River! This was an exciting moment because we knew Phantom Ranch was off the river - the bottom of the canyon was in clear sight.

6.7 of 7.1 miles along the way you come through a tunnel and onto the Black Suspension Bridge. At this point we felt like we had pretty much made it.

 

Dad, Courts and I hiked together for the second half while Patrick, Ryan and Andrew hiked together and Karen, Jim and Caroline were a little ways behind.

All smiles! And real excited about the prospect of putting our feet in the cold river.

I realize this looks fake but I assure you it it not. This is the reward waiting for those who make the 7 mile journey down to the bottom :)

In total, it took us only about 4.5 hours to walk into Phantom Ranch. I think were were all looking forward to taking off our shoes and eating a big dinner in the mess hall.