Christmas in The Canyon

December 15-19th, 1996

View from the Bright Angel Trail

My trip started from my brother's home in Chandler. Denny had arranged for our guide, Greg Woodall, to pick me up and deliver me back after the trip. This worked out wonderfully, saving me the trouble and expense of a rental car. We spent the trip engaged in conversation. Greg works with the McDowell Sonoran Land Trust, a group that is buying up desert land around Scottsdale for preservation. I've worked on similar land use issues in Oregon, so we had a lot of common interests. He works as an archeologist for a private consulting firm and has guided with Grand Canyon Dories, so he has a lot of knowledge about the Canyon.

One of the clients backed out at the last minute so it was just I and another woman, Theo. We met Theo at the Grand Canyon Lodge where she was staying the night. She was going to have her stuff muled down the next day, but it turns out the mules don't run on weekends in the winter, (oops), so she was going to have to carry some of her stuff down. The guide would carry her tent and sleeping bag and enough food to get us by until we could have the rest brought down by mule the following morning. While there was still light, Greg took us out to a ledge below one of the overlooks that has both pictographs and petroglyphs. It was fantastic. Too dark to take pictures though. We took Theo back to the lodge and said goodbye for the night as we were staying at the Mathers Campground. Big mistake. It was -4 that night. I thought I was hearing sonic booms from airplanes, then I realized it was the wind. I had on three layers of clothes in my new Sierra Designs 0 degree bag and was still freezing. I hardly slept that night and felt awful in the morning. I couldn't get much more down than a yogurt and cup of coffee. Try not to look like your going to throw up, I kept telling myself. I didn't want Greg to postpone the trip.

We were going to take the South Kaibab Trail down. Unlike the Bright Angel Trail, The South Kaibab does not follow a watercourse, so there is no drinking water available along the trail. But it is shorter, and drinking water would not be as much a concern in the winter. As soon as we got out in the fresh air and started down I felt immediately better. When we hit the first rest station I felt so good I ate half our lunch. The trip down was pleasant. The sky was absolutely clear but it was still chilly so we kept most of our stuff on until we hit the Tonto Platform. We met a lot of people coming up, some way down at the bottom. They were going to be hiking in the moonlight before they hit the rim. I would hate to come up this trail. Going down I felt like my toes were going straight through the front of my boots. Next time I will get some of those wool pads to put at the front of my boots. I had no other physical problems though. No knee pain or muscle cramps. Theo was doing well also. We kept a leisurely pace down, Greg pointing out different geologic features and flora as we hiked. By the time we hit the suspension bridge the sun was just going down. We had gotten a late start.

Theo and Greg at the South Kaibab Trailhead	Hiking along the south Kaibab Download larger image, 579x887, 192KB	Bright Angel Creek and campground on right

We camped at Bright Angel Campground. What a beautiful place. The cottonwoods still had their brilliant gold leaves. The camp was only about a third full. I was surprised. I was under the impression that the canyon was booked up year round. We set up our tents and had a dinner of pasta with fresh veggies. We didn't talk much after dinner. I was especially tired, and I don't imagine Greg slept any better than I the night before. The temperature was more moderate down here. Probably around 40 degrees that night. I slept soundly.

We awoke and had a leisurely breakfast. Probably too leisurely. Greg went and picked up the stuff that had been muled down. It was at this point that we realized there was way too much food. I guess when the third customer backed out at the last minute they didn't repack the food. We spent some time sorting out what we wanted to take to Clear Creek and planned to cache the rest of the food somewhere along the trail. By the time we got started it was 11:00. We started up the trail which is pretty uphill for the first couple of miles. I was put in the lead. But I kept getting ahead and missing the conversation. So we decided to put Theo in the lead so she could set a pace she was comfortable with. Greg cached the food and we had lunch at the first good south-facing overlook. We had a great lunch of salmon and cream cheese on bagels.

We continued on and went past another wash that had water in pools in the slickrock. At that point Greg pulled out the map. We weren't even to Demaray Point yet. He asked us if we still wanted to try to make Clear Creek tonight. We could make it but would probably be doing the last of it by moonlight. Or we could camp here since there was water, or even camp further up as we still had plenty of water. I wanted to try to make Clear Creek, as the next day would be our lay over day and I wanted to check out a granary that I had seen on the Internet that was up in the Ottoman Amphitheater. We went on about another half mile. Theo was having trouble with her legs, so we found a nice wash with a sheltered cove. Not quite as nice as the last one as the ground wasn't perfectly flat. As soon as we stopped hiking Theo said that she was getting very chilled and was feeling weird. Greg immediately set up his tent, which didn't need staking and put her pad and sleeping bag in and put her in them. He thought it would be a good idea if Theo and I slept together in his larger tent tonight, as we both had a tendency to run a little on the cold side at night. He would sleep out on the ground. It was actually quite warm up here on the plateau. We set up a kitchen in front of the tent so we could talk to Theo as we cooked. We made soup first, just to get some warm stuff in us. Then we made this freeze dried Moussaka, really not like Moussaka at all except that it had eggplant in it. The freeze dried dinners were really too much for three people and we always ate the left-overs for breakfast. This is a problem along the trail as you shouldn't leave any food behind that the animals might eat. If you didn't eat it, you just had to pack it as garbage.

After dinner Greg and I did a moonlight hike further down the trail to where Zoroaster Canyon cuts down. Even though there was only a half-moon, the features of the landscape were quite distinct and I could make out Wonton's Throne in the distance. It was nice hiking without packs on for a change and I had brought along some light weight hiking shoes which were a great improvement over the boots. Greg just wears flip-flops when he isn't carrying a load. Some kind of river guide thing. We returned and went to bed. I had another good nights sleep although I had to readjust myself a couple of times as the uneven surface kept us falling out the bottom of the tent. At least our heads were elevated.

Demaray Point viewed from the East Download larger image, 579 x 887 pixels, 205KB The next day the sun came up and flooded the other side of the canyon with light. Not a bad front porch view. Greg decided we should probably just go back to Bright Angel today and not try for Clear Creek. If we did make Clear Creek, we would have to do the whole 9+ miles back the next day. Also, if we went back to Bright Angel, we could make the next day a layover day before the big hike out, or do a day hike. Theo was all for this, and it seemed like the sensible thing to me too. Maybe we could do Ribbon Falls the next day. On the way back, we spied a large ledge with a clearing in front of it some distance below the trail. Greg thought it looked like a really likely archeological site. If there was interest, we could come back here tomorrow and check it out.

Bright Angel was still only about a third full, so there was no problem getting a space even though we hadn't planned to camp here this night. The water pipeline had broke, so they were conserving water by turning off the water in the bathrooms. They had buckets at the toilets so you could flush them with river water, and the drinking water taps were still on. The rest of the campers were brain dead teenagers that did not understand the concept of how a toilet works. Its a gravity thing kids. Pour the water in really fast. Then I found one girl filling the bucket from the water tap. I explained to her that we were trying to conserve the drinking water and she should fill the bucket at the river. Hadn't she read the signs? Of course this provided most of the dinner conversation. Ragging on these kids, sounding just like our parents. "Kids these days, blah, blah, blah ..." God, we must be getting old.

We had some very bad wine at the canteen at the ranch that night. I have to say though, I was very pleased by the Phantom Ranch. I thought it was going to be one of these really slick resort places with a gift shop, jacuzzis, etc, etc. It was so "mom and pop", right down to the horrendous tee-shirts. It was so nice and warm in there, and we had heard it was going to freeze tonight. On heading back to our camp we came across a couple of deer. One a big buck with quite a rack. They started to follow us. I remembered all those warning signs on the rim about mad deer that go around goring people who don't come through with the potato chips. We picked up our pace, but they didn't follow across the bridge. Theo and I had now totally commandeered Greg's tent and he was left sleeping in my tent which he complained was too short for him. Too bad. Even with two of us in a tent it was cold enough at night to have ice crystals form on your sleeping bag where your breathe had hit.

The next day was a lay over day and Theo announced she was not going on the day hike but would rather like to stay behind and write postcards. Greg was kind enough to let me use some of our valuable fuel canisters to heat up some water to wash my hair. He was kind of cranky because Theo kept insisting on doing the cooking. She had made the quiche that morning, and frankly, it had turned out perfectly. I don't think I've ever made such a nice quiche at home much less on a camp stove.

Greg and I hiked back to the site we had seen on the Clear Creek trail. I was surprised how quickly we were there not having to carry full packs. We made our way across the canyon to the ledges. Yes, this was indeed a site. There were a lot of chert pieces. Greg found a piece of pottery. The rim of a vessel which had three coils along the top. As he went around the corner to check out some more ledges I started looking around a little out from the ledge. I would just pick up every piece of chert, as this was how I found the arrow head the other day. Sure enough I found another piece this way. It was a tool of some kind. It was very flat, with an almost perfectly square end that had a protrusion like an awl coming out of it. The tip of the awl had been broken off. I showed it to Greg. He thought it to be a drill. The square part would have been wedged into a wooden or bone handle. Then I climbed up and crawled along some more ledges further up. While they afforded a wonderful view, there was nothing to indicate habitation. I was getting hungry so I headed back to the original ledge where we had left our packs. Greg was still poking about looking for agave roasting pits or something, so I decided I would eat some trail mix until he came up for lunch.

We had lunch and just enjoyed the sun for awhile in the protection of the ledges. It was warm, but breezy, and we had to wear a wind layer during our investigation. Greg said I could just hang out for awhile, he felt he needed to return to camp and check on Theo. It was already three, and the sun would be gone in Bright Angel if I stayed so I opted to return with him.

Some of Greg's creative photography. He wanted to get in Zoroaster Temple and the moon and, incidentally, me.

We took some pictures on the way back. Had to have a least one of me in shorts. By the time we got back the shadows had already overtaken the campground. Theo had, of course started the dinner by pre-soaking the rice and beans. I turned to see Greg's reaction, but, he was cool. I think it finally dawned on him that Theo was really enjoyed doing the cooking.

One more night at the canteen. This time I would stick to herbal tea. Get really warm and then run back to camp and hop in the sleeping bags. Take a nip off the flask on the way. Always good for opening those capillaries. We had another peaceful night, which was good because we would have to get up early and hike out tomorrow. We had a quick breakfast, and packed up the camp. Because it wasn't the weekend, Greg was sending almost all of Theo's pack and all the left over food up on the mules. You just put all your stuff (30 lb. limit) in a feedbag, put on a piece of masking tape and put your name on it. Because there was more than one sack worth, we also put my sleeping bag and tent in one of the sacks. But I still had to carry out the garbage. Still, I think I was at least 10 lbs. lighter than coming in. It felt like nothing, best of all the top part of my pack wasn't hitting me in the head all the time.

We put Theo in the lead. Her pace was too slow for me. She believed in the "rest step" school of hiking, and I the "jump from the top of one rut to the next" philosophy. There's stability in motion. Basically, Greg and I would take pictures and talk while Theo would get ahead of us. Then we would proceed at our pace and catch up with her. At some point I was noticing that we were getting way spread out. Greg was getting slower. He still had on a mountain of a pack. At the Mile 3 Rest Station we stop and ate some Emergen-C. This is an electrolyte replacement powder that had the sensation of eating fizzies. He told us to get out our trail mix and keep eating all the way to the top. And DRINK MORE WATER. He was constantly reminding us of that. Good advice. We never suffered from fatigue or dehydration.

Mile 1.5 Rest Station. I didn't bother to stop. Theo had actually got out of sight by now. Greg told me to look out for pictographs. He knew about a set right before the tunnel at the top but had also heard there were some further down. I saw this big rock formation ahead that looked like a ravens head. It had this huge ledge that formed the top beak. I thought, "I bet you there are some under that ledge." When we got there, I was right. There they were. Deer or bighorn sheep depictions. It was hard to tell from down on the trail. And always the zig-zaggy line that depicts the river below. Greg was of the opinion that these pictographs were maps. Further up, right before the tunnel near the rim, there are more pictographs. Greg was pointing these out to the people coming up and down the trail. I wondered how many millions of people had just walked right by these unaware of the history just a few feet above their heads. It was nice having Greg as a guide because he knew so much about the botany, geology and archeology of the area.

Finally the top. The light was marvelous. It was about 4:00. There was Theo waiting for us, absolutely ecstatic. We had some folks take our picture together and then we proceeded to the rim cabin that Theo had booked for the night. Boy, was it nice. Theo and Greg still had to do the car shuttle thing and pick up the sacks at the mule barn. She invited me to stay behind and have a shower. Wow, did that feel good. Fresh change of clothes. Even though it was still cold, I wasn't about to put those long underwear back on. They could have walked out of the Canyon on there own by now as we had to practically live in them day and night. On their return, Greg produced a bottle of champagne and three glasses. I had already finished off the last of my flask while I was waiting. Oh well, I didn't have to drive. We sorted out all the gear. Theo wasn't feeling well enough to accompany us to dinner, so we said our farewells. Theo was fortunate enough to have the time to stay another day and enjoy the rim.

We decided to have dinner at the Arizona Steakhouse, as I had heard it is a really good place, and we deserved some substantial food. It was all it promised. That was the tastiest, most tender steak I have ever eaten. We still had to drive down to Phoenix tonight as Greg had to be at work in the morning. I decided to join him in coffee at the end of the meal so I could help keep him awake on the drive home.

On the way out of the park we stopped once more at the Mathers Overlook and took in the Canyon by moonlight. It was hard to get him to leave. All his years as a river guide came flooding back on him. What a life. With that we left the park and started home.

The drive home was uneventful except for the many elk along one stretch of the highway. We had to take it pretty slow along here. Denny had one of those stackable CD players in the back so we punched up the CD. Denny's musical taste is eclectic to say the least. Everything from Country Western to Robert Cray. We stopped a couple of places along the way for coffee. We finally hit Phoenix. It was probably another 45 minutes just getting to Chandler. Geez, I thought Greg was lost, it was just that this megalopolis goes on forever. We found my brothers house and Greg help me get all the stuff out of the car. It was about 1:30 by now so we said a short goodbye. I was glad I had made this trip with High Sonoran. As much as I had enjoyed just being in the Canyon, having a thoughtful, knowledgeable guide like Greg made the experience richer than I imagine the average hiker takes away. I definitely will return to the Canyon again.

Thanks to all of the High Sonoran Staff,

Kayo Parsons-Korn

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