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A Hike to Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon
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Later and later in the day as one is going down into the canyon the temperature is constantly going up and I began transferring clothing from my back to my pack. I had started up on top with four layers including a jacket. By the time that I reached the Colorado River I was down to shirt sleeves and into delightful spring weather. If you are taking pictures the sun is always at your back, but the shadows change and the color of the light does as well. The views make it impossible to take bad pictures and your fellow hikers are more than willing to take one of you to prove that you were there. Fifth lesson learned is to take a camera and, for goodness sake, don't put it in your pack. My camera weighs three and a half pounds. If you can get by with a smaller one so much the better, but take a camera. I caught up with six condors in the air and people who walked the South Kaibab later that same day saw them on the ground next to the trail! Now that would be the picture - me and my condor! Maybe next time....
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I walked into Phantom Ranch at 3:45 p.m., drank a gallon or two of water, checked in at the office, and was directed to my accommodations by a very pleasant staff member. I was in one of the male dormitories. Spartan, but comfortable with, electricity, heat, and indoor plumbing that included a toilet, wash basin, and shower. There were fourteen of us in a single room that was just large enough for our seven double tiered bunks with one wall hook each on which to hang our packs. It was reminiscent of the army, but I assure you that I was very appreciative, particularly when I contemplated the enormous back packs that the folks who were camping out had been carrying down the Kaibab. Phantom Ranch serves dinner and breakfast and provides sack lunches. Each of the meals have two sittings. I was in the late dinner seating and unabashedly lay down until dinner. After a pretty good stew dinner with chocolate cake for desert I went for a very short stroll along Bright Angel Creek before taking a quick shower and turning in for the night. I was told that the folks at the first seating had an excellent steak. Lesson six - if at all possible, reserve the steak dinner rather than the stew.
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The next day my knees were still complaining and so after a good eggs and bacon breakfast I stayed close to Phantom. Even so my pedometer registered six miles for the day. There are a number of short hikes in the vicinity and a few things to check out including a small ruin of a Native American house cluster and some of the oldest rocks on the planet. I love the names of the rocks, particularly the Vishnu Shist and Zorastian Granite. The river was running in it's classic state - muddy. Sometimes it is a "clear" blue river and sometimes it is "red" muddy river. Upstream dams usually take the sediment out of the river, but the two days that I was there it was running thick with mud. Although clear rivers are beautiful this one should be muddy. I ate an excellent sack lunch on top of an outcropping on the river trail contemplating the people who came before us. On top of both the North and South Rims there are Native American house cluster ruins used by people who spent their summers on top and their winters down by the river. The people who lived in the one that I was visiting at Phantom might well have used the Bright Angel Creek as their pathway to and from the rim. After a day of wandering I had another stew dinner and another good night's rest.
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The next day I ate early breakfast and was on the Bright Angel Trail with the first light. All I knew was that it was a longer trail than the South Kaibab and there was even more ice at the top. I was worried that the weather might turn sour and I did not want to be fighting sore knees, wind, and ice after dark. I wanted to get going early as a precaution. As it turned out my knees held up just fine and I percolated up the slope well ahead of the rest of that day's hikers. About half way up the eleven mile trail an area called Indian Gardens offered water and toilet facilities as well as a number of delightful shade trees. The grade of the Bright Angel Trail is not as precipitous as that of the South Kaibab although the Park Service classifies both as being steep. The orientation of the trail has fewer grand views than South Kaibab. Most of what you look at as you climb up the trail is the next range of cliffs that tower above you. They are daunting but beautiful none the less. As you get up to the latter part of the trail the view back out into the canyon is the equal of anything that you see from any point in the park.
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Just being below the rim is exciting, but I confess that by mid-day it was reassuring to know that I was not going to have any of the problems that I had contemplated earlier in the day. There was indeed more ice on the Bright Angel Trail than I had run into on South Kaibab, but I just took it slow and got through it without any problems. The trail ends just below the Bright Angel Lodge and I walked up to the reception desk at 2:15 p.m. The clerk gave me the key to my room and I was well into my nap a few minutes later. What I had earlier thought was unnecessary I now appreciated greatly. That night I had steak for dinner.
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