Grand Canyon Hike teaser report

On April 5th, 2011 I went for another annual Grand Canyon deathmarch. This time I heeded the parks warning and didn't hike all the way down to the river and back. Instead I hiked down the Hermit Trail to the Tonto Trail and then out to Plateau Point and up the Bright Angel Trail. Since the total was somewhere around a marathon, I don't think that is what the park service had in mind. I started hiking shortly after 5 am and finished just before 6 pm. Needless to say I was a bit sore and tired. I added up the mileages on a map I found and it came to 26.2 miles, but someone else reported it was 27 miles without the extra 1.4 miles out to Plateau Point. In any case it was a rather long way with at least 3500 feet of elevation loss and gain.

taking the shuttle bus in the morning

The weather was mostly excellent although it was quite cold waiting for the shuttle bus at 4:30 in the morning and things were a bit hotter than I'd have chosen a bit after noon, but all in all it was excellent.

Some of the Hermit Trail was in  pretty bad shape (because of rock fall?), but for the most part the trails were in good shape and easy to follow. I didn't have to deal with mules all day which was very nice, although they had still left their mark on the Bright Angel Trail.

I saw a lot of wildflowers, but the cacti hadn't really started blooming yet. I also saw lots of lizards including a collared lizard running on its hind legs and a bighorn sheep.

typical Tonto Trail scene

collared lizard

monument spire or something like that - only a 4 hour approach to this choss tower

bighorn sheep

nice overlook

sunset from the night before

As usual this is just a teaser report, and I hope to get a real trip report up soon.

here is a link to the Grand Canyon Hike trip report