Grand Canyon- Thoughts
At some point last year Cappuccino was wondering out loud, what would it be like to go down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I told her about my experience with it, hiking...
Category: 2024 Trails
Grand Canyon- Climbing Out
The canyon walls re-radiated the sun’s heat all night so that at 4AM it was still 86°. Cappuccino and I used the red light of our headlamps to break camp as a courtesy to...
Grand Canyon- Into The Abyss
Four forty five came early. Cappy and I were up and out the door by 5 for a drive-through rendezvous with MacD’s for breakfast. Then we drove through the dark to the Backcountry Ranger...
Grand Canyon-Getting There
Cappuccino and I started out about 6 AM, stopped by Starbucks for coffee and a sandwich, and got on Interstate 40 headed west. It would be five hours heading through western New Mexico and...
Grand Canyon – On My Way
9:30 AM – Getting ready to leave for the airport soon. The first leg of the trip is from Eugene to Denver. With a layover of a couple hours, I should have time to...
Grand Canyon Bound
One week from today I will be joining Cappuccino for an overnight trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She was able to snag one of the roughly 750 camping lottery permits available...
7 responses to “Grand Canyon Bound”
Sounds like fun with a wee bit of Dante’s inferno….
(Don’t) Break a leg
Ah, the Inferno. When you and I hiked down in 2017, it was on September 19th and it was much cooler at the bottom. A mere 90 degrees, I believe. Happy Trails my friend!
I hiked up Bright Angel after getting off a private rafting trip drop-off. The biodiversity along the trail was amazing. Some rain is always a possibility in summer so…I got chilled on my hike out. I remember there was a lizard every 10-15 feet all the way up the trail. Let me know if that is still happening. Enjoy!
Thanks for the heads up, OZ. I’ve never done the Bright Angel Trail, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll tell the lizards “hello” for you.
Good times ahead, Mark and Cap. In April of 2023, with our 9 and 11 year old grandsons, Hannah and I hiked three miles into the Canyon on the South Kaibab Trail and then back out. The next day we hiked three miles into the Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. We did not have the high temps that you two will have, but it was hot enough. It’ll be great to relive our trek through your pictures. Fifteen years ago, I hiked to Indian Gardens (it now has a new name Havasupai Gardens) on the Bright Angel Trail. On the way back on this hot day, and as you know with no shade, I drank too much water. Started weaving and slightly hallucinating – Hyponatremia, a common electrolyte abnormality caused by an excess of total body water when compared to total body sodium content. Salty snacks given to me by the trail ranger eventually got me back to normal. Just a caution about drinking too much H2O!
Hey Dan, sounds like a great time with grandkids. Mine are not quite old enough to do that yet.
When Scatman and I crossed the Canyon back in 2017 we had a long talk with a Ranger about hyponatremia. Apparently their recommendation to drink lots of water was taken a little too literally by some people. So, they have backed off that recommendation somewhat and are just telling people to drink when they’re thirsty and carry salty snacks. I used to have a patient with chronic hyponatremia, but that’s another story.
The thru-hiker solution to hyponatremia is “Fritos“. Easy to carry, tasty, salty, carbs, and fats. It’s kind of the complete trail food for this kind of exertion. Anyway, Fritos are always on my list when I go backpacking. Take care and happy trails.
Fritos! That’s wonderful! I’ll spread the word!