Grand Canyon Hike 2016

After hiking some of the trails in Tucson, on a Friday some of my colleagues from office have started to hike the Grand Canyon. We started in the evening, stopped for dinner at Flagstaff around 9 PM. Before leaving we packed ourselves some lunch (Vegetable Biryani) for the hike next day. We reached the camp ground around 11:30PM, camped the night.

All of us got ready and with some minor delays, we finally started the hike around 8:00AM. We started to get down using the South Kaibab trail. This trail is more steeped than the Bright Angels (BA) trail. But it is way beautiful than the BA trail. The views are extra-ordinary as can be seen from some of the pictures attached with the post. We also got a look at the mule train that carries the essentials to the Phantom ranch (the hotel next to the river).

We reached the river around 12:00PM. All of us had a break at the beach next to the river. We had our Biryani there, took some rest till 1:30PM.

We then started on our way back using the Bright Angels trail. The trail is relatively less steeper, but we had to cover 9 miles uphill. We reached the mid-point (Indian Garden) around 4:30PM and waited for some of our friends there till 5:30PM. Later we started uphill slowly and finally reached the trail head around 11:30PM.

It was very tiring and we were lucky to ask one of our colleagues who reached earlier to get us dinner (Pizza). Once we had dinner, we had a nice sleep. The next day morning, we had breakfast and started our way back to Tucson.

On the way back, we were shown Mt. Humphreys (last picture) and it was mentioned that it is the highest peak in Arizona and we all should hike it too................... (That's next..)

Preparation for Grand Canyon Hike 2016

So, the idea of hiking Grand Canyon started when a couple of colleagues asked if I would join them for a hike. As usual, I was lazy and did not confirm until 6 weeks before the D-day (Weekend before May long weekend).

The preparation included hiking some medium to strenuous hikes in Tucson. First we started with Mt. Wrightson (Figure 1) which is about 11 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 4200 feet. The hike was hectic, but the views from the top were amazing. We also saw some ice on the mountain on our way up (yes in April).

That followed by a hike on Mt. Lemmon's Wilderness of the Rocks (Figure 2). This hike is similar to that of Grand Canyon as we first go down and then come back up.

The third weekend we hiked Finger Rock trail. The trail at the top was not great. We had to leave our hiking poles and do rock climbing to reach the top. The views were great from the top. The summit of the trail is always visible when leaving our home for groceries, etc. So, after doing this hike, I started bothering others showing the peak and telling them we did it. :). Below (Figure 3) is a view of Tucson from the Finger rock trail.

Later, on 5th weekend (missed 4th weekend) we again did the Wilderness of the Rocks trail on Mt. Lemmon to prepare for the hike. 

The overall experience was tiring and fun. Every time I climb on a hike I always feel "Why am I doing it?" But, by the end of the day it is not that bad. So, with all this preparation we started to our Grand Canyon hike.