Grand Canyon Suite: Part 2: Ssssizzlin'

Angels Rest campground (Phantom Ranch) and it got even hotter later in the afternoon. This thermometer was in the sun, of course, but there was very little shade on the trail.

Cottonwood creek and Angels Rest campground. The creek was surprisingly large (the water needed to be treated before drinking) and it was very refreshing to splash around in. It didn't cool off much during the night. dw slept on the picnic table wearing just enough to be decent. I slept in the tent -- just in my skivvies -- not enough to be decent but it was still hot.

(Scorpions are known to abound in this campsite.  One ranger likened a sting to having a glass tube jammed into your hand, and then broken off. Another ranger (supposedly) gets a new tattoo of a scorpion each time he gets stung. -- Sort of like a WWII fighter pilot and his airplane.)

Phantom Ranch itself is a series of cabins and bunkhouses. The main building is just a large room -- serves breakfast and dinner (family style) and it's air-conditioned which is possibly why dw spent the whole afternoon there. Actually most of the people who were at the bottom of the canyon spent the whole afternoon there.
    Along with the air-conditioning you could get beer. Tecate lager, which I thought was nearly undrinkable, and Grand Canyon lager which was much better but still pretty thin.

We just spent the afternoon and night before moving on. We did get a breakfast which was a mistake because we didn't start hiking until a bit after 5:30 and we didn't get far enough along the trail before it got hot.

(The breakfast was quite good though. Scrambled eggs, muffins, pancakes, bacon and coffee. Our end of the table was missing a couple of people (assigned seating) and the other three who were there were Indian or Pakistani or some such. I don't know if it was their preference, or religious restrictions, but they didn't eat any bacon. I figured I'd be working it off during the rest of the day, so I hit that plate of bacon pretty hard. -- It was great.)

Again the scenery was spectacular:

For a while the heat really got to dw, but she recovered enough to take a side hike to Ribbon Falls:

The moss covered apron is travertine, formed by the falls and dissolved limestone. We spent more than an hour here, enjoying the shade and rinsing our shirts in the water and then putting them on for the quick blast of cold. We reluctantly moved on and struggled more with the heat, finally getting to Cottonwood camp and lucking into the last remaining site that had some shade. Three groups came after us. They dropped their stuff and immediately retreated to some shade.  

 

The last day was the hardest, about 7 miles and 4500 feet in elevation gain and most of that coming in the last 4 miles. Since dw had struggled the previous day I took more of her stuff and most of the water for the last day. We started on the trail when It was just light enough to see, but even so the heat was again a problem. I went well until about the last mile and by then it was a bit cooler and there was more shade and dw began to perk up -- I considered suggesting we trade packs -- but I sucked it up and finally we both topped out.

A few more scenery shots:

When we finally topped out, we both thought: "Thank god, that's over!" After a shower and some r&r we both thought: "Actually it wasn't that bad, maybe we could do something similar again. Although it would be a good idea to get into better shape first."  But so it goes. DJA

 

Next up: some of the details that make travel so much fun.