Day 6 –
Bright Angel Trail
September 8, 2008
Stats
Miles: 9.8
Time: 5:45 am – 12:15 pm
Elevation Gain: 4,350
I am awakened before 4:00 am by two of our dorm mates who are planning on leaving by 4:30 am. I try to ignore their noises and shuffling, tooth brushing and peeing and clothes being stuffed into packs and food being removed from the food locker, but can’t. I know someone will be walking by soon, knocking on the door, and announcing the 5:00 am breakfast. It’s only a matter of time.
When the knock comes, I’m ready – I get up, dress, brush my teeth and am out the door into the warm darkness to wait for breakfast. Same as last time – scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, juice and coffee. I eat a lot and it doesn’t take long. On our way out, we grab our bag lunches, take out the stuff we aren’t going to eat and leave it there. No sense in carrying it out – we’ve already carried too much in and out of the Canyon. We’re starting to wise up.
We head for the river at 5:45 am accompanied by enough ambient light that we can find our way without headlamps. I don’t feel the sadness that I usually feel on leaving this special place. I feel the anticipation of the day ahead, walking out of the Canyon and completing our rim to rim to rim goal. The trail crosses the river at the silver bridge and we stand and take pictures on the swaying structure until we can delay no more. The trail along the south side runs parallel to the river for a little over a mile. It’s a great place to say goodbye to the river and the belly of the Canyon. I love being inside the Canyon. It feels comfortable – it feels like being on top of the mountain with arms raised, yelling, “Yes!”
Before we know it we turn away from the river to our left and start up a slot canyon called Pipe Creek. The creek creates a mini oasis all along its banks. The trail crisscrosses the creek as we weave our way to the bottom of the Devil’s Corkscrew, a set of switchbacks that takes us from the river to the Tonto Platform. After reaching the plateau we continue to follow the creek through the slot canyon until we reach Indian Gardens, a camping area where we can get more water. We invite ourselves into a small shelter and sit at the picnic table with two other couples while we all eat and drink before the next push.
As we throw on our packs I realize that I’m feeling a bit tired – this isn’t an easy challenge we have set for ourselves. Despite eating and drinking well and legs that have recovered admirably after the day one descent, I feel tired. I know I can make it to the top, and that a rest day tomorrow is exactly what I want. It’s especially hard every time we start to move again after a rest. The Indian Gardens rest is longer than any of the others and I have plenty of time to stiffen up. After 20 minutes hiking I feel fine again and am in the climbing zone again. After about 3/4’s of a mile, we enter the area of the trail called Jacob’s Ladder – this is a series of switchbacks that corkscrews the hiker out and up to the rim. It’s a long section, about 4 miles long, that just goes up and up and up. The smell of mule piss and dung is strong all along the trail.
We start to meet more people coming down the trail on day trips to Indian Gardens. When we reach the Three Mile rest house, I take on some water. The trail actually starts to get crowded – some of these folks have never hiked before and have no sense of trail etiquette or that such a thing even exists. Right of way goes to the hiker who is expending the most energy – the hiker who is going up. Even if I didn’t know anything about hiking, my first instinct upon seeing dusty hikers breathing hard coming up the trail would be to step aside and them pass. Not these folks – with every language in the world being spoken, these tourists come from Japan, Korea, and Germany, from Mexico, Uzbekistan, and Sweden. I just put my head down when I see them coming and keep walking – while I move over to the side of the trail, I don’t stop walking – if they aren’t going to move, we’re going to share the trail.
We reach the One-and-a-Half-Mile rest house, which is crowded with people sitting in the shade, getting water, or just looking around, and pass on through. We start to catch up to and pass some of the hikers who had left Phantom ranch before us – I guess our pace is pretty decent. Like a couple of horses to water, we can smell the rim. Just as we come around a switchback and can see the rim for the first time, I hear someone yell and make out the word, “Nancy!” I look up and there’s a man standing on the rim opposite the switchback we are on. I know it’s Tom – we wave, shouting and smiling to each other, aware that Tom and Mary have actually made to celebrate our return to the rim and feeling the sense of victory at successfully meeting the challenge we have set for ourselves.
Another fifteen or twenty minutes passes before we finally make it to the last part of the trail that leads up to the rim. Tom and Mary yell our names and we raise arms in triumph. I can feel the tears and emotion surge inside me. I feel so happy, so complete, and I want to feel the whole experience of sharing the joy of reaching the rim and being greeted by Tom and Mary and having done this with Nancy. With Tom snapping pictures as fast as he can, Nancy and I walk into Mary’s open arms. We hug and then Tom joins us, and we all are laughing and talking and crying at the same time. It’s fantastic – the circle we had opened when we decided to greet every member of our rim to rim group last summer is closed with this generous gesture by Tom and Mary, who planned their vacation so that they could be at the rim when we came up. Last summer, we greeted and celebrated. This summer, we are greeted and celebrated.
After taking off our packs and guzzling ice water, we walk with Tom and Mary to their rim-side cabin where we drop off our packs, grab some food, and jump into their rental car. We’re going to spend the afternoon exploring the viewpoints on the east rim. I can’t think if anything I would rather do. We eat almost everything before we reach the first overlook. Two hungry girls.
The temperature when we leave their cabin was in the mid-80’s – it doesn’t even occur to me that it might change. And change it does – with clouds and wind and a huge temperature drop. I’m dressed in a tank top and shorts as we stop and walk out to viewpoint after viewpoint. The views are outstanding and I ignore how cold I feel for as long as I can – finally, after a couple of hours, I realize I am cold deep into my core and dead tired. I need a shower and a lie down before our 7 pm celebration dinner. Tom drives us back to the El Tovar where we are to pick up our luggage, but it has already been brought to our room. Tom and Mary return to their cabin, put on our backpacks, just to get a sense of the weight we have been carrying, and walk them up the rim walk to the El Tovar.
Nancy is jazzed with the day, the hike, the emotions of leaving the inner gorge, the joy at being greeted, the views we saw in the afternoon, and I am exhausted. I can feel myself wanting to take a break, but can’t give myself permission and say it out loud. We both get between the bedspread and the blanket and turn the light off and talk for a while. Suddenly the alarm goes off and I have no idea where I am or if I have been sleeping. Nancy says I have been – I feel altered, confused, and disoriented. We shower and dress – one of our promises to ourselves had been to bring something to wear for this dinner that we really feel good wearing. Clothes aren’t my thing – at least clothes that aren’t simple and plain and practical – jeans and t-shirts, outdoor wear and fleece work for me. I shop at EMS or LL Bean – not Anne Taylor or Filene’s. I have always dressed a little defensively – loose is better than tight. The right size is OK, but bigger is better. When Nancy says she has bought some pants and is able to wear a shirt she had bought long ago that had been too small, I feel the pressure.
At the last possible minute, the day before we left, I stopped at JC Penney’s and bought a bunch of shirts and pants – didn’t even bother to try them on – and when I got home, everything fit except for one item. I had my outfit for the dinner. The pressure was off. Phew. I dressed and waited for Nancy, still basking in the glow of having completed our rim to rim to rim and feeling rejuvenated by our brief nap.
We walk up to the El Tovar and are seated at a table with a view of the Canyon – of course, it’s dark out so we can’t see anything, but we know it’s out there – right there. Tom and Mary join us a bit later and we proceed to spend two hours eating, drinking and talking. Talking about the day, talking about the year that has passed, sharing a little bit of what I do and where I live, what Nancy is doing and what her dreams are. I am shocked when we pay and I see that it’s already 10:30 pm. Not too late to go to bed, right? I’m ready and it feels great to slide between the sheets with a tired body and a clear heart.