Grand Canyon NP (South Rim and South Kaibab Trail) - Day 3 of TX-CA-TX Road Trip
We arrived late afternoon to the NP, checked into our room in Yavapai Lodge and headed to the south rim immediately. By the way, walking distance from the rim, absolutely reasonable price tag, the comfort and cleanness of the room made the accommodation very pleasant. We paid $172/night for two double beds in the highest season with 10 days advance booking.
Sunset at the South Rim from Yavapai Point
This is the view we got as the sun was about to set.
Our plan for the next day was ambitious. We were going to take the Khabib trail for 2.5 hours down into the canyon, hike out and head to Hollywood, CA where our next motel room was booked. We agreed to go to bed early and get up at 6 AM to pack, move out of the room and begin our huge hike.
South Kaibab Trail to The Tipoff and Back
The plan was to park our small SUV at Yaki Point, Yaki Point Road was closed and we had to park off of Desert View Drive (Route 64) just past Yaki Point Road. Heads up... These parking spots are so small, they can only handle a few cars... I wasn't too happy about this, it added a 1.5 miles all together to our hike. At around 7:30, we finally were at the trailhead and begun our hike down. This was our view form the Rim.
It is rightly called by some people the most beautiful hike in North America.
Ooh Aah Point
This viewpoint well fits its name, it is hard to describe the sense of calmness and vastness of Grand Canyon. You are well inside the canyon after about a 25 minute easy hike down.
On our way, we passed Skeleton Point and we made our final descend to The Tipoff point. Skeleton Point was empty, the hike began to feel very remote, it was just the two of us. This is where we came across the mule train:
We had lost 3,280 ft of elevation through 4.5 miles of the trail. From here the canyon looked quite different, we were at the inner rim of the Colorado river canyon, the river looked very close.
It took us a little less than 2.5 hours to get to The Tipoff. By this point, there were no other hikers for the past hour, we were truly on our own. I know it sounds scary, but people do die on these trails if they get into trouble. Just when we took all our photos and videos at The Tipoff, a triathlete family has arrived as they were heading down to the village. We kept to our plan and turned around. It was a little discouraging to know that we had about 5 miles continues uphill climb to gain 3,280 ft of elevation. We didn't have to hurry, we took our time stopped when needed, drank a lot, kept taking our pictures. It took us about 3.5 hours to climb back out to the car. The temperature reached 100 F and when I finally got into the car I felt I have spent all my energy. We were well prepared with supplies:
- food (salty sandwiches and snacks),
- water (3 liter for each of us),
- sunscreen,
- sunhats,
- offline maps on our phones,
- walkie talkies and
- comfortable tennis shoes.
We made a commitment to return next summer and hike all the way down to the village next time. Unforgettable...
Final words on physical shape. My 19 year old son was in good shape, but he had not worked out for a month by then and I was worried about his ability to handle the hike. I worked out 4-5 times a week throughout the year in San Antonio heat (bike, run, weights), I felt,I was prepared, but the young man left me in the dust on the last mile. He said I stop too much, he took off and never looked back.
And off we drove to Hollywood, CA.
Comments
Post a Comment