Bright Angel Trail, South Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona
The Bright Angel Trail begins on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at an elevation of 6860′ and descends to the Colorado River in the Canyon bottom. I only had time to hike down to the Indian Garden at an elevation of 3800′ so this blog entry contains images of my travels over that 3060′ drop in elevation and the harder return to the top. It is a well traveled trail with many switchbacks (zigzags) down the canyon walls and is shared by humans and mules. I’ve marked the normal stopping points where a decision has to be made to go on or start the long trek back to the top. I chose to go to the Indian Garden. Round trip took me almost exactly 6 hours and my camera equipment got very heavy by the time I got back to the rim. From what I could find out, the normal pace would take about 7 hours so I guess I was moving along quite quickly despite stopping to take a few hundred shots along the way.
One of two ‘tunnels’ in the upper sections of the trail. Most of the upper section has a gradient of about 15 degrees but there are sections where I would estimate that the gradient is more like 30 degrees.
The upper mile of the trail was still coated in about and inch of ice and packed snow and somewhat slippery in places. As can be seen, snow was still hanging around.
A kindly reminder that hiking in the canyon is dangerous and recommending that hikers not try the full round trip to the river and back in one day.
Going down was a lot easier than coming back up!
Every so often they lose a mule off the edge of the trail. It’s a long way down in some places!
I tried to give some idea of perspective but humans are so tiny in this environment that perspective is hard to capture.
The three mile rest point at the V in the trail provides a shelter from the elements. Walking out to the point provides an excellent panoramic view of that part of the canyon.
A sobering thought about half way down.
“Getting to the bottom is optional. Getting to the top is mandatory.”
Taking a much needed break at the three mile rest point. Those going up were deciding when to add warmer clothes. Those going down were switching to shorts and t-shirts.
My observation: 3 miles of switchbacks is a lot of switchbacks!
The strange sensation at this point is that, after three miles of walking switchbacks, it still seems like you are closer to the top than to the bottom.
The Indian Garden was the end of the trail for me and a nice spot for a short rest before heading back up to the rim. Left the rim at 10:30AM and arrived at Indian Garden about 1:00PM. Got back to the rim at about 4:30PM and was really trekking at a good speed until I encountered high winds and a brief snow storm about 1/2 mile from the rim.
The trail is shared with mules which make the trek from top to bottom on a scheduled ‘for hire’ basis booked well in advance.
Just waiting patiently for someone to get on top.
Indian Paint Brush was beginning to flower in the lower reaches of the trial while snow was falling at the rim.
Flowering trees added to the beauty of the Indian Garden.
Early flowing phlox were in bloom along the lower reaches of the trail.
This hiker left the Indian Garden ahead of me but decided that a nice rest was in order when he found these rocks in the sun. Not sure how he faired when the adverse weather arrived a half hour or so later.
Used my fish-eye lens to bend the rock walls and replicate the feeling I had that the storm was closing in around me.
One of the two tunnels near to the rim.
Looking back down the trail to see the weather patterns across the canyon.
Looking back down the trail to see the weather patterns across the canyon.
The white is old snow. The brown part of the trail is about an inch or so of ice. Adding to that danger, the weather had socked in with a wicked combination of wind, rain and ice pellets. Last half hour of the ascent was definitely not pleasant.
One of the tunnels. A welcome refuge from the howling wind that accompanied the rain, snow and ice pellets that came in sheets every few minutes at this point in the ascent.
Finally reached the rim again and quickly looked for shelter from the wind.
After I was back up on the South Rim and the storm had passed, the sun came out again and repainted the canyon.
