The plan was to meet up with Dave and Jon for a four day Grand Canyon hike. This time we were to go "off corridor" which means on a less popular, less maintained trail to a camping area less well developed. You know, more adventurous,
Like before, we spent the night at Mather Campground at the rim so we could get an early start. We stopped for coffee, but arrived at the trailhead, loaded up and started down by a little after 8am. When you are retired, that is early. We were hiking Hermit's Trail. Right from the start you recognize that this trail is more primitive than South Kaibab and Bright Angel. It is narrow. There are rocks on the trail that nobody has kicked aside. The trail map labels some areas as "rock slides." We found out that means rocks, sometimes truck size boulders, have fallen across the trail from the cliffs above. This trail is "less maintained," so the boulders block the trail. No problem. You just climb up, over, and around them, find the trail on the other side, and continue.
But, did you ever wonder if more boulders would fall today? They fell sometime in the last twenty years. Not millions of years ago. The Grand Canyon is dynamic. It is slowly getting bigger.
Oh well. You can't worry about stuff like that. Keep calm and hike on.
The many deep steps started taking a toll on Peggie's knees. At some point she was hurting at every step. (Here I use the word "step" to mean a stair step, but many of them are knee high) The extra weight of the pack puts more strain on all body parts. Balance can be hard to maintain. Stepping down is like stomping. For Peggie, this time the pain became unbearable. Finally, she let us know how bad it was. We all talked and agreed that she needed to return to the top rather than continue down to the river. We determined that Dave and Jon should go ahead and enjoy the trip as planned, while Peggie and I returned to the rim.
By then it was mid-afternoon. We knew we would not get out before dark, but that we could find a spot to sleep somewhere. The hike out is hard because it is uphill, but you don't have those knee pounding down-steps. Unfortunately, the damage to the knee made going up those same steps hard because the pain robs you of the strength needed to lift yourself and the heavy pack. I often assisted with either a push or pull on the larger steps. We made slow progress.
A clap of thunder warned us of an approaching storm. We donned our rain gear just in time as a squall came over. I kept checking the trail map, hoping we would make it to Santa Maria Spring, where a stone shelter would provide a good overnight shelter. (I know, redundant, but it can't be helped) We passed up three good level tent sites because they were so exposed to the strong winds that getting the tent set up would have been problematic.
Finally, approaching darkness, and a really steep treacherous section of trail forced us to set up on a site that would not have been appealing under ideal conditions. Not level, covered in fist size rocks, and barely larger than the tent, we made it work. We moved the larger rocks, set one side against the cliff, weighted the tent with backpacks and bodies and managed to get sleeping bags in place. There was just enough room to get around the outside of the tent without falling into the abysss, so I went around, reaching under the tent with Peggie guiding me from inside, and swept away more rocks under our sleeping areas. Thank goodness for good air pads. During the night, I kept sliding downhill into the tent wall, but every time the wind whipping the tent woke me up, I scooted back to the top.
Next morning, we set out again with about 3 1/2 miles and 2000 feet to go. It took over an hour to get to Santa Maria Spring, so we were glad we stopped the night before and didn't try to make it in the dark. A very nice man there offered to take some of Peggie's pack weight to the top, but we foolishly turned him down. Later wished we had accepted the offer.
We got to the top in a little over four hours. Not bad, considering. We stopped often.
The drive home was uneventful, and we soaked away some soreness in the hot tub before getting 10 hours of sleep. Tired? Uh huh.
Now, all I have to do is drive back up and get Dave and Jon when they hike out tomorrow as planned. Can't wait to hear how it went for them.
2 comments:
Ohhh I understand how Peggie knees feel.
Sounds like it was a "exciting" hike none the less.
Not sure if I could have handled that over night sleep on the edge either, Marv would have had to sleep on the edge side as well.
You two will have some exciting stories to tell way up North :) you have to share with Marv :)
Hope to see you guys in September.
I like this picture. That slope on the right side goes right into the canyon. I am standing about where the corner of the tent was. You can see how much room there was to walk around the outside of the tent without getting into the loose rocks. Brother Don accompanied me on the pick-up run. We arrived early enough to sit at the trailhead and admire the canyon for a couple of hours before D&J made it out.
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