Dispatch #23

Hamiltons Cross-Country Adventure 2010

Dispatches

Jul 30

Published at 01:07

It was so difficult for us to leave Las Vegas behind that we didn’t
reach the Grand Canyon until after dark. Luckily, we had secured a
room at the Maswick Lodge on the south rim. We organized our packs
for the next day’s adventure and dined on cold pizza.

We started our Grand Canyon experience at 4:30am, arriving at the
South Kaibab trailhead just before dawn. This alone was a unique way
to see the canyon, since there was hardly anyone else around at this
hour. By leaving early, we avoided the hottest part of the day.
Temperatures can reach 120 degrees in the canyon! The sunrise and
expansive views were amazing. Pictures cannot capture the beauty of
the sun illuminating the red walls, or the rainbow stretching across
the buttes (but we tried)!

At 9:30am, we arrived at Phantom Ranch and enjoyed a refreshing dip in
Bright Angel Creek. We passed the rest of the day admiring our
surroundings and resuming competitive play on our travel backgammon
set. While Chris still leads 18-12, Caroline managed to close the gap
considerably!

After a wonderful night’s sleep in our cabin, we rose again at 4:30am
for the real test. We headed into the muggy darkness and started our
climb up the south rim via the 10 mile Bright Angel Trail. We drank
lots of water and were blessed with cloud cover for most of the
morning. After climbing up 4,000 feet, we arrived back on top at
11am! The best $2 we ever spent was on showers at the nearby
campground.

Headed up to Zion NP in Utah!

Canyon

Name: Phantom Ranch, Grand
Elevation: +0 m
Latitude: 36° 10’ 50” North
Longitude: 112° 9’ 51” West