Spring 1979

The First Trip. Down the Kaibab, Up the Bright Angel.

My first backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon was sometime in 1979. I had lived in Arizona for just over a year and while I had visited the south rim a few times before, the most hiking I had done was a few miles down the Bright Angel, like most tourists. Our plan was most basic. Down the Kaibab, with one night at Bright Angel campground. Then up the Bright Angel Trail with another night at Indian Gardens.

Having done all of my backpacking up to this point in the east, I was a little intimidated by the sheer dropoffs on the Kaibab trail. This first picture, taken along the Kaibab, shows Tom, Buddy, who we had met along the trail with his girlfriend (who is taking the picture) and myself on the outside. The picture clearly shows my unease at being on the outside of this threesome, I'm leaning towards the wall as much as I can, and my backpack is shifted over to the inside also! Later on, things got a little more comfortable but I was still in awe of the dropoffs and what little room was left over for hikers when pack mules were passing.

Knowing very little of what to expect on the bottom, we were quite surprised to find out we could buy a cold beer at Phantom ranch, which we did after soaking our feet in the cool waters of the creek. At one point, Tom wanted to cross the creek without walking downstream to the bridge. He took off his boots and when he tried to throw the first one across the creek it went straight up instead of across and landed in the middle of the creek instead. The current quickly carried it downstream past me (I was laughing hysterically while Tom was yelling for help!) and I yelled to a fellow downstream to try to grab it before it headed on down to the Colorado. The guy saw it coming, but it was a good 10' out from the bank. At the last second this guy jumped in head first and reached out and grabbed the boot! He stood up, soaking wet and holding the boot by its lace. What a scene this was!

Since without this nice persons help Tom would have been walking for the next two days without a boot, he was promised and received a couple of nice cold beers at Phantom Ranch that evening. Here is a picture of us at Bright Angel Campground talking to the ranger.

The second day we headed up the Bright Angel trail to indian gardens. That night, after ignoring suggestions to hang my pack, I awoke to find a deer munching through my pack and eating what food I had left.

It's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you top the Bright Angel trail on your way out and pass tourists walking down just a few hundred feet to experience the canyon. My feeling at the time was that the Canyon was a wonderful experience, but it made you earn every cent of that experience. Needless to say, this was the trip that whet my appetite, and I've yet to be sated.