We were up at 4am and on the road shortly after. We got to the north rim Backcountry Office a few minutes after they opened but there were already a couple of people ahead of us. Luckily these people were not looking for slots at Cottonwood Campground but as it turned out we were given some faulty information by the south rim ranger and we could not get two nights at Cottonwood, only one. There was a space open on the second night but the north rim ranger said he could not give it to us and that we would have to come back the following morning for it. I explained to him that we would be camped five miles out on the Ken Patrick Trail on the following morning but it didn't make any difference. Rules are rules and apparently walk-ins can only grab reservations for two nights beginning on the day you show up. Since we had Ken Patrick for one night we could only get the following night at Cottonwood.

So we took the one night we could get figuring it would still make for an easier trip. All we would have to do tomorrow is go down the Old Bright Angel Trail to Cottonwood; not all the way to and then up Wall Creek. We could move camp up Wall Creek on the following day after making a day hike down to Ribbon Falls. That was the plan.

We didn't want to start hiking until mid-afternoon so we spent the morning doing stuff on the north rim. We went over to the Grand Canyon Lodge and had breakfast and then we drove out to Point Imperial and Cape Royal. We went back to the snack shop at Grand Canyon Lodge for lunch and then got to the trailhead for the Ken Patrick Trail around 2:30.

The hike out on the Ken Patrick Trail was very peaceful and quite enjoyable. There was a sign at the trailhead saying that the trail was difficult to follow as it approached the Old Bright Angel Trail but we did not notice this. We met some people coming back the other way who said that had seen a bear but we never saw it. I didn't even know there were bears on the north rim. We crossed a fairly large burn area a few miles in and found the trailhead for the Old Bright Angel Trail on just the other side of this. At got there just a little after 5 and had plenty of time to setup camp and cook dinner before the sun went down.