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March, 2019 - Clear Creek backpacking trip |
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Trip number 55 - May, 2018 : Day hiking the South Kaibab, Tonto and Bright Angel Trails
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This was the last backpacking trip for me before the pandemic hit. It was the first trip for my younger nephew, Michael, and number four for my cousin, John. John also brought along an old friend from high school, Rob.
The first day of the trip was pretty nice, starting off with the nice breakfast at the El Tovar Hotel before hitting the trail. Michael had fond memories of the El Tovar breakfast during his first trip to the Grand Canyon in 2008 and had been looking forward to it again. After breakfast we went over the the Backcountry Office and took the shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead. It was a chilly morning and there was ice on the upper switchbacks of the trail which is not unusual for March. By the time we got below those switchbacks the ice was gone and the morning started to warm up once we got into some sunshine. We arrived at Bright Angel campground, our destination for the first night, around mid-afternoon and after picking a campsite we headed up to Phantom Ranch for snacks and beer. The second day was a long one, from Bright Angel campground to Clear Creek, which is about 10 miles. We started the day with big breakfast at Phantom Ranch and then were packed up and on the trail around 730. Most of the trail was pretty easy as it is on top of the Tonto Platform and the only real work was climbing up to the Tonto from Phantom Ranch at the start and then climbing back down to Clear Creek at the other end. The trail did tend to just go on and on and crossed several drainages along the way before it arrived at the final descent to Clear Creek. We were all getting tired by the time we reached that final descent which was not good since it was pretty steep in places with some exposure. Definitely not a good place to slip and fall and luckily no one did. We were all exhausted by the time to reach Clear Creek. We were down at Clear Creek and had camp setup by 430 and then just had dinner and rested until it was time to hit the sack. Day three was supposed to be a hike to Cheyava Falls but since the falls were not flowing we abandoned that idea. Everyone was still pretty tired from the hike over from Phantom Ranch and they were perfectly content with just hanging around at Clear Creek. Michael was having foot issues from the first two days and really needed to tend to that and rest up some. I did a short hike down along Clear Creek myself to the mouth of East Clear Creek in the morning and then another short hike, also by myself, up to Obi Canyon in the afternoon. After dinner we ended up playing cards for a while before calling it a night. Michael said he was feeling up for a little day hike on day four so he, John and myself headed up along Clear Creek to the ruins near Obi Canyon and then continued up along the northern fork of Clear Creek to Ariel Falls. Rob was not interested in hiking and stayed back at camp for another day, resting up for the 10-mile hike back to Bright Angel campground on day five. We played cards again that night before going to bed. I am not much of a card player but John came up with some interesting games and I actually found it quite enjoyable. We had some bad weather that night with lots of wind and some rain and things were a little damp in the morning. Luckily it was not raining when we woke in the morning and were able to pack things up without having to deal with it. We were on the trail and heading for Bright Angel campground by 730. We had a few showers to contend with in the morning but they were all short lived. We made good time hiking and made it to Phantom Ranch by a little after 3pm and were able to have some snacks and beer before the cantina closed for dinner at 4pm. At 4pm we headed down to the campground, setup camp, had dinner and played cards for a while. At 8pm we headed back up to Phantom Ranch for the Beer Hall and and more snacks and beer while playing some more card games before calling it a night. We were up early on day six and had another breakfast at Phantom Ranch before starting out. John and Rob had sent some of their heavier items down to Phantom Ranch by mule and were planning to send them back up the same way. They had a little extra room in their duffels so Michael and I were also able to offload a few items as well. After we packed up and dropped the duffels back at Phantom Ranch we were on the trail at 7am. Michael was still having some foot issues and the hike out for him was slow going but we still made it to the top of the Bright Angel Trail by 230. We had stopped for a second breakfast at a nice spot just above the Devil's Corkscrew and then again for Indian Garden for lunch. There were some icy conditions on the upper sections of the Bright Angel Trail and it was a lot colder on the rim. Back on the rim we headed over to the mule barn to pick up the duffels and then headed back to Flagstaff for pizza and beer for dinner to celebrate the trip. The full trip report is here. |
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Next >> Trip number 57 - September, 2021 - Hermit Creek, Granite Rapid and Monument Creek backpacking trip
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