The sky was grey that morning while we shivered through the daily safety talk in the parking lot of the trail head. Most of us had already attached our mini crampons but those that didn't were slipping and sliding on the ice that covered the parking lot. As soon as we were finished I shouldered my pack and headed down the trail with the group of crew members more eager to get hiking.
The first mile or so was completely covered in snow and ice. I was very glad they provided us with crampons and trekking poles because without the extra traction it would have been a much more dangerous hike. I'd like to think that I've been to some pretty beautiful places in my time but I can say with absolute certainty that mid January on the South Kaibab trail was the most beautiful hike I've ever been on. "The Grand Canyon makes Zion look like Newark." I wrote in my journal later that night. We started surrounded by brightly colored, layered rocks made even brighter by the white snow that had settled on every slightly flat surface. Then we descended into what felt more like the canyon I was expecting, with sharp switchbacks cutting through sheer cliff faces of orange and brown.
After four and a half miles I reached a flat, shrub-covered plain. We had instructions to wait here for the entire crew to arrive so I had some time to really take in the scenery. It looked like a typical desert-scape except for the mountains of red rising in every direction. And that's exactly what they looked like, mountains. Most of the rock formations near me were the typical temples, buttes, and side canyons from the post cards but looking farther into the distance you could see what honestly looked like snow capped peaks rising out of bases made of red and black. I felt like I had successfully seen what the Grand Canyon had to offer. Little did I know there was an entirely new world lying just beyond where I sat waiting to be explored.
The final layer of the Grand Canyon, home to the mighty Colorado River, is the oldest and by far the strangest. It is roughly two billion years old (half the age of the Earth itself) and has it's own totally unique aesthetic appeal. One of the crew members put it right when he described it as Jurassic. The layered walls that define most of the rest of the Canyon give way to solid rocks with vertical scars cut by erosion. Shrubs grow on the sides of the canyon walls and the rocks give the appearance of slowly melting into the rusty Colorado beneath.
At the bottom of the Canyon is a village called Phantom Ranch. There are cabins and a restaurant complete with gift shop and soda fountain. The Canteen, as the restauraunt, is called opens every night for dinner at eight and fills up almost imediatly with warm bodies and conversations. We of course stayed on a beach at the edge of the river near the mule pen. As far as back country comforts go it was a paradise. We had our own three burner stove, a space heater for the mornings, and the gentle hum of the river to help us fall asleep each night. I couldn't have been happier with the accommodations.
The day after our hike was an easy work day (our hips were all pretty sore from the hike). We worked until lunch, clearing out our camp site (it hadn't been used since the '80s apparently) and building a walking path from the main trail to our tents. It was fun to use my hands a bit and I got some practice moving big rocks into advantageous positions using a rock bar; essentially a big piece of solid metal with a triangular tip which when used correctly provides leverage. Our project partner Jake, who had worked with the National Park Service for about a decade, decided that for the rest of the day our time would best be spent walking off our soreness so we went for a walk through Phantom Ranch and up to a viewpoint. My legs felt infinitely better after our walk without packs which was lucky because every morning for the next few days we would have to hike two and a half miles and up 1,600ft to our work site.
Trail work in the Grand Canyon is unlike trail work in most places. At least that's what they told me, this was my first time on a trails crew after all. The trails in the Canyon are not built for sustainability or low maintenance. They get so much traffic from hikers and mules day after day after day that the park simply hires people every year to do their best to undo the damage done by the previous year. So that's exactly what we did. Most of the damage to the trail was in the form of dirt loss. No one likes to walk on a trail full of potholes or made of exposed bedrock. The park service has devised an interesting and unique way to attempt to capture dirt that would otherwise be removed from the trail by erosion. Running parallel to the trail is a drainage system with rock dams every twenty or so feet. These dams slow the flow of water in the drainage and capture dirt that would otherwise flow off the trail and be lost. A lot of the work I did on the trail involved taking the dirt that had accumulated around these dams and putting it back on the trail. We also harvested dirt from the surrounding area to spread over the trail. Of course this wasn't always possible since the trail was often flanked by a rock wall on one side and a vertical drop off on the other. The work was never particularly mentally stimulating which became frustrating for me at times but I especially enjoyed the physical labor and the hike to and from the work site.
Finally it was time to say goodbye to the Canyon. We hiked out the same we we hiked in, enjoying all the amazing views in reverse. By then my legs had become like steel and the hike up was nothing more than a pleasant day's stroll. Stimulating but peaceful. Overall I walked thirty five miles during my stay in the Grand Canyon ascending and descending a total of 9,800ft. At no point along the way did the view fail to exceed all of my expectations. Any time I felt tired or demotivated a thirty second break to stop and look up was all I needed to freshen my spirits. I felt extremely fortunate for the opportunity to spend my first hitch in such a sublime environment and I can only hope that my future projects will be able to live up to the standards set by the Grand Canyon.
Thanks for reading! I leave tomorrow for yet another hitch, this one in the low desert near Yarnell, Arizona. This one will be an eight day hitch instead of the nine I spent in the Canyon. See you all when I get back!
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