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Main Boards => Long Distance Walks => Topic started by: Litehiker on 05:03:22, 09/11/19

Title: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Litehiker on 05:03:22, 09/11/19
Two years ago in early November a friend and I backpacked ("wild camped") the Grand Canyon from the North Rim to the South Rim in 4 days.


Day 1-> North Rim to Cottonwood Camp (1/2 way down)


Day 2-> Cottonwood Camp to Phantom Ranch (Colorado River)


Day 3-> Phantom Ranch to Indian Garden (1/2way up)


Day 4-> Indian Garden to South Rim (and a big pizza and a craft IPA beer)


My buddy was 71 ans I was 74 so we called it our "geezer hike".
So this may not be considered a "long distance walk" but it was a tough walk. Two days downhill does make the quad muscles ache and two days up
can be tiring. However the spectacular scenery took our minds off the exertion most of the time.


I do remember a similar Grand Canyon trip being easier 8 years earlier. Age does catch up with one.


Eric B.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Owen on 08:04:17, 09/11/19
Any photos?
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Mel on 20:28:17, 09/11/19
Yes, any piccies.  Having been to the Grand Canyon's North Rim, I'd like to see some photos too. 


PS. must be that American / English thing again cos hiking hut to hut isn't the same as wild camping in the UK.  Maybe bothy to bothy or hostel to hostel, but not wild camping
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Litehiker on 00:50:50, 10/11/19
Hi Mel,
I'm not sure what you mean by not being "wild camping" in the Brit sense.
What does it take to post photos here? I don't use something like PhotoBucket.


We did "backpacking" in the American sense of the term.
We carried all supplies in our backpacks, cooked our meals twice daily, tent camped (yes, in designated campsites) and followed a trail.
No huts.
No bothies or shelters.


Designated campsites and permits for a park that sees literally over a million hikers per year are a necessity.


So does the fact that we were required to stay in designated campsites and required to have camping permits disqualify this from being backpacking in your definition? Perhaps "what we have here is a failure to communicate." (Cool Hand Luke)


Eric B.


Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Mel on 01:00:20, 10/11/19
I backpacked ("wild camped")


I was referring to this ^^^ your clarification that you call it wild camping - I was clarifying that here in the UK a wild camp is not on designated sites with or without permits.  The locations you list all have basic hut facilities which is why I mentioned hut to hut.  But yes, in the UK backpacking also means carrying all your own stuff.  Two different things.


As for posting pics, this forum needs a hosting site.  Many people here are using "postimage" as it doesn't require membership  O0
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Litehiker on 01:13:17, 10/11/19
Mel,


Hmmm, well to handle the very high traffic volume the GC park does have a very few water spigots at designated campsites and lavatories as well.  But no shelter (except over the picnic tables at Indian Garden but there are no tables elsewhere). So it ain't hut camping but it ain't off trail bushwhacking by any means either.


Other trails in the GC NP are far less "developed" with only designated camping "areas".


Eric B.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Mel on 01:20:33, 10/11/19
I think wild camping in the UK is what you would call stealth camping in the USA.  Totally self-sufficient, leave no trace and not on designated camping areas.


Anyway, piccies please  :)  I want to go all nostalgic myself  O0



Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Litehiker on 01:48:47, 10/11/19
AHA! Stealth camping. Now we're into another area. Here it usually means hiding from rangers and trail monitors who want all backpackers in designated campsites. I've done it on the AT a few times when I could no longer stand the circus at the AT shelter sites.


But here in the American west there is SO much space to backpack off trail that it is often the main way people camp. I do it when backpack hunting because I'm following game trails and water sources.


Eric B.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: sunnydale on 20:19:14, 12/11/19
Your turn Mel! :D
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Jac on 08:51:37, 13/11/19
Another plea for piccies, please.
Having been to both north rim and south rim, but only walked down as far as Indian Garden, a nostalgia trip would be lovely.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: gunwharfman on 15:21:25, 13/11/19
The nearest I've ever got to the Grand Canyon is the Gorge Du Verdun in France. A pips-squeak, by comparison, I'm sure. My wife and I always said that we would visit North America when we were younger but we could never agree where we wanted to go so never did.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Mel on 15:45:15, 13/11/19
Do like me and my friend did.  "Tour".  We "bagged" Nevada, Utah, Los Angeles and Arizona in a month.  We hired a car and stopped in the cheapest motels we could find and lived on junk food.  Fantastic memories. 


Hence, now the language barrier confusion, has been addressed, I'm waiting, agog with excitement, to see Litehiker's photographs of his trek   :D
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: sunnydale on 05:04:35, 14/11/19


.....I'm waiting, agog with excitement, to see Litehiker's photographs of his trek   :D


Me too! Having never been there, it would be good to see what all this fuss is about! ;)
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: watershed on 22:34:06, 21/01/20
Sounds a fantastic experience I am very envious.
I did a day walk, from South rim past the Indian gardens to overlook the river, then walked back up to South rim. this was in June 1982. I wasn't a walker then, but a keen runner. I hired a ruck sack and took a gallon of water and some snacks. There was a lucky half pint left when I got back to the rim. We had a wonderful sunset that night viewed from the rim followed by a gallon of beer in the hotel.
As Litehiker says my quads certainly knew about it the next day. It was worth every ache and twinge. Definitely in the top five of my bucket list experiences. The scale is so immense that no photos I have seen actually does it justice. I would love to visit it again.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: sunnydale on 06:25:01, 23/01/20
Still waiting for pics I see! :D
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: richardh1905 on 07:30:43, 23/01/20
@Eric B

To post photos you need a 3rd party site to host them. I use imgbb, whose website is very simple and free. I would recommend resizing your photos to 800 x 600 pixels for this website.

I too would love some see some of your photos, not just of the Grand Canyon, but of the other wild places you have talked about. I've been to Calfiornia before on business trips, but feel that I have barely scratched the surface, and would love to return.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Birdman on 13:49:18, 16/02/20
Wild camping is not allowed in Grand Canyon, for good reason. Only on designated campsites with a permit. :)

I have crossed the Grand Canyon myself, rim to rim, as part of the Beautiful Arizona Trail (800 miles, from Mexico to Utah).
(Hike report with many photo's in my signature link)

Some pictures of Grand Canyon:

(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_SouthRim1.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_SouthRim3.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_GrandCanyon2.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_GrandCanyon8.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_RibbonFalls2.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_NorthRim1.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_NorthRim8.jpg)
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: sunnydale on 15:08:53, 16/02/20
Fantastic photos birdman O0 8)
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Birdman on 15:24:05, 16/02/20
Fantastic photos birdman O0 8)


The Arizona Trail is fantastic. How do you like these for wild camp spots in the Sonora Desert? Just be careful  with your inflatable mattress!



(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_BlackHillsCamp3.jpg)


(https://www.hikingbirdman.com/Web/Web_AZT_GilaCamp2_2.jpg)
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: sunnydale on 15:26:15, 16/02/20
Looks great O0 ...but I don’t camp! I like a proper bed at the end of a hard days walking :D
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Birdman on 15:41:15, 16/02/20
Looks great O0 ...but I don’t camp! I like a proper bed at the end of a hard days walking :D


Yes, then the Arizona Trail is not for you. There is several days walking between proper beds. Myself, I really like wild camping and avoid towns as much as possible. In 2018 I hiked the PCT and in the 152 days it took me to hike it I slept 151 days in my own tent.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Owen on 15:46:42, 16/02/20
Is that tent an original Phreeranger?
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Birdman on 16:01:56, 16/02/20
Is that tent an original Phreeranger?


No it's a Tarptent Double Rainbow. I absolutely love it! Except for really wet places like Scotland, where I prefer a dual skin tent.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: watershed on 18:02:53, 16/02/20
Excellent photos Birdman, thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA
Post by: Jac on 08:57:52, 17/02/20
Fabulous photos. Brought back good memories, though I wasn't camping unfortunately.