Phantom Ranch with the Whole Family

The fact that this hike ever got off the ground was because the universe was on our side. First of all, I had to convince Jacqueline that we could all handle this. Second, I had to have a really good friend that actually worked down at Phantom Ranch. Third, he had to actually be working given that the government was shut down for many days prior to this. Lastly, the weather had to work out. I was checking it for days before and it was looking good. I was even able to see the Bright Angel Trailhead from the webcam available on the NPS website and everything was looking good. The trail looked clear and free from debris. We had been staying with Jacqueline's aunt Kris in Cornville, Arizona just outside of Sedona. 

We flew out to Arizona earlier that week and we rented a car. After a rainy day in Sedona which we made the best of by finding a trail to get some running in, we were headed north to the Grand Canyon. The drive was uneventful, but the wait at the entrance gate nearly drove me crazy. Knowing that we only had so much time before the hike started, it was quite infuriating to have to stay in a line of cars a mile long just to get to the trailhead. When we got to the front of the line, the Park Service worker seemed very happy to let us on through without having to pay. We drove out to the Pipe Creek Overlook area where we found a parking spot. Then we were throwing on the overnight packs and were off for a trip down into the Grand Canyon. 

The beginning of the trip was unexciting because we were hiking with our full packs on the rim trail which was paved for bicycles. It was great being back in a place where I was familiar. I love the Grand Canyon and living back here would be great. It was at one point where I was reminiscing about the mule corral at Yaki Point when I walked right into the branches of a pine tree which gave me a nice big cut right across my forehead. It bled a little bit and was somewhat painful, mainly when I started to sweat. It just kind felt like a sunburn. We did make it to the start of the trail where we topped off our waters and used the restroom before beginning the descent into the Grand Canyon. 

Then it was down the trail. Now, Jacqueline was concerned about the drop offs, but she was pretty happy to see that the trail was very wide. The biggest issue for us was the throngs of people. It was a very busy place with lots of humans to pass both uphill and downhill. I made a few of them uncomfortable with how close that I got behind them, but some people seemed totally unconcerned that we were carrying heavier packs and were headed much farther than them. It kind of remained like this until we got to Ooh-Ah Point. This gave the people a place where they could say that they hiked into the Grand Canyon. This was sufficient to many people, but we kept going. Soon we were encountering many mules. 

There were some that were hauling stuff and there were others that were hauling people. There were even some that were doing trail work. No matter what, we had to get out of their way so that the trail was clear. After that it got much quieter. The trail at times seemed to be a place where we had it to ourselves. As we continued down through all the layers, past O'Neil Saddle and going down the Redwall, the views were fantastic. For the most part we were all hiking together with Jacqueline often bringing up the rear when she was taking pictures. Everybody was doing great and I was happy that everything was going so well with the clear blue sky and the warmer than normal November temperatures. 

Down, down, down we went and as we were going down the Redwall, we ran into the halfway sign. This is what makes the Grand Canyon feel so massive is that it already felt like we had climbed down a long way and here we were only halfway. The trail continued around until we were pulling into Tipoff. Here I got to relive some stories with the kids and the wife about days on trail crew. A lot of this was like reminiscing to a life that I had lived long ago. I spent my high school years at the Grand Canyon and worked for the Park Service in my teens and early 20s. It was an amazing place to be a young person and it helped formed me into what I am today. Still, there were a lot of stories I am not so proud to tell my truly amazing kids. 

As we continued on past Tipoff, we got our first views of the mighty Colorado River. This one large river had helped to carve this massive hole. I noticed that the South Kaibab looked so beat up and I realized this was because the mules had been using this trail rather than the Bright Angel. Personally, I preferred the Bright Angel with its greener surroundings, but the South Kaibab was nice too. The only issue was that there were huge divots all over the trails from the mule traffic. It really could use some work, but I guess we are not paying Park Service people like we used to. The trail continued down and down until the Black Bridge came into view. This would be our crossing point. 

I was really proud of how well everyone was doing as the sun was starting to go down in the Canyon. We had spent the whole afternoon hiking down and would be arriving just in time for our friend Tim to get off of work. Tim was a ranger and worked down at the bottom of the canyon. It was the perfect job for him because he was super comfortable with very difficult medical situations and this was sure the place for very difficult medical situations. During the summer, there could be multiple heat related incidents going on here. This time of year, though, it was probably a pretty nice quiet place to have a job. We crossed the black bridge over the river and I filled the kids in about the time I rode a cable car over the Colorado. It was probably one of the scariest experiences in my life. 

We walked past the Indian ruins and the boat beach. Then we went past my Dad's old house. He used to work down here running the water and wastewater treatment plant. It was under construction and his house seemed a bit worse for the wear. 28 years earlier, I had spent many great days there. There is nothing like being a high school kid without any other cares in the world to truly appreciate how much this place could shape someone. It had propelled me into a future of loving the outdoors and I longed to spend many more days enjoying this place. We continued on and I was surprised at how quickly Phantom Ranch was upon us. In my memories there was this separation between the Ranch and my Dad's former house, but the campground was right there.

We saw a Park Service employee across the Bright Angel Creek talking to some campers and we waved. We thought it could be Tim, but it was hard to tell from here. We continued on past the bunkhouse and over to the Ranger Station. We took our packs off and sat down at the front porch after determining that Tim was not there. Soon, some other Park Service people came up and we talked with them for a little bit until Tim came by. I was excited to see him. Tim and I worked together at Zion National Park and he had spent many nights staying at our house in St. George. He was very welcoming and gave us the choice of where we wanted to sleep. The Ranger Station was not quite as I remembered it, but it was still in good shape. We stayed where the Interpretive Ranger typically stayed in a room of our own while the kids had bunk beds in another room. After a little bit, we decided to take a walk through the Ranch. I was amazed once again how close everything was. There was the amphitheater and the cabins. There was the dining hall where people could make reservations for dinner. We looked inside, but continued on our way enjoying the creek as we walked the pathway as far as the trail let us go. The North Kaibab was closed at the Clear Creek trail junction, so we had to turn around there. Still, it made me long for more time and more days in the Grand Canyon.

We hiked on back to the Ranger Station where we all enjoyed a freeze dried dinner. Not too exciting considering there was a full kitchen, but I figured it made sense because it was easy to carry and prepare. Tim played games with us and shared stories of all his medical exploits here in the Canyon. He is a great guy and we all get along with him really well. We stayed up slightly later than normal, but not too bad as we were all pretty beat from the workout that we had that afternoon without thinking about the difficulty the morning would bring. The bed was pretty comfortable and I think we all slept rather well at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. 

We all got up early and tried to get off to an early start. We had dinner reservations in Phoenix that night and I was to make sure that we made that with time to spare. Tim was hiking out on this day also, but he would get a more leisurely start with other things to take care of down at the Ranch. Still, we ate breakfast and snapped a photo making sure to let him know just how thankful we were for his hospitality. Then it was time to go up. The beginning started easily enough walking through the Ranch where we were surprised to run into a deer just hanging out right by the trail as if it was no big deal. We said hi to it and then were on our way out to the black bridge to commence crossing it again. 

This was truly a work of engineering genius and for us it was our last respite until the climb. Uphill we would go. Now Zyla, Conrad, and I were all runners and Jacqueline even dabbles in that also. So, this was just another day in the park for us. We really just kept a pretty steady pace stopping every once in a while to get some food in our system and some water to balance out the lost sweat. The whole way up it was mainly Zyla, Conrad, and I hiking together with Jacqueline just a minute or two behind us. We would stop at certain points, wait for her, but it wasn't long before she showed up. In fact, we were doing pretty great getting out of the canyon. It was a crisp morning, but all and all, the weather had been fantastic. 

We hauled ourselves up to Tipoff, then we hauled ourselves up the Redwall. Everyone was in good spirits and I think the kids were starting to realize that they were going to do it. It was a real accomplishment for them. Both Jacqueline and I had been down the Grand Canyon before. She had been there on a river trip a couple of times while I had been numerous times, but for the kids this was a first experience and a confidence builder to realize that there were many things that they would be able to do. They were handling it like pros with Conrad right on my tail and Zyla just right behind him the whole time. We passed some mules and many humans, but this part of the trail was actually quite quiet with people every so often, but not too busy.

Even as we got closer to the top, it still was not nearly as busy as it was the day before. As we approached the top, the mules slowed us down just a little bit, but we were able to make it out in under 4 hours which was pretty good. I don't think there was a single group that passed us on the way up, which was always a goal of mine when I hiked out in high school. I was so happy for the kids that we got to make this trip and it was pretty emotional for me to be able to share this with the people I love. This was a special place for me and I was glad that I got to experience it again in a different way with my family. I would have to come back in the future, though, as the Grand Canyon will still be there for further adventures. 

Rebel Rock

 I was a little bit nervous about how this hike would go. I knew that the Rebel Creek trail was almost indiscernible last time I attempted to hike that, but the Rebel Rock trail was the other half of the loop. I knew that it was not nearly as impacted by the fire as the Rebel Creek trail. That fire was over 8 years ago, but still the trail had not been cleared since. It was one of my favorite loops to do and I remembered that even before the fire, the trail could be difficult to locate. So obviously, I was a little bit wary about how this was going to go. From the very beginning, I could tell that it was going to go well. It seemed someone had been out here recently cutting trees out and moving debris from the trail. I was able to just hike and find the trail in most places. 

The trail went uphill pretty quickly. Even by the road, the switchbacks began. I was right at the end of the cross country season, so I was in pretty good shape. An uphill hike was nothing to me and I spent most of my time listening to Bill Bryson tell me a tale on the History of Nearly Everything. It had become my practice to listen to audiobooks while hiking. I used to be a little bit ashamed as I should be out listening to nature and thinking my own thoughts. Given that I work so much, this was my chance to do two things that I enjoy doing at once as reading and hiking are two of my favorite activities. This was a really good book and also a very interesting hike. The trees were in pretty good shape. There were sections that were burned out pretty good and other sections where it looked pristine. All and all, though, it was an enjoyable uphill hike through the forest. I wondered how long it would go before I would run into an impassable section of trail that would turn me around. It just kept going and going though. The trail took me past one big creek crossing which looked like it had flashed at some point in its recent history. It looked like it would be interesting to hike up the stream on a different day. 

It took me through a big meadow that was lined out with flagging. You could tell that someone had done some work on this trail recently. At the top of that meadow, the trail went through a dense wood, than popped out to an amazing view of the Sisters. This meant I was on top and I would then follow that around. As I was doing that, I looked for the old lookout site. It was pretty easy to find with some old pieces of the foundation still intact. This was an awesome lookout when it was still around, but now it was burned to the ground. I looked around for a while and enjoyed the view. It was an amazing day with clear views all around. I could look down and see the ridges and mountain tops for miles. I could see why this was a good place to put a lookout. 

Looking over to the actual Rebel Rock, it made me want to come back and climb to the top of that. I would have to do that and also I was hoping that I could connect with the other side of the trail and make a loop out of it. As I approached the other side of that though, the trail rapidly disappeared. At one point I was just in the woods fighting downed trees and fallen branches. I decided right away to turn around. I had already hiked nearly 6 miles anyway and gained over 3000 vertical feet. This was an excellent conditioning hike and I didn't feel the need to fight the woods for much longer. Turning around I really spent some time on the ridge before dropping back down. 

This was such a nice day with great views, but it was also the middle of November, so the light would be slipping away soon. So I started back down. This was smooth sailing with the trail work recently done, most likely by volunteer trail crews like the Salamanders or the Scorpions. I continued listening to my book learning new facts and interesting tidbits of information on each turn of the trail. I really enjoyed being out here along the McKenzie as there were always new places to explore even if those places I had been to previously. This felt like a brand new hike as it was much different than it was when I tread this trail more than 8 years in the past. 

Beeler Spring

 It didn't take long before I was back on the South Olallie Trail. Given I just hiked this trail a few weeks prior and had run into 3 trails that I never hiked before, I knew that this trail was going to become a new favorite. This time I wasn't looking to hike the South Olallie Trail, but was instead hoping to hike the other side of the Rebel Creek Trail. I knew that this was going to be a tough one because when I hiked the Rebel Creek Trail even before it was burned in a wildfire, I never saw this offshoot. This trail, I was expecting, would be long forgotten. I started early enough that I would not have to worry about the daylight that was becoming significantly less this time of year. It is still quite a haul to get up to this trail with significant vertical ascent over 4 miles. I would estimate about 2500 feet of elevation gain.

Where the trail began was essentially where the Olallie Trail stopped gaining vertically. Here there was a sign and the path looked relatively like a path. It didn't look like it had been used much in the past, oh let's say, 75 years, but it was a path. It was too bad that it wasn't used much because this actually turned out to be quite a nice trail. It was fairly level for most of the way and followed a path that seemed rather easy to follow. With GPS as good as it is, it was not hard for me to stay on the supposed "trail" even though in many places it was hard to find. There were times that I would lose it, but would eventually find my way back to it. There were lots of logs to cross over and debris to go around, but there was also the faint, discernible path that led through a comfortable forest. There weren't a lot of views in this forest, but at times it would peak out to the top of a ridge with a view down to the valley below. I loved this section of the forest because it was just so wild. There were huge expanses of untouched forest to enjoy. There was only one significant feature on the map on this entire section and that was Beeler Spring. When I got to where it should be on the map, I could not find any water. From this spot, the trail began to climb and I lost it for a good chunk of time. There would be giant logs down over the trail that I had to work my way around. 

This slowed me down significantly and during this section I was only able to cover 1 mile in about an hour. Eventually, I would regain the path and it would take me to a promontory point where I would have to descend from this point on. It looked like at this point that I was only about a mile and a half from the main trail. The problem was that the trail continued to descend and to become more and more faint. Given the amount of daylight that I had this time of year, I was starting to question whether to turn back. When the trail completely disappeared, I decided that turning back was a good choice. I really wanted to connect it to the other side of the Rebel Creek Trail, but I would just have to come back another day to make this happen. 

I could see Rebel Rock from where I turned around. It was the wise decision. As I was hiking back, I was thinking about why this trail had been abandoned. I thought about the old days when horse travel was a common thing to do to navigate in the wilderness. This would have been a thoroughfare used to get to other parts of the forest. When horses went out of style and the forest service started building roads, this became an unnecessary trail. Since it didn't go to a destination, what was the use of it. I thought that to be unfortunate. Sometimes it seems the forest service uses the designation of wilderness as a way to hide behind not having to maintain an area. This section of the forest was also used for grazing 100 years ago. At one point, there were probably sheep everywhere. I appreciated that they were gone, but the trails were probably in better shape at that point. 

I decided to really look for Beeler Spring on the way back and eventually, I think I found it. It was a damp spot on the ground with a little bit of cut logs around it. At some point, this probably provided water for horses and sheep in this area. Now, it was abandon and had filled in with debris. I wondered what it would take to bring it back to its former glory days. For some reason, it was put on maps all the way back to the 1930s. This was important enough to be on a map, but not important enough to maintain. Kind of like the trail I was hiking today. I made it back to the Olallie Trail finding it a bit easier to hike back on a trail I had already hiked out on. From there I jogged all the way back to the car. It was almost 4 miles all downhill, but I was in good enough shape to make that happen. It turned out to be a great day and when I tried to research more about Beeler Spring, I was stumped by the internet. So, that is why I named my blog post Beeler Spring. I will probably be the only reliable information out there.