Grand Canyon South Kaibab-Tonto-Bright Angel

[JeffH]

I've been thinking for a while about doing GC again this year so a few weeks ago I checked for space at Mather campground on the south rim, surprisingly I found a few sites available for two nights and booked them. Once again it's nice to be old because with the lifetime pass they are half price meaning just $9 per night. What I didn't do was any research, so a few days before departure I was looking at the weather and saw a notice on the website that Bright Angel trail was closed from Havasupai Garden (formerly Indian Gardens) to the river for water line repairs. Dang. Oh well that meant an opportunity to walk along the Tonto trail, which is along the mesa areas well below the south rim. Normally that would chop about four miles off the hike meaning a total of 13, however the repair plans have generously included a detour which adds back some distance.
I wanted to leave my car at the end point, so I managed to find the proper parking area just before the hiker shuttle showed up at Bright Angel lodge. In my haste I left the Garmin and my little bag of hard candies inside, so I was already facing adversity right from the start. Arriving at the trailhead, I was first off the bus and headed straight out to the trail. I had seen photos of ice in the first section from the previous week, fortunately now it was all melted off although the ground was damp in a few places. It's steep right away and basically remains like that, dropping 3000 feet in five miles. It starts in shade, occasionally breaking into sunlight before finally cresting Cedar Ridge a couple miles into the journey. At that point a guy from Italy started following so we had a good chat for the next hour, descending to the Tip-Off where I diverged to the Tonto and Antonio headed down to the river. I had never been on the Tonto, it's much different than the others as the vegetation is all scrub brush and the terrain is much more like standard desert walking. The nice part is it's mostly flat, dropping a couple hundred feet along the 4-plus miles. Of course like any canyon, all that elevation given up has to be regained, and it started pretty quickly at the new section. Barely a quarter-mile from Havasupai Garden the trail goes back down this side canyon, then crosses the creek and immediately goes up a staircase and a steep temporary access road. They have some heavy equipment down here, as I walked past a couple guys were running big shovels and helicopters were out making drops of more stuff near Plateau Point. Anyway, 25 minutes later I had covered the net quarter mile so I took a long break in the shade at Havasupai. I walked out of there at noon, going into the harder uphill section and of course heading mostly south directly into the sun. Of course here I started to encounter a lot more people, plenty of day hikers heading to the tree-covered area. Exactly one person headed downhill stepped aside and let me walk past, everyone else simply ignored trail etiquette and barged on through which can be kind of dangerous in some sections. It took me 2.5 hours to reach the top, including a few minutes of shade sitting at 3-mile resthouse and a few more minutes at 1.5-mile resthouse. My times for the last three sections were 45, 50 and 55 minutes which reflects my general conditioning. There is more construction along this section and even at the top the Kolb Studio is in process of renovation. Also there were way too many people milling about so I took a long shade break and drank a full bottle of NUUN strawberry lemonade and wandered back to my car. I stopped at the village market at picked up a pint of ice cream to celebrate and replenish some calories and found my way back to the campground where I spent a relaxing afternoon with the shoes off.
Total clocked by Caltopo: Exactly 7 hours, 15.4 miles, down 4000 up 3600.

Some pics-

Best trailhead view anywhere

IMG_5051.JPG

Steep switchbacks right at the start

IMG_5053.JPG

Approaching Cedar Ridge

IMG_5062.JPG

Around here it starts to really feel like being deep in the canyon

IMG_5067.JPG

Skeleton Point, first view of the river via a short side trail to the left

IMG_5071.JPG

Pretty wide trail with steep drop-offs, not a problem this morning although lots of people coming down on BA side

IMG_5074.JPG

Different kind of dirt as we descend toward the mesa

IMG_5076.JPG

Tonto trail junction

IMG_5079.JPG

Terrain is much different along here, level with scrub brush

IMG_5089.JPG

Crossing Pipe Creek after chasing this canyon way back towards the rim. Pirate flag on the pack.

IMG_5097.JPG

Very deep side canyon, pictures really don't show the scale

IMG_5102.JPG

Finally approaching the shady oasis of Havasupai Garden

IMG_5109.JPG

[JeffH]

More pics as editor was complaining.

Looking across to the construction detour - access road carved into the canyon, that scar will be there for a while

IMG_5110.JPG

Old pumphouse along the creek, trail doesn't usually get this close

IMG_5115.JPG

After retreating down canyon a bit, starting the detour with 32 stairs

IMG_5118.JPG

Looking back at the Tonto route

IMG_5124.JPG

30 minutes later arriving at Havasupai Garden

IMG_5128.JPG

Leaving the garden area, still all that uphill left to conquer

IMG_5135.JPG

View down just after leaving 3-mile resthouse

IMG_5143.JPG

View down just after leaving 1.5-mile resthouse

IMG_5149.JPG

I know I'm getting close when I can see that last switchback

IMG_5150.JPG

Random sign warning about the steep sides below

IMG_5152.JPG

Second best trailhead view

IMG_5156.JPG

[Uncle Rico]

Very nice Jeff. One might even say "Grand." Ha ha. Looks like you had perfect weather.

Is South Kaibab the trail that take you down to Ooh Aah point?

[tekewin]

Awesome! I love the GC. The photos are great.

Rico: South Kaibab goes to Ooh Ahh and Skeleton Point.

[Matthew]

Love the contrast of the greenery with the red rock!