With Hedy, Hermit, Dripping Springs, Bright Angel trails, Ribbon Falls, and South Kaibob and Grandview Trails
Spring break 2004 Hedy and I visited the Grand Canyon. This would be the 4th time this year for me. Hedy was the best of all the girls in our family for hiking. She was the toughest although she tended to whine at times. I solved this problem by making sure I was walking about 30 yards or so behind her.
We were able to get standby reservations for Phantom Ranch for the next day so had a day to take a practice hike. We hiked Hermit Trail down to Santa Maria Springs and then on the way back I took a side trip to Dripping Springs while Hedy went topside to Hermit Trailhead. Hedy did very well and this was a good test because coming out on the Hermit Trail is no easy task. It is quite steep with long switchbacks.
We were blessed with incredible weather. For the entire week we seldom would see a cloud. Just crystalline blue sky.
The next day we hiked down Bright Angel Trail to Phantom Ranch. That is a long hike and quite strenuous. We were able to stay two nights at Phantom Ranch so the next day I made a side trip to Ribbon Falls while Hedy visited a viewpoint just outside of Phantom Ranch-the same vista Nataly and I visited the previous spring break.
The hike out of the canyon was via the Kaibob trail and this is where Hedy began to whine a bit. She only brought a single bottle of water and I didn’t find out about this until we were well into the hike. So we had to ration our water. Fortunately during spring break the canyon weather is not seering like it is in later months.
I didn’t expect Hedy to join me the next day for the final hike (my girls always prefered to hang out in Tuscayan) but she was up early and ready to go the next day. The final hike was down the Grandview Trail to Horseshoe Mesa. I continued a bit further (1 mile) along the right arm of the horseshow to a viewpoint). The Grandview Trail is extremely steep and the upper portion was covered in snow and ice. We had to be very careful to keep from slipping and skittering into the canyon. It was quite an adventure.
The Grandview Trail was the first canyon hike I experienced, and that was with Sophi in June, 2002. This was my fourth time down this particular trail.
My hats off to Hedy for her endurance. Good hiker.
We stopped off at Sendona on the way home and had some fun walking about the town and buying souvenirs.
Some selected photos—
