Grand Canyon South Kaibab Trail - Down on March 28th 2011

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The trail head for the South Kaibab Trail is located off of the Yaki Point Road, which is closed to private vehicles.  The free Grand Canyon National Park shuttle bus is the only way to access the trail head. Many people underestimate this hike because it is all downhill.  We can tell you we certainly feel every muscle used for our hike that descended 4740 feet.

Here's Dave with his 20-pound pack and hiking sticks ready for the plunge.

As you can see the trail has some ice and snow left over from old man winter.  We were very lucky to have excellent weather for our trip down the mountain.

Here's Kathy with her 12 pound pack enjoying a view of the canyon below.  We had packed smartly anticipating any weather or condition changes which happen quickly in the canyon. We had heard that rock slides frequently occur during seasonal changes.

 

Here you can see other hikers along the trail.  Notice that this portion of the trail is outlined and more defined.

Here's a view of where our hike began. Elevation at the top is 7260 feet.

Through the first ¾ mile, the trail cuts through the eastern side of Pipe Creek Canyon until Ooh-ahh Point, where the canyon walls turn around Yaki Point and the view of the eastern canyon opens up. The point is named after a common reaction to the view

Here you can see Phantom Ranch but you still have a few more miles to travel.  This photo better shows the typical steepness next to most of the trail.  The slope of the trail averages 12% overall with some segments as high as 15%.

Here's a great shot of our first glimpse of the Black River Suspension Bridge over the Colorado River.  This bridge is the one used by the mules because they cannot see the river through the bottom of the bridge.  Kathy liked that too! 

 

Building the bridge in the remote and difficult-to-access Inner Canyon posed hazards and challenges to construction. Motorized vehicles such as cars and trucks could not access the deep recesses of the canyon along the river, so all materials were transported by mules or human power. National Park Service mules carried most of the 122 tons of materials for the construction of the bridge into the canyon. The one-ton, 550-foot- long suspension cables were carried down the canyon on the shoulders of 42 Havasupai tribesmen who walked single file down the trail while carrying the cables. They carried the cables over nine miles of trail and down over 4,000 feet from the rim.

 We finally arrive at Phantom Ranch.  The hike down took us 5 hours and the elevation change was 4598 feet.  We arrived at 12:30 and were napping in our cabin by 1:30 with two alarm clocks set to wake us up for our Steak dinners at 5:00 p.m.