Porcupine's Arizona Trail (AZT) hike. Miles 697-800 between Grand Canyon South Rim and Utah border

Grand Canyon South Rim to Utah border

Part 1 of 2

The Grand Canyon continued to be amazing and was my favorite part of the trail. I woke up and left camp early in hopes of making it to the South Kaibab trailhead by sunrise. It was time to continue making progress on the AZT. I miscalculated the timing. It was a longer walk than I realized. It was three miles to the trail, not two. I hit to the rim at sunrise exactly, but only because I did a short bushwhack to the road to reach the rim trail instead of sticking to the AZT which followed a dirt road in the woods.

Again, the sunrise wasn’t the spectacular color explosion, but this time for the opposite reason, not enough clouds. It was a beautiful clear day.

I headed down the trail in the shade of the canyon walls. The farther down I got, the more people there were. The trail was very busy. Tons of tourists and runners. But the views were beautiful.

I made a quick stop at one of the rest areas to pull snacks out and use the pit toilet. I chatted with a ranger who checked my permit for the camp. Pretty quickly, I was getting closer and closer to the river until I was at the bridge.

I went thru the tunnel and across the bridge. The Colorado is huge and vivid green. I was so excited to be there.

Across the river, I came upon a mule train packing out trash. I love mules. I think they’re really cool animals, surefooted and super smart, which is the problem people have with them. They think for themselves and don’t always listen if they think you’re not being safe.

At the bottom I made a quick stop at the Bright Angel camp bathrooms before heading down to the rivers edge. It was time for my right of passage dip in the river. I’d been looking forward to this for weeks. The water was cold and refreshing. I loved it.

The day was already getting hot. I saw a pretty lizard that looked reminiscent of a bearded dragon while making my way to Phantom Ranch. Looking it up later, I learned it’s a desert spiny lizard.

I filled up at a water station on the way. Once at the ranch, which is full on little cabins with AC and a lodge, I stopped in the lodge/dining hall to see what there was. There was a store! And they had lemonade for sale! It was just Minute Maid, but I got a cup and enjoyed the novelty of buying lemonade at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I grabbed a second cup and mailed a post card that would be packed out by mules before continuing on my way.

I didn’t have far to go to Cottonwood camp. I had plenty of time for some side trips. I made my way up the trail towards Ribbon Falls, stopping to chat with a Hayduke hiker, Fancy Feast. She gave me a great water report and I signed her pack.

The trail was easy, gentle, and beautiful.

I saw another cool lizard. This one yellow with leopard like spots, another collared lizard.

As the sun rose, the trail became, unsurprisingly, sunnier. I hiked with my umbrella until I reached the junction for the falls.

I actually had to ford Bright Angel Creek. My only real river crossing of the trail and it was on a side quest. There were way too many social trails to the falls so it was hard to tell what the correct path was. I made it though and it was beautiful. So much water and greenery.

I found Little G standing at the waters edge. It was fun seeing her again. We climbed up to the middle of the falls and took pictures of each other standing under the stream.

We parted ways shortly after, but were both headed to Cottonwood, so I’d see her again. I wanted to check out upper Ribbon Falls, a much lesser known and hardly traveled side quest. I found the junction to the trail after a little while. Definitely less used. I climbed up past the point where lower Ribbon Falls begins and then up a little more. I was deep in a side canyon following the stream to the end.

After about a mile, I made it to Upper Ribbon Falls. It was so lovely. I had the entire side canyon to myself. I got in the water again. It was amazing.

The hike out felt way faster than the trip in. It wasn’t long before I was descending to where I left my pack, hopefully unmolested by ground squirrels who are known to chew through everything. I figured it’d be safe because so few people come this way and they haven’t learned it as an area where they can steal people food. I was right. It was fine.

I made it across the creek again after fruitlessly searching for a non existent bridge.

I grabbed more water because all the rangers kept telling me there’s no water at Cottonwood. It took me a while to realize they meant no water for normal people. As in potable water. I had a filter. I didn’t need potable water and had been carrying extra for no reason. I saw on the map the creek passed by so I assumed it wouldn’t be accessible. It was easily reached at camp. Anyway… after crossing and carrying too much water, I found Little G again talking with a couple she met very early in her hike. I hung out with them all in the shade until another thru hiker type walked by. I called to her and found out she was the one I was following in the previous section. The Aussie who was always just ahead. It was fun to finally meet her. She did a flip in this last part instead of lingering like I did so she would be done later that day. Little G and I continued together the last mile or so to camp.

It didn’t take long. The stock camp area was pretty full of hikers. It’s really tiny and only three tents fit. I’m pretty sure they allow for 6 permits in the AZT/stock camp. Little G and I dropped our gear off in the corral which had lots of space. Bailey had told me sleeping in the troughs is a pretty nice way to cowboy camp with no wind so we were tempted to give that a go. We went down to the water and sat in the stream. I ate my ramen as a very late lunch and enjoyed the afternoon. After an hour or so, we made our way back to the group camp and hung out with Mike and Everlong at the picnic table while eating more food. The ranger came by to check our permits and give us the rundown. She was super nice. Little G asked about empty normal camp spots, but since it was the first day, the ranger thought they’d be fully booked. She left us to our snacking and chatting. We watched an NPS helicopter come in and land at the helipad 75 meters or so down trail.

About an hour after her first visit, the ranger stopped by again to tell us there was in fact one open normal site. Little G and I grabbed our stuff and headed to claim it. The corral would have been fine, but the campsites are actually designed for people. I convinced her to cowboy camp. This would be her first time doing it and this was a great spot to do it. The Grand Canyon is a dark skies area, there were few clouds, and no wind. Perfect night for it.

We climbed into bed early and enjoyed the sunset from our sleeping pads.

The night skies were absolutely stunning. Clear view of the stars and milky way.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of runners trying to do the rim to rim to rim hike which meant they were coming through the campground at 3am. They were not courteous. Many were talking loudly and shining their headlamps on any sleeping form. I was constantly being woken up by them. Definitely lost a lot of respect for runners in that moment. Eventually, an extra noisy group came through at 0430 and I gave up trying to sleep. It was getting light out and Little G was mostly packed up. I too packed up and hit the trail shortly after around 0500. I was a little grumpy with all the runners. Luckily for them, there was a super nice woman doing a rim to rim run at the Manzanita break area. She redeemed the runners a bit with her friendliness. I also caught up to Little G at the water spigot there. We sat at the table and filled up on water. I made a breakfast drink and we hit the trail. We hiked the rest of the trail out of the canyon together.

The trail was a lot of fun. I like North Kaibab better than South. We got out early enough that the entire climb was shaded as well.

The trail was packed with people. The first Saturday the day after the trail opened after almost a year of being closed. Should have expected that. I had such a great time hiking out with Little G despite the crowds. Her enthusiasm and happiness is so infectious and great to be around. I wish I had met her earlier.

She got a couple fun photos of me hiking and going through the tunnel and at the Coconino Overlook.

We reached the rim at 0900. After a minute of celebrating and reading the signs which mentioned the Kaibab squirrels; we were off to find the general store. Snack time! It was an easy mile walk there. We grabbed so many snacks. Mostly savory ones for me and sweet ones for her.

I had my AZ ice tea, cheese curds, and Pringles and enjoyed sitting at the table. Perfect way to celebrate our rim to rim adventure. We walked back to the trail together and spotted the squirrel we just read about. They live only on the Kaibab plateau. They are neat looking, almost reminding me of small skunks. They have dark colored bodies and whitish gray tails and fluffy little ear tufts. So cute. Terrible photo though.

Back at the trail, we had a nice chat with Mike. It’d be the last time we see him. He was going to go slower, camping in the park, and staying at the Kaibab lodge area the next day. We were planning on hiking out fully. Back on the AZT, I lost Little G. I was walking a little faster. I stopped at a picnic bench along the main road and ate some lunch. Immediately after, when I headed back to the trail, I came upon an art station. It was super cute! They had post cards you could color in and send off. I was deep in concentration coloring in my post card when Little G startled me. She had also take a break at some point earlier. She was excited as I was about the little station and joined me for an art session.

We addressed and stamped our postcards and stuck them in the box. It was a lot of fun that someone had set that up.

Back on trail we lost each other again. Soon I was in the real burn scar from the Dragon Bravo fire that destroyed millions of acres of land. It was pretty gnarly. Not as bad as the Nor Cal fire scars but still not good. I was covered in soot by the end of the day.

I checked out the fire tower close to the end of the day, but I read the view wasn’t good and it was very windy so I decided not to go up. I both regret and don’t regret that decision. I like doing all the side things, but it was a bit sketchy for me. I exited the National Park shortly after around 1700. I could now camp anywhere.

I read that the valley I would be walking through wasn’t great for camping as it’d be cold and there weren’t a lot of flat spots. I decided it’d be better than the ridge ahead though because I was still in the burn scar. The advice to camp in the saddle was good before the trees became standing dead. Now it would be very unsafe especially with how windy it was. I stopped for the day at 1730 hoping Little G would find me.

After 1830 came and went I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be joining me. I was settled cozy in my quilt ready for the cold night. Right before bed, I went out for one last bathroom break around 2030. The sky was amazing. So many stars.