First trip report post. I am not much of a biographer but thought I would throw some pics up of our 2 night Rim to Rim trip a few weeks back.

Flew in to San Diego on Saturday where my buddy lives. He picked me up and we hit the road. Arrived St George Utah around 8pm and checked in to a cheapo motel.

Arrived at the North Kaibab park entrance at about 7am Sunday only to find there was a snow storm the evening before that left a few inches of snow in the park.




It was chilly, about 45 degrees when we arrived to the North Kaibab trailhead. Mounted up and hit the trail.


It is amazing to me the climate differences within the park. We went from forest and snow to 80 degrees and some thunder and lightening at Cottonwood camp to 100+ degrees and blistering sun at Bright Angel Camp.

Overall a great trip and amazing scenery. Good to spend some time with an old friend and to throw my old Pacific Northwest bones in to the desert fire so to speak.

Edited by Tuskadero on 07/03/2010 18:07:24 MDT.

Nice selection of pictures. THey gave a good sense of what the trip was like, and it looks like you both had a great time! One day I'd like to do that trip.

Enjoyed the TR report. I want to do that hike just to say we did it. The pictures make me want to more.

Thanks Kris,

Any chance of adding captions to some of your photos?

I'd love to know what the carved out caves were. And where there are people sitting in the water, is that a creek or a canal, or what?

Definitely makes me want to come back again.

Rod

Thank you Kris. I really enjoyed your pictures. I noticed you guys cowboy camped down at Phantom, or it appears so in one of your pictures. How did that work out with all the mice in the Phantom ranch area? My brother in law said he spent one night flicking mice off the side wall of his shelter and could hear them crawling up some of the guylines.

Great photos Kris! This one is definitely on my bucket list.
Did you guys go through a guide to get to and from? Any logistical advice?

Cheers!

Yes, we ditched the tent the second night at Bright Angel Camp. I had heard stories about rodent issues, not to mention scorpions and big hairy spiders. But to be honest, I saw one mouse early in the evening and nothing after that. The stars were just too amazing and the weather just too pleasant to stay inside. I will say, walking through the campground, at least half of the campers were doing the same thing. No issues!!

Logistics

There seems to be no simple solutuion unless there is some way you can swap keys with another party going the opposite direction. But for us, that was impossible.

We simply parked at the North Kaibab trailhead and took the Trans Canyon shuttle back to the car from the south rim. It was $80 per person, so not cheap. But the trip took 5 hours.

It was a long day. We woke at 3:30am, were on the trail heading out at 4am. Caught the 1pm shuttle back to the car and then did the 4 hour drive to Vegas for my flight out the next morning. Long day, 3:30am to midnight. But all worth it. Great experience.

Cheers!

The colors and scale in your photos were amazing. As I scrolled down through the trip report, I was surprised by the scale of the moss covered boulder. I've seen other Canyon trip reports, but saw lots of new shots in this.

Thanks!