Grand Canyon-- The Bottom of the Big Ditch

The hike ahead of us today had minimal elevation changes and was just 7 miles of hiking to our destination-- Phantom Ranch and the Colorado River.  However we would be hiking through "The Box" part of the canyon with black rock that can get extremely hot so we got an early start.  We woke up at 4:30am and were packed and on the trail by 5:30am.  It was a very pleasant morning of hiking since we were in the shade of the canyon walls for most of the hike since the sun wasn't high in the sky yet.  The landscape was much more desert in appearance-- gone were the pines we started the hike with yesterday and they were replaced by century plants and prickly pear cactus.  We walked along the creek the majority of the day as it wound its way deeper and deeper through layers of rock resulting in massive canyon walls surrounding us.  

By about 8:30am we reached Phantom Ranch and Bright Angel Campground to stake our campsite for the day.  We found a spot with great shade along the canyon wall that would provide shade in the afternoon.  It was a cool June they said in the canyon but air temps that afternoon would be easily over 100F with surface temperatures at 130F since rock and sand absorb heat well.  For years Phantom Ranch has been elusive for us.  Maybe its name fits in that regard.  Phantom Ranch is a dining hall, cabins, and a few bunk houses at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  The only way to get here is on two feet, riding a mule, or taking a raft.  It's remoteness though doesn't keep it from being a highly sought after locale.  To stay the night at Phantom Ranch you call to make a reservation on the first day of the month 1 year before your trip.  Two or three times I took off a few hours from work to make this phone call.  It would take about 2 hours before I would speak to a person to find out that all the spots for the month had already been reserved.  I think you are more likely to win the lottery than to get a reservation at the Ranch.  We then decided that who needs a bunk bed- we can just camp.  Reservations for the campgrounds in the Grand Canyon have to be made 4 months ahead of time and faxed with multiple itineraries to the National Park Service.  We were rejected with this 3 times.  We finally got spots at the campgrounds but for a trip in June-- summer isn't an ideal time to hike at the Grand Canyon surprisingly enough.  But we were in and now we were finally there on our hike were Bright Angel Creek meets the mighty Colorado River.

Since we had a lot of time that morning we hiked the Colorado Trail which is a short trail in the cliff side that connects the two different trails that come down from the South Rim.  We were really amazed at the trails that were built by the CCC during the Depression.  The Grand Canyon obviously has a lot of elevation change but a good trail can make elevation much more manageable and this is the case with the trails here.  It was also incredible to think about how they were able to build the two suspension bridges across the river since all supplies had to be hiked down.  We watched a few groups of rafters coming down the River and then returned to camp for lunch and to hunker down during the heat of the day.  Arthur spent the afternoon reading and Alex sat in the creek doing some watercolor painting.  

Later in the afternoon we headed to the cantina at Phantom Ranch for lemonade-- so cool and delicious.  We also mailed a postcard to our nieces since all the mail to and from the Ranch is taken by mule.  Before dinner we attended a ranger program which helped pass the time.  We were able to get dinner reservations at dining hall at Phantom Ranch so we didn't have to eat boiled backpacker fare but a delicious stew, homemade bread, salad, and cake.  Our evening was capped with attending another ranger program on reptiles before heading to bed.  Luckily nights are cooler in the desert so it was down to about 85F when we climbed into our tent.