Desert Southwest - The Checklist Edition - Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim Traverse, Day 2 - Clear Creek Campsite to Cottonwood Campsite - September 2014

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The Box

Bright Angel narrowed even further as we walked upstream. Soon, we came to a deeply entrenched intersection, where Bright Angel Creek was joined by another smaller (but also flowing) creek from the west. This creek, I learned later, was Phantom Creek - itself an interesting backcountry destination. The spot we were standing at - the confluence between the two creeks, is marked on the maps as "The Box". Probably not a great place to be in a flash flood, but a very neat place on this fine morning.

courtesy JInnes

Water Stool

Marching Upstream

Starting to Widen

Continuing upstream along the still almost-flat North Kaibab Trail, the canyon began to open up again, and soon, there were small areas of bright greenery along the banks of the rushing creek. Although the day was starting to warm up, we were still in the shade of the walls more than we were in the morning sun. Bright Angel Canyon then once again closed up into a stretch of narrows. More train-like bridges hopped us back and forth between the left and right-hand banks.

courtesy JInnes

Elegant Nightshade Flower

Fruiting Fishhook Cactus

Sunny canyon floor

While hiking along the trail, we would occasionally come across (both going upstream and downstream) solo "hikers" wearing nothing more than jogging clothes and a water bottle or two. These, we quickly realized, were rim-to-rim runners: folk who attempt to run between North and South Rim Trailheads in one long running day. Distance? Not much less than a full marathon - somehwere around 35 or more kilometres, depending on the exact route. Given the roughness of the trail in places, the extremes of temperature, and - most of all - the huge amount of elevation gain and loss, this is a major undertaking. Some of the people we saw doing this seemed to be going along fairly well. Others seemed seriously taxed.

More Narrows

Bridge Crossing #[many]

By about 11:30 a.m., about 6km (3.5 miles) upstream from Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Canyon opened up again, this time much more than before. We had gradually climbed high enough that we were nearing the top of the Vishnu basement rocks. Erosion had a much easier time with the sedimentary rocks into which we were now climbing.

We had been hiking along at a good pace, and we seemed to be in a nice groove. It took a gentle nudge from Chris for me to realize that I perhaps had put the cruise control setting at slightly too high a pace. We were in no hurry today; maybe it was time for a slightly early and extended lunch break / rest stop.

courtesy PChen

Higher Layers Now Visible

Lunch

Much wider canyon

Clouds had started to gather overhead as we had lunch, and as we were finishing up, we actually felt a few drops of rain. The forecast for today was very similar to yesterday's, with a chance of afternoon showers. So, this was not a huge surprise.

The skies above darkened, then brightened, then darkened again with the passage of several short showers. In between, we had bright sunshine and warm temperatures.

courtesy RHanel

Afternoon Instability

Rosette Closeup

Pleasant Desert Path

courtesy RHanel

courtesy PChen

Flower Stalk, Utah Agave

Change Underfoot

Afternoon Shower

Shortly before 1pm, we had hiked to within one mile of our destination (Cottonwood Camp). A trail junction sign was positioned at a path that branched off to the left. The sign, however, pointed to the right - in the direction of the North Kaibab Trail - and was written "Ribbon Falls via Bridge".

Ribbon Falls is one of the attractions popular with hikers along the North Kaibab Trail. It is situated on the west side of Bright Angel Creek - across from the side we were now on. Given the context, it was logical to assume that there were two paths to Ribbon Falls - a bridged one somewhere further up the trail, and this one, leading off to the left.

Unbridged Ribbon Falls Jct

We debated for some time at this junction. First, to decide whether or not we should visit Ribbon Falls. And secondly, if we were going, whether or not we should try the unbridged route or not.

In all, nine of us decided to have a gander at Ribbon Falls. Of those nine, seven of us - myself, Jenn, Roland, Stephanie, Brian, Chris and Pu - decided to try the unbridged route. My view of it was this: a bit of exploration on a sunny day with no time constraints can be a useful experience. Plus, our feet were hot - wouldn't a wade in cool, clear waters be nice?

courtesy PChen

Fording the Creek

We followed the path left towards Ribbon Falls. As expected, we soon arrived on the banks of Bright Angel Creek, and had to decide where to cross. It looked like there was a faint path on the opposite bank, but there was a more distinct path along the near shore. Perhaps a bit further upstream had a more suitable crossing point.

This turned out not to be the case, and the going became a bit of a thrashy bushwhack. Jenn, Roland, and Stephanie turned back, deciding on the sure-fire but longer bridged approach.

courtesy RHanel

Ribbon Falls Jct

We knew we were off-course. At this point, though, we were most of the way to where the bridged trail approached the falls, so the four of us decided to continue on. We took off our boots and waded across the knee-deep creek, then dried off our feet, put our boots back on, and hiked another sixty or seventy yards across an awkward boulder field to the bridged trail. Upon looking at a satellite map after the trip, it was clear that the right thing to do would have been to just cross the creek as soon as the little path reached it. As it was, I emerged onto the bridged path about the same time that Jenn came along it. No time benefit in exchange for extra effort. Eh, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

courtesy JInnes

Bright Angel Canyon

Very soon the bridged trail (which is actually called the Ribbon Falls trail) turned a corner and headed up a small side canyon. There was a little rushing flow of water at the bottom of this canyon - no doubt the same water that formed Ribbon Falls.

A short hike up this shady side-canyon brought us to the base of Ribbon Falls. Very, very unique Ribbon Falls.

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