A Celebratory Phantom Ranch Adventure With My Son
By Lori Sonken
My son and I are one percenters — a label unrelated to our income level. We belong to the privileged one percent of the six million annual visitors to Grand Canyon National Park who walk from the rim to the canyon floor.
We didn’t have much time to prepare for our adventure. Two weeks before we departed, my friend Tom had emailed saying his family had an extra night accommodation they could not use at Phantom Ranch, a rustic lodging complex designed by renowned architect Mary Colter and built in 1922 along the Colorado River on the canyon floor. Now run by park concessionaire Xanterra Travel Collection, the small complex offers cabins, a hikers’ dormitory, and dining room, called the canteen. Visitors often wait years to win the lottery for a stay at the ranch. We jumped at the offer, flew to Phoenix, and drove approximately 3.5 hours to the park’s South Rim.
January is a beautiful time to visit Grand Canyon National Park. Daytime temperatures are mild — about 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures on the South Rim, increasing to as high as 60 degrees Fahrenheit deep in the canyon. Skies are clear — especially after a snow. Deer, elk, and ravens are frequently spotted, and if you’re lucky, as Tom’s family was, you might spot an endangered California Condor soaring through the canyon.
It's all downhill on the South Kaibab Trail from the South Rim/Lori Sonken
There are no crowds, and it’s relatively easy during the week to land a room at Maswik Lodge, where we spent the first night, and Bright Angel Lodge for our third night. Our second night we stayed at Phantom Ranch. But before heading down into the canyon a few preparations, like renting trekking poles ($6.95 per night) to help ease the steep downhill on your knees from Grand Canyon Outfitters inside Canyon Village Market, were in order.
This wasn’t my first time to the Grand Canyon or even to the canyon floor. About a decade ago I visited the park with my younger son. We had a great time but never stepped off the rim.
Decades earlier, when I was a Capitol Hill staffer and lobbyists were allowed to offer lavish trips, the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association paid for my rafting trip down the Colorado River. To avoid the summer heat, we hiked the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim to the Colorado River before the sun rose. I did not see nearly as much as I was about to or get the endorphin high that comes with the uphill slog on the return trip.
There are two Hikers' Express bus departures that leave from Bright Angel Lodge at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. daily in the wintertime for the South Kaibab Trailhead. If we missed the bus, we would have had to hitch a ride, as parking is not allowed at the trailhead.
We caught the 9 a.m. shuttle. A tad nervous about the impending trek, I was reassured by the other passengers’ stories. Bryan Day, almost 60, keeps returning for what he describes as the “spiritual experience – almost mythical.” Traveling with Krista Brandt, he was about to make his seventh trip to the canyon floor, but it would be his first time staying at Phantom Ranch. Like us, he benefitted from friends relinquishing their reservation.
We stepped off the Hikers' Express, donned sunglasses, and fastened traction devices to our boots to prevent slipping on the snow and ice. At 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 12 we headed down the well-marked trail. The path was slippery, but not treacherous. Starting at 7,260 feet, the trail drops to 2,460 feet — about a mile in elevation — over 6.3 miles.
The South Kaibab trail follows an exposed ridgeline. There are no water stops along the way, just the 2 liters we each carried. Every step of the way there are wide vistas filled with light and shadows coloring the layers of ancient rocks in red, brown, gray, yellow, and orange hues. As we slowly dropped into the canyon the ice melted, muddying and puddling the trail.
Having carried a tent and supplies for multi-day trips at Yosemite and Kings Canyon national parks, I loved not lugging a backpack. I did not envy Emily Warden, another hiker we met on the Hikers' Express, unfazed by her 40-pound backpack filled with supplies for two nights at the Bright Angel Campground.
Under sunny and clear skies, we chatted with other hikers. Alabamian Aaron, who was wearing shorts on the snow-covered trail, was contemplating quitting his job. A father and son team from Chicago envied our upcoming night’s stay at Phantom Ranch. They planned to hike to Skeleton Point, the recommended turn around spot for day hikers not planning to journey to the canyon floor.
A must stop for a selfie is the aptly named Ooh Ahh Point on the way down the South Kaibab Trail/Lori Sonken
Halfway down the trail, my jacket went into my daypack. About 4.5 hours after we began, we walked through a short tunnel before crossing the 440-foot-long Kaibab Trail Suspension Bridge, aka the Black Bridge, built in 1928 over the Colorado River and now a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. We passed four rafts docked on the river’s sandy banks and the Bright Angel Havasupai site, where posters describe the living spaces and kiva used by the ancestral Puebloan people.
We reached Phantom Ranch by 2 p.m. with plenty of time to nap, hike a short distance up the North Kaibab Trail along Bright Angel Creek through the narrowest part of the Grand Canyon, known as The Box, and talk with other visitors resting at the picnic tables outside the canteen. Over hot tea purchased at the snack bar I spoke with four women backpackers from Los Angeles about their travels. We relished watching five mountain goats scamper up pink rocks on the canyon wall opposite Phantom Ranch.
A row of the simple cabins at Phantom Ranch/NPS file
That night we shared a meal reserved in advance with about 35 other Phantom Ranch guests. Sitting at the vegetarian table, we had veggie stew, corn bread, and salad. We sat next to an entrepreneur from The Netherlands visiting the United States to promote his company’s solar electric car, Lightyear.
By 10 that night we were asleep in bunkbeds. Our cabin had heat that we turned on in the morning and a bathroom, but no shower. We opted for the 7 a.m. “late” breakfast instead of the 5 a.m. meal. Over pancakes, we heard about an impending snowstorm due to arrive on Sunday. Several hikers contemplated returning to the rim early to avoid the snow.
Lori and Alexei on the South Rim/Alexei Messing
We picked up a bag lunch we had pre-ordered from the canteen, re-filled our water bottles, and left the ranch by 8 a.m. This time we crossed the Silver Bridge leading to the Bright Angel Trail, which wound its way through ravines to the South Rim. Not as steep as the South Kaibab Trail, the 8.5-mile-long Bright Angel Trail has shade and cover.
At Havasupai Gardens my son, Alexei, and I had an amicable, albeit short split. He opted not to take the 3-mile-roundtrip detour to Plateau Point. And I chose not to pressure him. The only times I had seen him scowl on the trip were when I asked him to pose for a photo and if he was wearing sunscreen. I was determined to keep the positive vibe between us.
He continued hiking to the rim while I strolled out to Plateau Point, where I caught a panoramic 360-degree view of the canyon under crystal clear skies. Hikers the previous day had spotted a California condor at Plateau Point, but all I saw and heard was a helicopter.
The 4.5-mile journey from Havasupai Gardens to the rim is the hardest part of the hike, especially the last three miles of switchbacks. But I was always happy, never found the trek too hard, and relished in knowing the experience is only available to those who try. I was thrilled at the opportunity to walk through this spectacular place – one of the deepest canyons in the world -- and grateful that my legs carried me. With about a half-mile to go, I stepped aside to let two people riding mules pass me. “You’re going to run out of trail pretty soon,” the ranger said.
Alexei was waiting for me at the top. We had done this journey together. It was a perfect way to celebrate his 25th birthday — something we’ll never forget.
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