Eric Wegryn - Hiking the Canyon

Grand Canyon

What started out as a pleasant hike down into the Grand Canyon from the North Rim one beautiful July morning in 1991 eventually turned into a scorching, strenuous death march through "The Furnace". My friend Scott and I had driven up from L.A. and spent the previous week touring the National Parks of southern Utah. The hike into the canyon and out was to be the culmination of our long road trip. We had plans to hike down the 23 km (14.5 mile) North Kaibab trail, stay in the canyon for two nights, then hike out the same trail. Our mistake of course was to go in early July. The weather on the North Rim was beautiful, but the high temperature down at the Colorado River was a sweltering 48 degrees C (119 F). Even the deer were looking for a place to cool off.

Deer

So while Scott and I were sitting neck deep in one of the tributary streams that fed into the Colorado the next day, we decided that we didn't want to go back up the North Kaibab trail, but would instead hike out the Bright Angel trail to the South Rim, saving ourselves almost 11 km (7 miles) of hiking. As a result, we earned the right to say we hiked ACROSS the Grand Canyon . . . and then we had to pay $50 for a shuttle bus back to the North Rim (where my car was parked).