At the end of May, I had a last minute opportunity to do a three-night backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. We had a free day before we headed down into the canyon, so we spent the day wandering the South Rim and I hiked the Rim Trail from Bright Angel to Hermit’s Rest.

On our first day, we hiked the South Kaibab Trail to Bright Angel Campground. The key to hiking in the canyon this time of year is to get an early start to avoid hiking during the heat of the day. So we caught the hiker’s express shuttle at 5 AM to head to the South Kaibab Trailhead and were rewarded with some great morning light on the canyon walls. The hike down is crazy steep in places, so it’s a real quad burner, but the views are amazing. We arrived at Bright Angel Campground just before noon and quickly set up camp in the broiling sun. Then we headed over to Phantom Ranch for lemonade and spent the afternoon on the benches in the shade. Once the sun went behind the cliffs, our campsite was much more pleasant and we enjoyed an evening walk down to the Silver Bridge to watch the sun set.

Since we had two nights at Bright Angel Campground, I decided to do a hike up the North Kaibab Trail on our layover day. My goal was to hike to Ribbon Falls, but I didn’t quite make it there due to high water in Bright Angel Creek. But the geology in The Box is amazing and another advantage of getting an early start is that I had the trail all to myself on the way up. After another lazy afternoon hanging out in the shade, we enjoyed the stew dinner at Phantom Ranch and then turned in early, with alarms set for 4:30 AM the next morning.

Our hike out of the canyon was split into two parts, with the first part going up the Bright Angel Trail to Havasupai Gardens Campground. After the alarms went off at 4:30 AM, we packed up camp and were on the trail by 6 AM. The first mile of the trail is along the Colorado River and we had great early morning light. Then we headed up the Pipe Creek drainage and through the Devil’s Corkscrew before crossing over to the Garden Creek drainage. The last stretch of trail before Havasupai Gardens is an unexpectedly green oasis and the cactus were in full bloom. We arrived at camp before 10 AM and were happy to see sun shelters at the campsites. I did a reconnaissance hike out to Plateau Point in the heat of mid-afternoon and reported back that it was worth the effort. So after dinner we all headed back out there to enjoy the views. And then it was time to go to bed, as the alarms were set for 3:30 AM for our final morning.

Our last day involved hiking the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim. We were on the trail by 4:45 AM, as we knew this would be a tough day, with 3,000 feet of elevation to gain in 4.5 miles. But even though the trail was steep in places, the hike up wasn’t that bad, especially since there are rest houses and water every 1.5 miles. And the scenery was amazing and constantly changing. We hoped to make it to the rim by 11 AM, but exceeded our expectations and were done before 9 AM!