This was an amazing day. It was my first time to Arizona and it was a great way to explore such an iconic destination.
- We descended via South Kaibab, which was pretty busy but thinned out as we got lower. It’s an easy descent and went quickly. We crossed the Black Bridge, grabbed some water, spent some time at the beach and started the climb back up.
- I would have loved to spend more time down low and climb back up the standard Bright Angel route, but it was closed when we were there.
- Instead, we reascended the way we came and then cut west across the East Tonto trail.
- We traverse across and around, it was quite circuitous, but eventually brought us to the Ramada campground.
- From there we re-ascended Bright Angel. Again, a nice trail, but busy.
It wasn’t a perfect day. There was construction at the base of the canyon and also at the Ramada campground, which made our rests a little less pleasant. Understandably, we had to take the bus a couple of times, but the wait after finishing our hike was brutal given how tired we were.
Starting our descent
Looking down into the final descent
Traversing East Tonto
Near the top of Bright Angel
