Grand get-away

By Carmen Winslow, of The Montana Standard - 01/18/2007

The evening sun casts long shadows Jan. 5 on the Grand Canyon, in this photograph looking north from the South Rim.

More sane people would consider the white sandy beaches of Hawaii or southern California as the perfect winter get-away.

But for those who would rather hike than tan, one of the natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon, is only a very long day’s drive from Butte.

If you’re lucky enough to dart snow storms and icy highways, which we were, point your car south on Interstate 15, and proceed 940 miles to Williams, Ariz., which will take you to Grand Canyon Village, and to the south rim of this magnificent national park. Hiking options abound, of course, but for the sake of brevity, here’s what we did: Our hiking group included the most adventurous woman I know, Linda Lodders, 57, of Anaconda, our lone male trekker, Pat Grantham, 47, of Clancy, and myself, 53, of Butte. The point of listing ages here is that you don’t have to be a 30-something super athlete to tackle these hikes, but you do need good physical fitness. For us, that means an active lifestyle of hiking, climbing, mountain biking, and backcountry and downhill skiing. So when the time came to hike the canyon, we didn’t do any special training.

Lodders, a world-traveler whose 2006 excursions included solo treks to Nepal and India, handled the logistics of this trip, including reservations at the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon, where we ate steak dinners and slept on bunk beds in historic log cabins, complete with running water.

Having made this two-day hike several times before, Lodders figures this is one of the quickest ways to grasp the essence of the canyon. A 30-minute free bus ride shuttled us from Bright Angel Lodge to the South Kaibab Trailhead.

From there, we descended about 5,000 feet on the 7½-mile South Kaibab Trail in one day, and gained back that 5,000 feet on the 10-mile Bright Angel Trail ascent the next day.

Our Global Positioning System devices showed we actually walked about four hours on the South Kaibab, but it took us seven hours to reach the bottom, because we stopped a lot to eat and photograph Mother Nature’s colorful palette. Under perfectly blue skies, we left the snow-covered south rim, around 7,000 feet elevation, at around 9 a.m., in 14-degree temperatures. Wearing crampons for traction on the snow-packed surface and hauling light backpacks, we traipsed on what Grantham called the “Cadillac of hiking trails.” While the exposure can be precipitous — hundreds of feet straight down — the trail is rocky but comfortably wide, and there’s no fear of falling over the edge.

The South Kaibab Trail ends at the mighty Colorado River, around 2,400 feet elevation, where tired trekkers are greeted by the historic rock-and-log Phantom Ranch lodge (circa 1922) and cabins and the Bright Angel Campground (permits required). The busy encampment housed trekkers, like us, and those who rode down the Bright Angel Trail on mules. Family-style dinner at long tables brought people together from around the world. A 40-something woman dining next to me hailed from Madrid, Spain, where she worked as a lawyer. Lots of Easterners, too, including the owner of a bed-and-breakfast in Pennsylvania who always wanted to “ride a mule into the Grand Canyon.” We ended the evening visiting and playing cards with total strangers, who soon became acquaintances. No TV or cell phone coverage, of course.

Day 2: Following a hearty bacon, eggs and pancake breakfast at the lodge, we began our ascent up Bright Angel, one of the canyon’s most famous trails, around 7:30 a.m. The steady but gradual climb took us past gurgling streams, water falls and greenery unexpected for winter in the canyon. Rock formations and sheer red walls — nature’s cathedrals — presented themselves around every turn. The inner canyon’s warmth soon hovered into the mid-40s as we ascended: perfect hiking conditions. While animal and bird life is minimal in January, we were lucky to identify two California condors, spied via binoculars by avid birdwatcher Grantham, sunning themselves on cliffs high above the trail. One of many natural “gifts” received en route. Snow and icefalls greeted us higher up.

Nearly 10 hours later, we reached the rim and our parked car. Though we had plans to start driving north to Montana that night, our infatuation with the canyon and tired bodies prompted us to stay in the Maswik Lodge ($90 for three people) in Grand Canyon Village. The next morning, we played tourist, driving east along the canyon’s South Rim, taking in the views from the top, before heading north for the long drive to Montana.

In Butte, temperatures had began to plummet, and by the next day, the lows were hovering at 25 below zero.

Welcome, home.

Carmen Winslow is the associate editor at The Montana Standard. She may be reached via e-mail at carmen.winslow@lee.net.