I'm really getting behind in my posts. Hopefully I can catch up soon.
Back in June I went with some friends to Kamas with the hopes of doing Buckskin Gulch, one of the longest slot canyons in the world. We had a permit for our entire group, all the equipment we'd need, and two cars to be able to do a shuttle from one end to the other. The only thing we didn't have was clear skies.
The night before we were scheduled to drop into the gulch there was a flash flood. The ranger warned us that there would be knee-deep mud, shoulder-deep nasty pools, and possibly areas that were completely blocked off. Oh, and the road was washed out so we'd have to approach through Arizona.
After much thought and deliberation we determined that the dangers weren't worth the risk and that we'd try again another year. But we still had our backpacks loaded and ready to go so we had to find somewhere equally spectacular. The ranger suggested the Rainbow Rim in North Kaibab National Forest. It sounded like what we were looking for so we loaded back up and headed south to Arizona.
The Kaibab National Forest surrounds Grand Canyon National Park, and has a few areas that actually overlook the canyon. The Rainbow Rim is one of those areas. There are five big "fins" that stick out into the canyon with roads that head out to each one. There's a hiking/biking trail that connects each of the trailheads.
It's very primitive; we drove 40 miles on dirt roads to get there (they were nice dirt roads, though). There were so few people out there it was a little eerie. We hiked along the north rim of the Grand Canyon for 18.5 miles and only saw a handful of other people.
We drove both vehicles to the northernmost trailhead, then loaded everyone up into the truck and drove to the southernmost trailhead 20 miles away.
The hiking was pretty flat, but there were some places where we climbed a few hundred feet at a time. Looking at the map, we realized there would be 2 good places to sleep where we would likely have a great view of the canyon. The first was about 9 miles in and it would have been ideal. There were a few people who had driven in to that point and set up camp, but we could have shared the views. The problem was that 9 miles in would only put us halfway to the end of the trail.
We pushed on to the second area that looked good on the map that was about 12.5 miles in. It was a difficult first day, but it set us up really well for the hike out.
After we had camp set up and ate dinner we wandered around a bit looking for a good place to watch the sun set. We found a particularly perfect spot on a fin sticking about 100 feet out farther into the canyon with 1000' drops on 3 sides. It was amazing to see the light work its way across the formations in the canyon until the sun finally dipped below the horizon.
I was able to hang my hammock about 4' from the rim of the Grand Canyon. I would have been able to look out at the canyon all night but just before bed scattered rain storms came across the canyon (which was cool to see). Even though none of them hit us I figured it would make a lot of sense to put up the tarp just in case.
The next morning we packed up and started on the trail. We only had 6 miles to go to make it to the car and the end of the trail. We didn't stop much, except to take pictures at some amazing overlooks.
We all piled in the car and made the 20 mile drive to the truck back where we started. With about 5 miles left to go it started to hail. It varied between pea-sized and marble-sized, but there was so much of it the road turned into a river of hail. We were involved in what was going to become a flash flood downstream. It kept hailing for 20-30 minutes, during which time some of us had to jump out, grab packs from the trunk, and get in the truck. Fortunately I was driving the car and got to stay dry.
We heading back up the dirt road to Freedonia, then across the border to Kamas, and eventually to Parowan where we parted ways after an amazing adventure. We hiked (according to my GPS) 18.5 miles, climbing a few thousand feet (hard to say for sure), but ending up at the same elevation we started at. This was my first time seeing the Grand Canyon, but I can guarantee it won't be my last.
