Hiking Grand Canyon 2009 Part 5

North Rim & Plateau Point
After I had a sleepless night at Indian Garden—I don’t sleep well on the ground—and oatmeal for breakfast, our crew was suppose to wait for the South Rim Rangers to hike down with sandwiches for lunch. They weren’t expected until after noon and I became concerned about how long it would take me to hike the remaining 4.6 miles (7.4 km) 3060 feet (933 m) up.

North Rim, Plateau Point, Indian Garden (green in middle) & 3-mile house
I talked my boss into letting me leave at 11am, as I am the slowest hiker. And good thing, as I met the South Rim folks about 1:30pm at 3-mile house where there is water and toilets.

North Rim & 1.5-mile house
And that put me hiking up Jacob’s Ladder during the heat of the day, which is certainly not recommended to visitors. So glad it wasn’t the high heat of July or August which can easily reach triple digits.

South Rim
I just kept plodding along at my slow yet steady pace and trying not to look up at how far I still had to go.

South Rim
The last stretch is a series of tight switchbacks that traverses the green area between the Redwall limestone walls.

Condors
I was almost at the top when some other hikers pointed out what might be Condors soaring above the canyon.

Condor
Sure enough, when a couple of them landed we could see the radio tags on their wings, just too far away to ready the numbers.

I made it
I topped out on the South Rim at 6pm. The boss arrived 10 minutes later and she’d left 3-mile house at 3pm. Everyone else trickled in within the next hour.

From the top
In the morning at training you could certainly tell who’d hiked as we all walked a little like Frankenstein.I made it and didn’t even suck air, like last year. So I’m ready to do it again. Who’s with me?