Packing for Adventure

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We made it! I have hinted in prior posts that I spent a great deal of time and energy and countless miles preparing for this trek, while Chris barely did anything. After all that, and despite the fact that I beat Chris to the top of TWO of our training hikes (don’t worry about the fact that he was sick at the time), Chris was ahead of me the whole time at the Grand Canyon, AND he was nowhere near as sore as I was afterwards. I guess he’s a horse.

Our Top Concerns Heading In:

• The Arizona heat in late June
• Bright Angel trail closure

We had decided to be prepared to hike the Tonto trail to meet up with the opened portion of the Bright Angel trail on our descent, which meant we needed to be prepared for heat.

At our family-style dinner at the Phantom Ranch, there was debate on our table about whether the Tonto Trail was too risky in the summer heat. We were happy to hear of two other groups planning to do it. One planned to leave at 2:30 AM, and one planned to leave at 4:00 AM. We actually met up with the 4:00 AM group at the top when we were walking from the Hermits Rest shuttle to get some dinner. We were so happy to see that they made it! Their journey was more difficult than ours. They didn’t have a cabin at the Phantom Ranch, they had just paid for dinner and camped there. So not only did they NOT get a comfortable night’s rest in a bed, but they had to carry everything on their backs! They also ended up leaving later than they planned – 5:30 AM. Despite the difficulties, they still loved the Tonto Trail.

Makes you wonder… is all the fear about the Tonto Trail overhyped? (I suppose it would be prudent to remember that it was 10 degrees cooler than it was the week prior…)

How We Stayed Cool in the Heat:

• Starting early! Though some of the other things we did to help keep us cool were also amazing, this is definitely the most effective strategy to stay cool.
  • It’s 7.5 miles from the South Kaibab Trailhead to the Phantom Ranch. We left the earliest we could with the 4:00 AM Hiker Express shuttle and started our descent at 4:30 AM. It was early enough to beat the sun, but bright enough to enjoy the view without headlamps.
  • It was a little over 12 miles from the Phantom Ranch to the Bright Angel Trailhead including passing through Tonto. We left Phantom Ranch at 3:30 AM with the goal of reaching Havasupai Gardens by 8:00 AM before the heat set in. So we DID need lights for the first hour or so, and we didn’t mind hiking in the dark since we had seen the trail the day prior in the light. The lights we used hung around our necks and doubled as a portable fan, and it worked great!
• Bringing a Portable Fan was a game changer!
  • We bought these portable fans about a week before our trip hoping it would help in the heat. The battery life is GREAT! It has a USB charger. We charged it to 100% before our trip, and I used it for almost the entire hike up from Phantom Ranch, through Tonto, and up Bright Angel. When we got to the top, I still had over 90% battery life left.
• Stay Wet!
  • We kept our hats, shirts, and cooling towels wet. I made sure we had an extra bottle of water in our backpack that we could use to get them wet if needed. Once we got to the Bright Angel side, there was plenty of water and signs everywhere telling you to get wet to stay cool. It really works!

Was It Still Hot?

Definitely yes. I’m not gonna lie about that. But there was never a point in our journey that I thought we would dehydrate and die.

I admit that our journey was 10 degrees cooler than feared with our lucky “cold front,” but I am confident that these things we did to prepare for the heat would have helped even in the hotter climate.