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Day 5 - Upper and Lower Ribbon Falls and North Kaibab Trail back to rim

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

After some late night & early morning discussion we decided against trying to move camp up Wall Creek as originally planned. Robin's feet were in no condition for off-trail hiking and since I had never been up Wall Creek myself I didn't really know what to expect. The plan would have been to pack up our gear, drop it near the mouth of Wall Creek, day hike down to Ribbon Falls and then return and hike up Wall Creek to camp for the night. We changed the plan to have Robin start hiking out on the North Kaibab Trail right after breakfast. I would do the day hike down to Upper and lower Ribbon Falls on my own then come back, break down camp and meet here around noon up at Roaring Springs. This would give her a pretty easy couple of miles in the morning and a good rest at Roaring Springs before starting the hard part. It would also give me an opportunity to see Upper Ribbon Falls which was a secondary goal for the trip.

We were up around 6, had a leisurely breakfast, packed up Robin's pack and left camp a little after 7. She started up the North Kaibab Trail and I headed south, towards Ribbon Falls. It was still shady in Bright Angel Canyon and the morning was cool and good for hiking. I could see the morning sunlight on the south rim and wondered how long it would be before it made its way in here. All I had in my pack was my camera gear, water and some snacks for the morning.

I passed the mouth of Wall Creek after only about 10 minutes of hiking from Cottonwood and from just a cursory inspection the lower part at least didn't see that hard to navigate. There was a little water flowing down the creek but not enough to make things difficult. There didn't appear to be nearly as much brush as I had expected to see but I knew that could change just a little way up the creek. I still felt that we made the right decision. I was a little disappointed that Robin could not come down on the day hike with me but she had already seen Ribbon Falls and she never had any intention of going to Upper Ribbon Falls with me anyway, she was going to wait for me a the lower falls.

I reached the bridge to Ribbon Falls after about 10 more minutes of hiking and immediately discovered a trail leading away from the main trail to Ribbon Falls on the other side. I was hoping this was the trail to Upper Ribbon Falls but having never been there I was not completely sure. The last time I tried to get to Upper Ribbon Falls it was after going to the lower falls first and I looked around the base of the cliff closer to the lower falls but never found a way up. Initially I was discouraged that this trail seemed to be heading off to the north and not in the direction of the cliffs but it seems the actual ascent is much further to the north than I expected. In no time at all I was ascending a slope about 100 yards beyond the cliffs. The climb to the top of this slope only took about 5 minutes and I was at the entry to the little valley that leads to Upper Ribbon Falls around 7:50. The trail passes very close to the edges of the cliffs and there was a very nice view into the area of the lower falls below as well as out into Bright Angel Canyon.

After about 10 more minutes of hiking along a fairly good trail I came to a spot where the trail became more obscure and climbed up and over a rocky slope on the north side of the canyon. After a short scramble along the top of this slope I got my first glimpse of Upper Ribbon Falls and then the trail just as quickly descended back to the creek bed on the other side. The main trail appears to cross the creek there and then head directly toward Upper Ribbon Falls but there are other trails and paths all over the place in the that area so I doubt there really is a main trail.

I took photos from the top of the slope, some more from the creek bed and then headed towards the base of the falls. It was very impressive, and much higher than I expected. The upper falls actually seemed more deserving of the name Ribbon Falls than the lower one as it really is a ribbon whereas the lower one is more like a veil. I spent about 10 or 15 minutes wandering around and taking photos of the falls from various angles and then headed over towards the ruins that I had spotted on the south side of the canyon.

The ruins were much nicer than I expected to find up there and actually had some intact walls remaining. There didn't appear to be much of anything else around to photograph, no pottery shards or anything, but I would have expected this area to be picked clean long ago given its close proximity to the lower falls and with such a good trail coming up. It's a sad fact that many people are more interested in finding a souvenir to take home than preserving an archaeological site. I would have preferred to photograph the ruins with some sunlight falling on them but that didn't appear to be happening any time soon so after another brief stop at the falls I took off and headed for lower Ribbon Falls.

There was a lot more sunlight in the upper valley on the way back and it was quite beautiful. It took about 20 minutes to get back out to the mouth of the valley and about 10 more to get back down the trail and over to the lower falls. There was another fairly large group of people already there and I found that to be a little disappointing, but the light wasn't right on the falls yet anyway so I just found a place to sit and waited for them to leave. They seemed a little annoyed that the sun was not lighting up the falls either but apparently had no concept of time and the fact that the sun was moving quite rapidly. I got out my snacks and sucked down some water and just waited it out. As I sat there I could see the shadows falling away but the other group was not interesting in waiting for it and they were quickly gone. Once the sunlight started hitting the falls directly it lit up beautifully. I wandered about and took lots of photos from various angles, climbed the trail behind the falls, climbed the trail on the other side and just generally enjoyed being there... in having it all to myself... as it should be.

I spent about 45 minutes at the lower falls before heading back to Cottonwood. It took about a half hour to walk back to camp and Bright Angel Canyon was in full sunlight now and it was starting to get quite warm down there. I got back to camp just a little before 11 and had everything packed up and was heading up the trail by 11:30. I was about 30 minutes behind schedule at this point mostly because of waiting for the sun at the lower falls. I was supposed to meet up with Robin at Roaring Springs at noon and I was pretty sure it was going to take more than 30 minutes to get up there. I doubted she would be very worried though since she knows how easily side-tracked I am by photo opportunities.

I didn't stop at all along the way and got to Roaring Springs around 12:30. I was surprised to see her waiting on the North Kaibab Trail instead of at the Roaring Springs day use area. She said she had gone down to the day use area for a while but then got worried that I would some how miss her so she came back up to the trail. We had lunch just off the trail and then I wandered down to the day use area to take some more photos and fill up our water bottles for the hike out. We started up the North Kaibab Trail around 1:45.

The going was not quick at all and it took us about 4½ hours to go those 4½ miles. That rate of speed was like a walk in the park for me but Robin was having problems and that was about the best we could do. When we finally topped out on the rim the sun had just set and it was starting to get dark. Our problems were not yet over as we still had no place to stay for the night. We were supposed to be camped up Wall Creek.

We headed for Grand Canyon Lodge on the unlikely chance they might actually have a room. They didn't. I started to ask the clerk about Kaibab Lodge and Jacob Lake Lodge but before I had barely started to utter the words he said "They're full too". He had obviously been through this several times today. Determined to find a warm shower and a comfy bed for the night we headed for Fredonia. They are not many places to stay in Fredonia and they were all full as well. There was another couple just behind us obviously looking for the same thing we were. They stopped at the motel we had just tried as I headed for Kanab. We tried one... two... three motels in Kanab... and got the same story from each. Full. The woman at the Holiday Inn Express there said we might be able to get a room in St. George. Might! There was no way I was driving to St. George for the night it being probably 2 hours away from where we were and still with no guarantee. I resigned to the fact we would be spending another night in the tent somewhere in the national forest.

Since we were in Kanab anyway we went over to Nedra's Too and I at least had a very nice Mexican dinner before starting the drive back up to the Canyon. We ended up camping just off the road in the national forest about 7 or 8 miles north of Jacob Lake. It was quite windy up there and setting up the tent was a bit of a challenge. Robin suggested just sleeping in the car but I was pretty sure I would not get much sleep that way and much preferred to be able to stretch out on the ground. Luckily the wind settled down long enough to get the tent up and since there was actual topsoil I was able to get the pegs into the ground.


South rim view from North Kaibab Trail - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Upper Ribbon Falls - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Granaries near Upper Ribbon Falls - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Ribbon Falls - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Roaring Springs - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Where's Robin?', North Kaibab Trail - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Maples in fall colors, North Kaibab Trail - Grand Canyon, Arizona

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