Thursday, December 5, 2002

South Kaibab Trail - December 4, 2002

Packed in the parking lot at the trailhead and started the day hike at 6:30 am. There was no problem getting a parking spot at this hour. It was still dark so I used my headlamp as a light source till daylight. The low today was 20 degrees and I had shorts and a shirt and a sweatshirt and a winter scarf.

Stopped in Phantom Ranch around 8:30 am for a sack lunch and refilled my water bottles. The campground was a ghost town and there was many openings for lodging this day at Phantom Ranch.

Temperatures at the bottom were still chilly at the bottom though it warmed up to the low 50's on the way up in the sun. That was time to take off the sweatshirt......though for a short time because soon it was back into the low 40's climbing higher.

There was very few hikers on the trail today - Yahoo! Got back up to the top of the rim in 7 1/2 hours today and noticed the lot was at overflow with some parked on the side of the entry to the lot!!

Date: 12/4/2002
Distance: 13.8 miles
Time: 7 hours 30 minutes