Greg's post about their planned Arizona trip finally motivated me to do a page and post some pics of our 1988 mule trip down to the phantom ranch in the Grand Canyon..

http://home.4x4wire.com/deddleman/gcmuletrip/

Only happened 26 years ago.. just now posting pics.. How's that for timeliness? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> Jeez... didn't even have the 4Runner then....

The pics were slides I had taken of the trip and only this year did I buy a good scanner and get them digitized...

We did the GC mule ride down and over night stay at the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon back in 1988. Reservations for this must be made 6-8 months in advance.

As the literature says.. "Make sure you know what you are getting into". This trip is not for everybody.

It is high up on the list of lifetime experiences. http://grandcanyon.com/gcnmule.html

No humans have lost their lives on this trip in the last 80 years, but to make the point of the potential risk, on the way out, the wrangler told and showed us where 3 pack mules were killed in a fall down the canyon wall, just 2 weeks earlier. It was in the area of the photo of the pack team making their way down.

My family and I did that trip (hiked it though) in 96 or 97 timeframe. Great hike, views, etc. Really nice to get off the rim and away from the crowds.
Of course, my family at that time was my parents, brother, sister and I. A few more years and I can take my wife and kids on that same hike.

Thank for the pics!

Todd

Glad i could give you a kick in the <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" /> LOL. Wait, are you saying you took the pics before i was born? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Great pics, those views are amazing. I doubt the GF would be up for that adventure though... (plus we only have a month before we go). I can't wait to see it though...

Interesting to see your pics. It would have been somewhere around 1988 for me, too, when I hiked down and back up on the South Kaibab Trail in one day with my parents and brother. That's something that I've noticed in recent years the National Park Service doesn't recommend that anyone should do in one day.

We started hiking in the middle of the night while it was below freezing. By the time we got back to the top, it was 107 degrees. We brought 5 quarts of water per person and could have used more. I still sometimes think about that trip when I wonder if I have brought enough water along somewhere.

I remember the ranger talk at the Phantom Ranch about this.. As you know (and can be seen in the photographs), the South Kaibab trail is very steep (climbing 1 mile up in a 4 mile distance up the south canyon wall) and in the sun all the way up, and no water on the trail.... You'll see references to it being 7.5 miles, but that includes the trail up the north side canyon wall..

Their recommendation was 2 gallons of water per person. That's a lot of weight to carry.. They are pretty blunt about this and don't mind at all asking what seems to be a personal question since it involves safety on the trail of a person getting into serious dehydration.. They simply ask, how long has it been since you last pee'd.... If you are not peeing on a regular basis, you are getting into dehydration.. and of course the color is an indicator of just how bad...

In my first post, I did not mention an incident that happened on the way out. If you look at the picture below, you see the rope (from the mule pretty much out of the picture) tied to the wrangler's saddle. You can't see much of the mule's stance, but enough to see it was not at all happy about the situation.

http://home.4x4wire.com/deddleman/gcmuletrip/thisway.jpg

There was a fairly young teenaged girl on this mule and in a very narrow section of the trail, the mule turned around backyards on that section of the trail, and was refusing to go any further.. It was so tight there the wrangler could not get down to her and had to instruct the young girl how to get the mule turned back around and out of the narrow section.. Turned out the mule was getting sick and sweating profusely... The picture was taken on a level wider area where he was able to rope the mule to his saddle and literally pull it back to the top, which the mule did not want to do.. And the young girl had to stay on the mule during this...

One thing they emphasize.. if you go down in there you are going to come back out the same way.. e.g. your own two feet, or in this case on the sick mule.. There will be no easy (for you) rescues. There IS a helo pad down at the phantom ranch, but with the wind currents and vertical walls, it is very dangerous (not to mention expensive) to attempt a helo rescue of someone out of the canyon..

I suspect the rangers get O.D.'d from so many people going down in there with insufficient water, clothing and shoes.. They definitely discourage going down and back up in the same day... You were certainly wise to start the trip in the night, hope there was a bright moon for you to see..

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/upload/SouthKaibabTrail.pdf

Another incident that happened here...
http://home.4x4wire.com/deddleman/gcmuletrip/reststop.jpg

Two of the mules got into an ass kicking contest, that was really violent and would have been deadly if anyone was near them.. The wrangler warned and would not let us get anywhere near the mules while they are tied up..

He would bring them out one by one and hold the reins at the mule's mouth, while the rider got up on the saddle.. Also no heavy, hard objects such as metal canteens, video cameras, etc (that can strike the mule in the sides and spook them) are allowed to be carried on the trip.