Backpacking Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon--Day 3--Cottonwood to North Rim

Day 3:  Cottonwood Campground to North Rim Campground, May 14, 2025 (the day BEFORE the North Rim opened)

The morning view from my campsite:  

Since temperatures were dropping to downright pleasant, I didn't worry about getting up really early, so I didn't get on the trail until about 7:50 AM--10 minutes behind the two older guys who'd arrived latish the night before and camped near me, but who I didn't get a chance to talk to.  I thought, "I'll probably pass them on the trail soon."  Joke was on me.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

I also left about five minutes behind the big group I'd met the evening before.  The trip leader was a father travelling with his adult daughter (so cool!) and five other people--his work friends and their partners.  They were all super nice, and we leapfrogged all day, chatting and hanging out for bits and then separating and meeting up again later.  All lovely people.  

But those two older men...where were they?

About a mile north of Cottonwood is a gorgeous little waterfall down from the trail.  I can't believe how beautiful this place is, and how varied.  About there is where we started noticing pines.  At a far lower elevation than I've noticed south of the river.  

At Manzanita rest area, the water was on--but it was the last water we would have (water was still off at Supai Tunnel and North Rim trailhead, and there aren't any accessible streams), so we all hung out, filling up and chatting with three female trailrunners, one of whom was more advanced in age than I would believe for such a feat.  Amazing.   On my map app (the otherwise fantastic mapy.cz), there's a symbol for parking at Manzanita rest area, which always cracks me up.  Because this is no parking lot you can drive your car to.  It's a helicopter pad, mostly for emergencies, but I can just imagine someone less familiar with the canyon thinking it was a parking lot at the end of a road.  Not so.  

There was also a scale, so I weighed my pack.  28 lbs, loaded with over 4 liters of water (but minus my heavyish camera).  Ultralight it's NOT, and I hope to get lighter as I get more experienced, but considering all that water, and the fact that most of my gear is on the budget side, I was pretty happy with that.     

As I hiked, things just kept being so beautiful.  I didn't hike fast.  I just enjoyed the day--and took a million pictures.  A funny thing about the Canyon:  I'm old-fashioned and still generally prefer landscape photos that look best on a TV/laptop as opposed to portrait photos that look best on some social media platforms.  But this is a place where it's hard to get the sky and everything else in the frame unless you go vertical.  

From the North Kaibab Trail, the old Bright Angel Trail across the way looked quite precarious in parts, and I wondered if my trail looked just as precarious from that angle.  There WERE a few parts later that day that made me...wary.  I have a well-developed fear of heights, and I suspect that had I been hiking in deep snow or heavy rain or ice or high winds--like the wind two days ago--I would have been really nervous.    

When Roaring Springs roared into view, I was amazed.  The waterfall is huge for a place this generally arid.  The power of that crashing water carried over the space between us.  Amazing.  I met a guy hiking down and asked him to take my picture.  Turns out he was a North Rim employee, on his day off before the big opening.  We chatted for a bit, swapping interesting stories.  

I took the detour to Roaring Springs (the trail is open to the rest area--which heads away from the waterfall, not toward it, but the restroom is closed).  No one else was down there but me and a whole lot of butterflies and dragonflies.  I had a snack and a break and just watched all the life around me. 

I met a ranger on the trail, headed down to turn the water on at Cottonwood, spend the night at Manzanita, and then hike over to the South Rim.  What a terrible job he has.  :)  

The weather was gorgeous and I felt like my seven trail friends and I had the entire canyon to ourselves.  Well, the eight of us, a few North Rim employees, and a handful of hardy R2R2R trail runners.  Fantastic.

Just above the Redwall Bridge, I overheard one of my trail friends say "We're almost there."  His daughter said, "Your version of 'almost there' is different than mine."  For the rest of THAT story, see my next post (shameless promotion).

The rainbow cliffs above the Supai Tunnel floored me with their beauty.  One of my other trail friends said, "I love an outhouse with a view!" She had worked for years as a hiking guide, taking groups to front-country campgrounds and then leading day-hikes.  She'd been here for work, but only to the South Rim.  This was her first trek down into the canyon, and she loved it.  

The sky had been looking a little threatening for a while, but about twenty minutes above Supai Tunnel, it suddenly started snowing!  It was more like icy blobs than lacy flakes, but still.  SNOW!?  I would have sworn the temperature was lower 60s, maybe upper 50s.  I stopped and just enjoyed the phenomenon.  The snowstorm lasted about four minutes.

When Humphrey's peak appeared in the distance, there was a lot more snow there. 

And when I reached the North Rim, there were still pockets of snow in the shade.  

According to my tracker, 8.2 miles (including detour to Roaring Springs), 4172 feet of climb, 8:17 leisurely hours.  Speed demon.   

When I got to the campground, the two older men who'd left 10 minutes before me were already there, relaxing, their camp all set up at the campsite with the best view.  They'd been there for almost three hours.  :)  They were super friendly and we talked gear and such and they invited me to their bonfire party later.

The campground (and the entire North Rim) was still closed to visitors (except those who had walked or biked there), so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.  I chatted with a pair of young women who had also made it before me.  Then I chatted with others as they drifted in--my big group of trail friends and another pair of young women I'd met the night before at Cottonwood.  The guys lit a fire, and we all hung out and watched the sunset.

I was the last one to bed.  At 8:25.  

Wonderful, wonderful day.  

See my posts on Day 1:  South Rim to Cottonwood

And Day 2:  Ribbon Falls

Phoenix, Arizona vs Vsetin, Czech Republic

 I don't think I really need to say much more:

Left:  South Mountain Park, Phoenix (admittedly not in the lushest of seasons, but...it's this way a lot of the year).  Right:  a typical hike (in summer) from the hills around Vsetin.  

Backpacking Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon--Day 2--Ribbon Falls

Day 2:  Ribbon Falls, Wall Creek, and rest day at Cottonwood Campground, May 13, 2025

I reserved two nights at Cottonwood, partly on the off chance the North Rim didn't open when expected. Then I'd have the option of blitzing up to the North Rim on this, my second day, and then returning to the South Rim on the third.  Luckily, there was no such trouble with snow on the North Rim, so I had a day at leisure.    

I enjoyed a relaxing morning, then took my mostly-empty backpack and headed to Ribbon Falls, only a couple of miles south of Cottonwood.  

I'd worried that Bright Angel Creek would be dangerous to cross, because two years ago in early May it had been a violent, frothing terror I wouldn't have dared cross.  Last year in late April it had been pretty vigorous.  I wouldn't have crossed it alone, and I would have been very, very careful to pick exactly the right spot.  I heard a couple of tales that year of people who HAD crossed it.  One, an young man, very adventurous and strong, had said it made him nervous but he was okay.  The other was a somewhat older couple, but also very fit and adventurous.  The woman had lost her balance and the current tore off her shoe and sock.  The man, by some miracle, had caught the shoe.  But the sock was history.  And she was grateful it hadn't carried her off.  So...I'd gone into this knowing I might not see Ribbon Falls. 

The first day, however, the moment I saw Bright Angel Creek emptying into the Colorado, I knew I had a good chance.  It just looked like a nice little creek.  When I got closer and saw how clear and relatively gentle it was, I got excited.     

Bright Angel emptying into the Colorado May 12, 2025:

Bright Angel emptying into the Colorado April 23, 2024:

Bright Angel Creek from the bridge at Phantom Ranch, May 12, 2025:

Bright Angel Creek from the bridge at Phantom Ranch, May 8. 2023:  

It's not quite as obvious in these pictures, but look at the color, the white caps, the rocks sticking out (or not), the width.  Nature is so variable.  

Anyway, with the creek so nice and low, I hiked down from Cottonwood to the northern, "bridge" crossing.  Of course, there's no longer a bridge, but you can see the remains of it if you look hard in this pictures:

I went just upstream of the old bridge site, where there seemed to be a trail, and found a really good place to cross.  It was no problem at all at this water level.  Later I heard one group that had crossed downstream of the bridge site that said it was a "nightmare."  I investigated on the way back, and yes, I'd recommend going upstream--at least at this water level.  I heard others say the "creek" crossing on the south end was sketchy.  Others said it was fine.  But I think the braided trails also lead to various crossing points there, so just investigate a bit and pick the best one.  NOTE:  I do NOT RECOMMEND crossing in higher water if you're alone, if you're not used to creek crossings, or if you have any other reason for caution.   And if it's like it was in 2023 when I was here, I wouldn't cross at all.  

I got there at about 8:30 AM and I had the entire place to myself.  It was amazing.  

I played in the pool at the bottom, climbed up behind the upper part, watched the wind change the course of the falls, sat on a rock and let the spray cool me.  Then came the moment when the sun finally made its way down over the cliff walls and lit the upper cascade.  Gorgeous.

The first people got there about 10:00.  I talked with lots of interesting people, all doing the Grand Canyon in their own way, from the thru-hiker who didn't start ultralight but who, after almost 700 miles, is now, except for extra powerpacks he carries so he can facetime his girlfriend for an hour in the middle of nowhere when he finally gets signal, to the guy who had brought several old-school paperback adventure novels because he and his friends were staying at the lodge at Phantom Ranch and could afford the weight.  There was a group camping two nights at Cottonwood, like me, who'd planned to hike up to the North Rim today but decided they'd better save their energy for the unexpectedly long hike back to the South Rim (with the Bright Angel Trail closed partway).  There was a geologist who explained that the mound of Ribbon Falls had formed over the eons like a cave stalagmite.  And the guy who discovered that the little cave we'd been wading into actually had a birds nest with two baby birds in it:

I spent about four hours there, and loved it.  What a privilege to have a day to spend in a place like this.  

By the way, I got a ton of comments on my rainbow water shoes.  

Their tread/soles were good enough to wear all around the falls (with caution), and they were super comfortable.  They are also super light, dry quickly, and will probably become my go-to camp shoes, even if I'm not going to use them as water shoes.  I'm not sure how durable they'll be with hard or extended use, but for this purpose, they were perfect.  Ounces:  5.2 for the pair.  Packability:  great.  Price:  $8 when I bought them (though they're showing $10 now).  Anluke Water shoes on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078WS7VSL.  Available in plenty of colors/patterns.

After I left Ribbon Falls, I explored Wall Creek just a bit--upstream--because I'd read of someone else adventuring up there.  It was too brushy, but I picked around a bit and found several darling little frogs and this handsome guy:

 Just before I got back to Cottonwood, at 2:20 pm, I met a young woman running BACK from the North Rim already.  "Are you running rim-to-rim-to-rim?" I asked in awe.  Her:  "Yes.  First and LAST time.  It's work."  And me?  I was just lazing around all day in a beautiful place.  Those trail runners are really something else.  

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in camp, chatting with fellow campers, wading in the creek.  Another fantastic day in the Canyon.