On Foot in the Grand Canyon: Hiking the Trails of the South Rim

by Spangler Sharon, Butchart Harvey (Designer)

ON FOOT IN THE GRAND CANYON is a detailed, interpretive hiking guide to the trails of the South Rim, woven with a lively narrative and adventures of real hikers. Harvey Butchart "Exhaustively researched and carefully written, Spangler’s book is the most complete and reliable guidebook to hiking the trails of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.”

196 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1988

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's the main thing, and it's not about this book:

If you have never been to Grand Canyon N.P., and you are ever anywhere nearby, you must try to visit. One of the wonders of the earth.

Info about the book.

This short book is a great description of hiking the trails on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. One of the things that struck me immediately (which I have since come to know is SOP for experienced Canyon hikers) was that Sharon seldom uses "mileage" as a trail reference point; rather, the rock formation at that point of the trail is a more useful, and obviously more descriptive, reference. (The standard formations (rock layers) are, from the top, the Kaibab Limestone, the Toroweap Formation, the Coconino Sandstone, the Hermit Shale, the Supai Group, the Redwall Limestone, the Muav Limestone, the Bright Angel Shale (Tonto Plateau), the Tapeats Sandstone, and, following the "Great Unconformity", the Vishnu Schist.)





Sharon Spangler's personal story is a tragic one, and is documented briefly at http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/... . It is eerie to read, in the book, her descriptions of hiking with her husband Bob, a person who was revealed many years later to have been a multiple murderer who may have had something to do with Sharon's own death.

This isn't really a "hiker's guide" to these trails, but rather a keen observer's painting-like portraits of the trails and her reactions to them. Reading this book is what convinced me that I wanted to hike into the Grand Canyon, and down to the Colorado, before I get too old to contemplate that. Here it is a couple years after writing that, things have happened, and I'm not real hopeful of fulfilling that dream. Still possible though.





View from Mather Point
(This is what you'll see as you approach the rim from the main parking area at Grand Canyon village.)
Hint: click on any picture - then click again on the pic on Flickr for a real zoom, and just move the mouse around.
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Grand Canyon in brief

The canyon is 277 river miles long, 4 to 18 miles wide, and a mile deep. Most people visit the canyon on the South Rim, at Grand Canyon Village (by car, 1 1/2 hours from Flagstaff AZ, 3 1/2 from Phoenix, and 4 hours from Las Vegas), which is open year round. The North Rim is normally closed from mid-October to mid-May because of excessive snowfall.

Elevations: North Rim ~8000 ft; South Rim ~7000 ft.

The Colorado River enters the canyon at Lee's Ferry, and exits at Grand Wash Cliffs. Between those points the elevation of the river drops from 3100 feet to 900 feet. Over half the drop occurs in the 10% of the river which is rapids as it moves through the canyon.

The National Park Service has the best web site.


and what is there to see?






There's an astonishing variety of flora and fauna within the Grand Canyon. As the NPS web site summarizes

The entire park area is considered to be semi-arid desert, but distinct habitats are located at different elevations along the 8,000 foot elevation gradient. Near the Colorado River, riparian vegetation and sandy beaches prevail. Just above the river corridor a desert scrub community exists complete with a wide variety of cacti and warm desert scrub species. A pinyon pine and juniper forest grows above the desert scrub up to 6,200 feet, while between 6,200 feet and 8,200 feet ponderosa pine is abundant. On the North Rim at elevations above 8,200 feet, a spruce-fir forest tops out the park.

A detailed description of the Canyon's life is here.


Sunrise is a great time to be at the rim. However, you are at the mercy of the weather.

For some pictures taken on a beautiful sunny morning, see Grand Canyon Sunrise.

When I went out early a couple days later these were the best pics I got.








In a way this is nice, it's one of the attractions of the Canyon. The weather, light, clouds help make many days different than you saw previously.

For example, on this very day, later in the morning, I took these on the way to our hike.














Of course clouds can make any outdoor picture better. But clouds over the Grand Canyon can cast their shadows, and allow diffused sunlight to fall, on the amazing rock formations, which have many distinctive colors themselves, to say nothing of their fantastic shapes. All in all a recipe for really amazing landscape beauty.



Okay, to finish this review up without dragging into next year, I’m going to add several more photos from a different day that again had a very interesting sky. These first photos were taken between 8:30 and 9 am.

















The above is a good photo of Bright Angel Canyon running into the river from the north rim. Near the bottom of the canyon you can see a greenish area. This is where Phantom Ranch is located – the only accommodation below the canyon rims other than camping areas. The only way to get there is to walk, or ride a mule.

More photos from the morning.











The last two photos below were taken in mid-afternoon of this same day.








On foot in the Grand Canyon.

Here's a link to a final series of pictures taken on a hike on the South Kaibab Trail.


I'll end with a final photograph of the group of people that my first Grand Canyon adventure was with.




Sure glad I had that tripod.


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[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The guide is probably very dated, so I wouldn't rely on it as a single source for hiking the Grand Canyon. The topo maps at the first page of each chapter are impossible to read. I have to assume they are just "decoration". However I found interesting tidbits of information about Sharon's hiking experiences, regarding dehydration, notes about the river, and warnings about the hikes. I bookmarked the geology diagram in back, which I find interesting to look at.
It's a shame that Sharon is no longer with us to share more of her experience.

[Guy McArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining description of the experience of hiking all the major trails from the South Rim, which probably haven't changed much in the 40 years since it was written. There is a wealth of detail about the geology, flora and fauna of the Grand Canyon.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this real

[Caroline]

recommended by my dermatologist--the author is his sister, i think?