Day Hike to Ribbon Falls
Grand Canyon Girls
Day Hike to Ribbon Falls
(And more...)
On the north side of the Colorado River, about six miles up Bright Angel Creek and hidden in a side canyon, is Ribbon Falls.
Here the mineral rich water forms a giant travertine platform down below the 100-foot waterfall.
After exploring the ice cold pool at the bottom, you can hike up around the falls and stand behind them.
Up at 5:00 am this morning at Bright Angel Campground, and ready to hike by 6:40 am. We wanted an early start for our longest mileage day of the trip, especially since we had dinner reservations at Phantom Ranch at 6:30 pm that we were REALLY looking forward to!
Luckily, we could leave our tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, etc. at the camp and lighten our packs for today’s 12 mile hike to/from Ribbon Falls. We mainly took a few snacks, lunch, and our rain/cold gear just in case, because here… you never know!
It was COLD this morning, around 27 degrees when we woke, close to 34 degrees when we left camp. But I slept well in my zero-degree bag, down pants and jacket, thermal socks and toe warmers! (By about 5 degrees, this was our coldest morning yet.) My blistered feet still felt terribly sore, but bandages and extra strength Tylenol did the trick today.
It was still hard to get a push off the left foot going uphill.
Hiking in the Shadows of the Box
Dueling Photos
“Kaibab” in the Paiute language means “Mountain Lying Down’, which was their term for the Grand Canyon. [Initially the Canyon is something you go down into rather than climb up, just the opposite of what you do when you get to the base of a mountain.]
The South Kaibab Trail, for all its lore and its legions of devotees, is actually a “new” route down into the Grand Canyon, at least when compared with the Bright Angel or even the Hermit Trail. Construction started in 1924 and was completed in mid-1925.
The North Kaibab Trail, also built throughout the 1920’s, is the least visited but most difficult of the three maintained trails in Grand Canyon. Almost 1,000’ higher at the trailhead than the South Rim trails, hikers on the North Kaibab Trail pass through every ecosystem to be found between Canada and Mexico.
Today trail maintenance is the responsibility of the National Park Service, using both employees and volunteers. BLESS THEIR HEARTS!
This hike was cold and beautiful. We started up the North Kaibab Trail toward the North Rim. It was so neat walking thru “The Box.” And so amazing watching the sun rise and work its way down the canyon walls. 
This entire six-mile route had a slight overall uphill grade, but an “easy” hike overall. took the route to Ribbon Falls via the creek because the bridge is out. We did take our water shoes for the crossing of Bright Angel Creek. This did actually make me nervous because I HATED the thought of falling in a cold creek on a 30 deg morning. 
It was SUPER cold at first, but with Cynthia’s guidance, we all made it just fine thru the rushing creek water.
On the other side, while putting my hiking shoes back on, I noticed in that very short period of crossing the creek, I had the tiniest leech attach itself to me! 
It was so gross and so neat at the same time!
We hiked a bit over boulders, thru other small creeks and streams, up rocks, sliding sideways along rocks on our bottoms with barely a ledge to hold onto, but we all made it across. 
I hate I didn’t take any pics of this, but I had my phone tucked deep away thru this area for fear of falling.
We could see the falls, but we basically had to figure out a way to get to it. We dropped our packs before crawling up the largest final boulders to get to the waterfall. The route we had to take was a little nerve-wracking, but the falls did not disappoint! We were also able to take a path up behind the falls, which was very cool.
We could have easily stayed here most of the day. After many many photos, we headed back the same way we came, over boulders, across streams and creeks. The water did seem deeper this time around. Possibly all the melting snow on the North Rim with the sun blazing today.
This hike definitely got my heart rate up. We climbed close to 500ft in 3/4 mile at a pretty decent speed. From the top of Clear Creek Point, we had a great view of Phantom Ranch below and a beautiful view of the Colorado River. I told Tracy we must be in pretty good shape because we found a bench at the top and didn’t even sit on it!! I felt kind of bad for the mule, but then again was very glad to give that mule some of the weight! We gathered our things to send, and headed to Phantom Ranch for our dinner reservations. It. Was. Delicious. Beef stew, salad, and cornbread, and I bought a lemonade to drink. It was such a nice change from the water and hydration protein drink I’d been drinking for the past 5 days! We sat down at the picnic table and ate as it began getting dark. We packed up our mule bag to send off, and headed back to camp for the evening. 13.5 miles total for today, and close to 6.5 hours of hiking. Not too bad!Return, with side trip on Clear Creek Trail
Dinner at Phantom Ranch
