Grand Canyon Trip Report – Phantom Creek  (May 27 - June 1, 1990) by Larry Walker

Attendees: Norm Petersen, Mike Thomas, Larry Walker

Rangers at Phantom Ranch: Patty Thompson, Tom Siewart, Volunteer Sjors

Sunday - Day 1: Relatively uneventful hike from Bright Angel trailhead to Tonto trail. Tonto trail across to S. Kaibab then down to Phantom Ranch. Too many noodles with spaghetti, need 3/4 to 1/2 as much. Too much summer sausage with spaghetti, need about 1/2 as much.

Monday - Day 2: As advised by Sjors, trip up to Ribbon Falls and then to campsite (at Phantom Creek) would be a tremendous (and challenging) hike. So instead we went by way of Utah Flats*. At the very last campsite, the one just after the aluminum bridge, just before you cross it (i.e., on the west side of the creek) is where the trail begins: straight up for about 3/4 mile. Then you go into an area known as piano alley. From here you march up (steeply) through a narrow pass. Once you get to the pass, which is full of boulders, you have to climb through it and up to the plateau. Once we made it here, Norm's pack blew out a waist belt: easily repaired with a safety pin - my sewing needle broke. From here to the east end of Cheops Pyramid, its you and the canyon, i.e., no trail. Route easily picked from the topo map. Once you reach the east end of Cheops going east around the high spot, you see on the topo - not west as the trail is drawn (high spot is at about 4,800', just NE of Cheops Pyramid), you pick up a veritable highway. This leads you right to the creek. There are two routes, however. Once you go by approximately 6 - 8 washes from the onset of the trail or just past the high point, you will notice two trails. One goes down a wash straight to the creek. The other leads off and goes to the creek at approximately where the canyon splits into a fork with Haunted Canyon. Norm's ankles hurt. Beautiful scenery. When we got to the creek we went to the waterfall. This is an excellent creek. A rope (good) was in place at the falls. We may decide to use it. The weather was perfect for plateau hiking, overcast with threats of rain. Nice day.

*We decided to go this way instead of via Ribbon Falls due to our slowest and least experienced hiker, Norman Petersen. Not that he couldn't make the trek, but his ankles and calves were very sore. He could have made the other trip, but he would have ended up a canyon hater.

Tuesday - Day 3: We went all the way up Phantom Canyon to where Phantom Creek begins. This trip was approximately 8 miles round trip. The rangers said this canyon was "bushed out" but we found it negotiable. Beautiful creek with lots of small falls; one of which Mike Thomas fell into while trying to cross. Nothing hurt but his pride maybe. At the end of the creek, which is the canyon that doesn't go to the North Rim, we found an old Indian cliff dwelling. It was quite a job getting up to it - Norman suggested we do it! We climbed all the way up to this cave and even to the entrance which was no small chore because of all the exposure. When we looked inside it was desolate, only two big rooms and basically just a rock pile. The front wall was incredibly well built. On the hike out we came across a dead deer strewn about all over the trail - cat? Coyotes? We also saw an interesting fight between a lizard and a grasshopper. The lizard wanted dinner! The lizard was scared off when he saw us: interesting fight. The chicken was very good: eaten and liked by all. Almost too much for 3 people.

Wednesday - Day 4: Basically we farted around all day. Arose around 07:00. Wondered down to the falls to have another look around. Decided to head down stream at around 11 or 12. We used the rope that was already in place - reinstalled after last one apparently broke and caused hiker to break an ankle. Just reinforced webbing and retied the knot. All of us made it down easily. After this, there is actually another small falls that was just about as much as an obstacle as the 20' falls. We hiked down to where Phantom Creek use area ends and day hike area begins - took about 2 hours. We found a nice rock ledge on the legal side and decided to stop here for the day. We saw a sign just after the 2nd small falls that read, "No Camping Beyond this Point without Permit." We were indeed puzzled?!! Who was it talking to? And why didn't it agree with the topo map as far as Use Areas are concerned. The sign seemed to be pointing down stream. It was generally flat against the wall. Where we camped the sheep frogs were out bleating their little hearts out. The shrimp was real good - maybe a little too much for three.

Thursday - Day 5: We more than made up for yesterday by hiking approximately 22 miles today. We came down Phantom Creek, approximately 4 miles - by the way, we did camp illegally: not above 3,600' level - not on purpose. After we got out of Phantom Creek we hiked up to Ribbon Falls, approximately 5 miles. We then went back to Phantom Ranch, approximately 6.4 miles. After lunch, we left for Indian Gardens at about 16:00. We arrive at Indian Gardens at about 18:00, which is about 5 miles from Phantom Ranch. It was an excellent day, the weather was hot ~ 100 °F. The beef stew cache was perfect, but we needed more (> 2.5 pounds).

Friday - Day 6: We left Indian Gardens around 06:00 and arrive all total ~ 08:30. Norman took off at ~ 05:30 and got there about 08:00. Mike left with me at 06:00 and caught Norm at the 1.5 mile rest house. Excellent weather - not too hot. I should have eaten breakfast before we left - I ran out of steam at the 1.5 mile rest house and had to stop to eat.

Times:
Top to Phantom Ranch via Bright, Tonto Plateau, and Kaibab trails ~ 6.5 hours.
Phantom Ranch to Phantom Creek via Utah Flats ~ 5 hours.
Phantom Creek to North Kaibab Trail ~ 3.5 hours.
Phantom Creek at Norht Kaibab Trail to Ribbon Falls and back to Phantom Ranch ~ 5.5 hours.
Phantom Ranch to Indian Gardens via Bright Angel Trail ~ 2 hours.
Indian Gardens to top of Bright Angel Trail ~ 2.5 hours.