Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Grand Canyon Ride

Starting out (52 degrees)




Getting ready to Cross the Colorado River



At the bottom. (90 degrees)




1/2 way back up.




Thank God back on top.

Nice. Real nice. A picture is worth a thousand words.

That's cool Vince. I have heard that there is a pretty long wait list to do that now.

That trip is hell on folks that don't ride. I backpack in and those poor people coming out are in misery, I always try to give them encouragement that they are close to out up at the top. Their faces tell a tale of pain.

Kent

Yea,it is a year in advance and even then,you enter a lottery


I ride a lot and I even had sores when I got back on top. They warn you before you start of that it isn't an easy ride.There was one family from Chicago and one form Wisconsin in my group.I really felt sorry for them.

Great stuff! Drop in from the south side?

Get to spend much time @ the river? What was the trip time?

Left form Grand Canyon Village. About 7 hours down with a 1 hour lunch break. About 6&1/2 back out the next day.

The Phantom Ranch were I stayed the night is about3/4 mile from the river. I never got real close to it except when I crossed the bridge to the far side

Nice pics..........

did ya feel like a 'tourist ?'

Yea,I did since I was sandwiched in between two families All 9 of them had a death grip on the horn or pommel. On e lady had the reins looped on the horn and never touched them going down or up.
I enjoyed it though.I had not been there for about 45 years or more .The trail is an engineering marvel. Notched my bucket list

Awesome!

Did you ride your mules?

Want to do that ride sometime. Don't find 7 hrs in the saddle all that attractive any longer . Just asked the wife if she'd join me next spring, said she'd think about it. Said it would have been more attractive 20 years ago. Then asked if she could take her own saddle, I don't think so dear, imagine the [bleep] show if one could. Hell i won't let my friends use their saddle on my horse. Lol.

Did you go down the Bright Angel trail?

I did not take my mules. We rode down and back on the Bright Angel .They would not even let me use my stirrups,so using one's own saddle would definitely be out .Each mule has their own fitted saddle

Sidepass.I think the lottery for next year is already passed

I like the hitching posts!

Looking online at the rides the weight limit is quite restrictive Phantom Ranch 200 lbs fully clothed. Canyon Vistas 225 fully clothed. I go about 170 dressed warm and the wife is about a buck and a quarter at most dressed warmly. Talking about our options and will up our saddle time weekly if we go. Just retired so my saddle time will increase anyway.

The lighter loaded mules,they put the saddle bags on, of the riders personal stuff.Be sure to go in the spring, later April or May,but not during spring break

I can only imagine how nerve wracking that ride would be for folks not used to it. Those are really good pics and thanks for sharing.

I went to college with a guy that was a wrangler/guide out there in the early-mid 90s. He had some neat pics to share. Said they 'broke-in' new mules by hauling in supplies at night to the Havasupai.

When we were ready to mount up they asked if anyone had experience .My wife jumped up and said he has 50+ years..They put me on a mule that needed a " bit" more seasoning. Everyone else got dead heads.He only had the people thing a few times, but packed. He wasn't impressed with the hikers and hugged the outside of the trail that had the 500 foot drops whenever we passed one and we passed a bunch. He didn't like a mule too close to his butt and crow hopped trying to kick back when one did get too close Try that on a 3 ft wide trail. They told us all mules were trained to direct rein,no neck reining at all.They forgot to tell that to my mule.He didn't do either. It was nerve pucker time for me a few times,but what an adventure for sure

My son and grand daughter take people down the Colorado on 1 or 2 week trips every summer, they pickup and drop off some people at Phantom Ranch, my son has had people that rode a mule in to the canyon ask if they could ride out with him in his boat. I floated the Colorado in the 1950s before the dams were built, it's a whole different river now. Rio7

I can not imagine how many new places to have a pain would be found on this fat old body after the trip down.
No telling about how many more after the way back up!
The animals have probably done it enough that there is no reason to hold on the reins, a riders input is more likely a hindrance.
Would be a great ride though.