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.

I know our horses knows the trails we ride.To keep them honest we do the loop backwards or take different sidetrails. Drives them crazy when we turn off the trail home to do another loop. Aw come on dad lunch is waiting!

Thanks for sharing your adventure. Impressive for sure.

50 years ago when I was at Ft Leonard Wood, one Sunday afternoon 3 of us decided to go for a ride. We went to the post riding academy and checked out 3 plugs. All we could do was sit in the saddles and do nothing but let them follow their own path. I figured out real quick that if I tried to take it anywhere else, I'd have a rodeo. It wasn't worth getting bucked.

About 15 years ago we were at Wallowa Lake Or. and the group that we were with decided that the kids needed to go on a horse ride. So we went up to the stables and signed up for a two hour horse ride. They brought the horses out and started mounting the kids on the horses. I walked up the horse that they had for me and the first thing I did was to start letting the stirrups out so I was not in a jockey position for two hours. One of the wranglers came up and wanted to know what I was doing. He told me that I could not do that, and he would do it for me. After I explained to him I was more that capable he kind of stood there butt hurt but left me along. Once I saddled up and we started up the road to get to the trail I soon learned that I was just along for the ride because no matter what I did to that horse he was not going to take any of my commands. We started up the trail and were the horses walked the trail was worn down to the point that I would have to hold my legs out like wings or tuck them back because the trench was so deep that my stirrups would drag the ground. Most miserable two hours I ever spent on a horse. Tried several times to rein him out of that trench, but he would not take any rein or boot commands.

nice pictures

Dude horses are about the most stubborn critters.

Most never make it off the trail and will fight you if you try.

I hunt mainly in two different units here in Colorado, 200 miles apart.

Each place, for quite a few years, and I ride a mule into where I hunt and then walk a short distance from there. I usually leave camp at 4 AM so I can get to my hunt area before light.Always riding in the dark. I can mount up and point my mule to what trail I need to take and he will take me to the exact tree I always tie up to,without touching the reins. That is maybe 4-6 miles. I have been in a few snow storms where I could not see much and he has taken me back to camp,stopping in front of the tent.Yet if we are going some place new,he will go wherever you point .

Whether mules are in harness, pack saddles or under saddle, if you stop at the same place every time to rest, the mules will begin to stop there all the time and you need to have discussion with them not to. Same with stopping for lunch or quitting for the day.Their internal clock and memory is astounding

Do s the same, Vince. Coming back to camp, or headed back to the trailhead, in the dark. Give ‘em their head and keep a forearm in front of your face to block tree limbs.

During the Depression, my dad worked some route delivery jobs using horses. He said the horses would go from stop to stop and park themselves at the right place every day. All he had to do was unload and tell them to go.

Not done it, but a buddy and his wife (experienced horsemen) said it was one of the most terrifying things they'd ever done. Instructions were to look at the wall if one felt insecure.

Standing on the rim the day before, I was a bit queasy looking down and was some what anxious about that. At my age I get nervous at the 2nd step of a step ladder. After the first 50 yards on the trail looking at the trail over the mule's ears, I was good. In a mile,I was looking over the edge and marveling at the engineering feat of carving that trail without modern day machinery.

It is not a trail for the faint of heart.

Did you remind your wife about volunteering for anything? LOL...

Riding a trail like that reminds of the first words of advice my uncle gave when I got on a horse the first few times. "Smile with all 4 cheeks."

Dammit. That does it. I gots ta do it!

Saddlesore,

lot of great country down there, appreciate the pictures. Having no riding experience, I have elected to hike that trail. Pretty stove up from the hike when finished, but nothing like I would be if I rode. I like Phantom Ranch, nice shade trees, food is good, and cabins are historic!

Sycamore

I met people that never was on a horse or mule in their life, the entire family.The wranglers said the same thing. They were a little sore, but so is hiking. I think you would be surprised how well you do.

In all the years these rides have been going on, one death occurred.That was from a horse rolling over on a wrangler. On the other hand 2-3 days ago a woman hiker was air lifted out of Pantom Ranch from heat stroke and she died. The day I did the ride,another person was air lifted from about 1 mile from the top, She look dead as she was completely covered with wrap. On top of a mule on those rides is probably the safest recreation you can do in the Grand Canyon.

I put it off too many years and only my wife's coaxing got me signed up. I would do it again in a heart beat if I wasn't so old and gimped up.

Any imagine the temps down in the canyon with the heat wave there now.

My son just came back from 3 weeks on the Colorado river in grand Canyon, he said the last week was terrible it was so hot no could sleep, the heat made several people very sick, my son said it will take him a week to get back to normal, and he is in great shape. Rio7

It was 93 at Phantom Ranch on April 3 when I did it. I think I heard it was above 110 a few days ago.

I worked out the the Nevada desert for years not far from Death Valley. 108-110 was common. You learn quick,never to leave a tool out in the sun when we work outside. We weekended in Vegas and it was usually 103-104.

Before I retired in 2003,I was sending crews to Saudia, down in the SE Empty Quarter 130 common

Couple years ago i and 2 other adults took a group of 12 to 14 year old boy scouts on a hike of the canyon. Late september, it was 35 degrees when we started at the south kiabab trail. Hit the river and 90+ degrees. Went up the bight angel trail. Took about 12 hours to do.