Kaibab Journal - Free Hiking the Grand Canyon - Kibbey Butte


Free Hiking the Grand Canyon - Kibbey Butte page 4

I did face one serious concern. I am no madman, and am easily turned away from climbing through spots that present any exposure. Especially when hiking alone. But, for this hike, that place would come some 2000 feet above me, high in the Supai. It would be there that I would be faced with the potential of having to turn around and backtrack my way out of the canyon. The fact that Butchart and Steck had come through this route wasn’t enough for me. I have lots of Grand Canyon experience, but I am no Butchart. And, I am no Steck. I knew that I would use up much of the day getting to this spot, and if I had to turn around, I figured that it would be imperative that I be able to get back to the spring before dark, and out the day after that. I didn’t really pack a whole extra day’s worth of food, but had enough to nurse me through another 24 hours. I didn’t want to have to turn around, but the probability of that happening seemed greater as I looked up this boxy canyon, with its sheer cliffs. The spring was actually very noisy. The water gushed out of the side of the ravine in two places, probably flowing at a gallon a second, although my estimate is likely to have a huge margin of error. I suppose that one may call this “natural noise,” and worthy of some particular respect. However, I find it extremely difficult to sleep near this kind of water source, so I spent a long while finding a suitable spot to camp, far enough away so that it was not distracting, but close enough so that filling up my water bottles wasn’t a burdensome chore. The area was quite brushy, and I barely found a place to lay out my air mattress. A tent would have been out of the question. For the rest of the day, I did very little, but drink water, rest and eat. For those that think a hiking story must include a favorite recipe, here is mine for that evening’s dinner: Get two slices of bread from the plastic container. Open one of the individual packages of mayonnaise (courtesy of Chic-Fil-A) and a package of horseradish sauce (from Arby’s). Spread generously. Open a 5 ounce can of chuck chicken (chunk ham may be substituted instead, although then I will likely use mustard instead of the horseradish). Scoop and spread on the bread. Put both pieces of bread together and eat. Hold the lid of the plastic bread container underneath the sandwich so as to catch any that should fall. For dessert, open up an 8 oz. can of sliced pineapples and eat directly from the can. The evening was cool, and I wore some polys to go along with my sheet, and I ended up putting my poncho over me, to further retain heat. My air mattress turned out to be a big disappointment, as it leaked. Once I laid down, hardly ten minutes would elapse before it would go flat. As a consequence, I tossed and turned most of the night, unable to find a comfortable position for very long. And, as to be expected, I finally seemed to fall into a deep sleep about an hour before I had wanted to get up in the morning.