Ken Patrick Trail

Talk about a late start! We underestimated how long it would take us to get from Las Vegas to the South Rim to stage our rental and then to the North Rim to start our hike. The drive was beautiful and this is one of those bucket list trips; THE GRAND CANYON RIM-TO-RIM! Needless to say, we were excited. Who is “we?” My husband, my father-in-law, and me! My father-in-law is the one taking these photos.

We chose Ken Patrick Trail for our first night because we knew we wouldn’t make it far into the canyon, so why not spend some time on the edge? Unfortunately for us, we pulled up to the parking lot just after the sun had set and it was DARK. So, we did what we had planned to do (although much later in the day) and threw on our packs, our headlamps, and went to go find our camp for the night.

The Ken Patrick Trail is mixed use, much like several of the other trails in the Grand Canyon. What the websites don’t tell you is that it is covered in horse poo. In the rain, in the dark, the poo melted into the mud and avoiding it was impossible. I don’t care how good your headlamp or flashlight is, the world is different in the dark. You can see what’s in the beam, but you can’t really fathom your surroundings.

It took us a while, and we were good and tired and hungry (and maybe a little cranky), by the time we found a site that was legal for disbursement camping AND flat-ish AND not in danger of flooding. Not to mention we were finally away from the overpowering smell of horse droppings…

Three of us shared the tent for this trip and it was perfect for the purpose. It was light, inexpensive, big enough for us all, and most importantly, DRY. We chose to bring those green mats issued by the Marine Corps because they are light, cheap, can’t pop, and provide some good thermal insulation while giving some back comfort. They were great, but I’ve since upgraded to an air mattress for camping.

So, Ken Patrick Trail is beautiful. I’m really glad we got to hike it during the daytime, because it was so different than the hike in. We did pass several groups of horse tours on the way out, but it is easier to avoid their droppings when the trail was dry and the sun was out. Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon from the North Rim? It looks totally different than from the South Rim.