DISTANCE: 13.24km / 8.23 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 707m / 2321'
TIME TAKEN: 5:20
SUMMIT: The Battleship: 1783m / 5850'
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
COCONINO COUNTY, AZ
HAVASUPAI STOLEN LAND
SOUNDTRACK: English Dogs: Forward Into Battle
PHOTO ALBUM
MAP
I had been to the Grand Canyon twice before in my life, once with my family on New Year's Day 1990, as we were moving to California, and once more with my old hardcore band Acts Of Sedition, and nice little tour stop after the show in Flagstaff. This would be my first time visiting since I had become obsessed with rock and mountain climbing oriented adventuring, and I was determined to to a little something extra beyond ogling the view from the South Rim. My copious nights of research at home on the computer led to The Battleship, a not too long hike, not too difficult scramble, that would get me down into the canyon for the first time, and provide a whole new perspective on the area.
Up at 5:00AM in the van, and out the door by 5:22. Started walking, and to my delight, found a heated restroom immediately. What a relief. It was a fine time to be up, pre-dawn and no people out. I could feel the crush of tourists coming in the distance, for this Easter weekend Saturday, like an ocean wave building on the horizon. But for now all was pre-dawn quiet. At the Bright angel Trailhead, I saw one other guy, and then I went down, into the canyon, my first time "beyond the rim." Though there wasn't much detail to be seen yet in the semi darkness, the scale of the place was evident. I continued, on the extremely well made trail: steps, rocks along the sides, two tunnels blasted through the rock. Professional stuff here. I hit two of the notorious ice patches, took it slow, didn't slip. Some mud. Light was growing, and I felt very tiny down in the canyon, the towering sandstone cliffs above me now. Down past the first restroom / water station. Down, down. After two miles, and 2200 feet of elevation loss, I left the Bright Angel Trail at the apex of a big Switchback.
As I found out on the way back, there's a well ducked use trail pretty much the whole way to The Battleship, but I did a poor job finding it on the approach, which resulted in some unnecessary side hilling, light scrambling and bushwhacking. I didn't properly connect with the use trail until the saddle, and I then I followed it along the east side of the butte, up to the north-east corner, where after some searching, I found the first piece of the ascent puzzle, a narrow chute leading back to the south, which took me up to the next terrace. From there, I crawled out on a ledge below a shelf, which turned out to be the wrong way, but it led to a great viewpoint off of the north end. I went back the other way, which led me to the correct path, a narrow slanting chute with a chockstone at the top. this took me up to the next terrace, where I soon found the third, and most difficult chimney, which involved real class three climbing to lever my body up to the top of the crack. Now, I was close to the top, and a few rocky ramps and bits of light scrambling got me upon the flat mesa, where I found two large cairns and the summit register. I explored the top of the formation and hung out, enjoying in the 360 degree view, and taking photos, until about 8:30AM. Then I came down. It actually took me a minute to find the class three chimney to get back down, so much red sandstone, everything blends in. But, I found it soon enough, and retraced my steps to the bottom of the butte, where I retrieved my pack.
On the way back out, I tried hard to stick with the ducked use trail, and verified that it did indeed follow through, all the way back to Bright Angel, which I reached at 9:50AM, By now, we it was balls deep in a Saturday April morning in Grand Canyon National Park, the Bright Angel Trail was slammed. I hike relentlessly upward, trying to bring in the hike within five hours. I barely stopped, in the 2200 feet of elevation gain. As I hiked past the sweaty families with kids from Indiana, i amused myself with a counting game: how popular is this trail and how many people are coming down? I counted 488! It kind of reminded me of being at the airport, being forced into the presence of that many "normal" people, the kind I usually try so hard to avoid. I got back to the top of the rim at 10:44AM, for a "grand" total of five hours and twenty minutes. It's nice to hike early, I was now already done for the day. Reunited with Amber and Scarlett, who hadn't been awake for long, the three of us then enjoyed the delights of the Grand Canyon rim and it's gift shops and museums. Ample sandwich supplies in the van re-energized me. Then we drove south, out of the park, past the two hundred-odd cars waiting to get in. The past the majestic snow capped Mount Humphreys, and ultimately on to Santa Fe...
FURTHER READING
I cannot give enough credit to these two writers for helping me find the way to The Battleship, thank you!
• The Mountains Are Calling: Detailed Instructions on how to reach The Battleship
• Steven Song: Another great report on The Battleship
• The Battleship on Summitpost and Peakbagger
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