[This is an edited version of a log I kept during a Grand Canyon Hike taken with Steve Anthony, Bill Griffin, Andrew Mecom, Jeff Tesney dealing with the morning of July 19, 2010 (written that afternoon)]
I was aware of how important it was that our trail team of middle aged men leave at the earlies possible time. The heat of the Kaibab Trail in July is infamous and would be a significant challenge in addition to the difficult terrain, lack of water, elevation change and length of the hike. I made the importance of leaving early paramount by explaining the challenges of that first day hike (down the South Kaibab) to everyone (repeatedly). The entire team was focused on early departure.
I remembered the exchange with the young Ranger at the Back Country Office (the day before on July 18) because of the importance of getting us the the South Kaibab Trail Head at the earliest possible time. We waited at the bus stop but at 3:55 AM I saw no evidence of the bus and began to get nervous. I told Steve to get the rental car (actually an SUV) because we might possibly need to drive to the Back Country Office to catch the bus. He went to the Suburban and turned it on. The headlights came and Steve started inching the Suburban up to a closer parking space.
Suddenly we saw the bus coming down the hill at a very quick pace. I called out to Steve "Park it! The bus is coming!" Steve parked the Suburban. Bill began quickly picking up packs with me. Jeff had his pack on and was standing at the curve. Steve turned off the light and the car and opened the door to exit the vehicle. The bus did not even slow. Jeff even stepped off the curb and the bus swerved left to avoid him. In fact it appeared to speed up as it headed for the turn at the bottom of the hill. While the bus was apparently passing us by Jeff, Bill and I were calling out "Heh...STOP!. You have hikers here!" while in clear view under the shining street lights. The bus actually accelerated away from the turn. I was stunned!
The bus had some people in it (possibly 5). We later found out that people in the bus were calling out to the driver that there were hikers there (those hikers were us) and to stop for them. The driver, according to reports, said "They are not suppose to be there. I am not stopping."
Steve, who had not even made it completely out of the Suburban, quickly drove the Suburban up to the stop and all of us rapidly threw our backpacks, equipment and water bottles into the Suburban. One water bottle fell beneath the vehicle. Precious seconds ticked away as Jeff called out to pull up the Suburban so we could get the bottle. Doors still open, vehicle rolling forward, I saw the water bottle and tossed it in the vehicle as we drove away quickly in the direction that we had seen the bus go.
Steve had never been to the Back Country Office and so he had to respond, in the dark of night, to immediate commands of "left", "right", "straight" commands whenever we had multiple choices of dark streets to go down. The bus was out of sight. Steve even asked me "Do you know where we are going? Do you know the way?" and my response was "Well the roads have changed due to construction so I am just providing the best guesses I can."
Amazingly we arrived at the parking lot just as the bus arrived to the front of the Back Country Office (catching up to it). We took our packs out quickly from the Suburban and jogged to the bus, which thankfully, was delayed by numbers of day hikers loading the bus (along with the pack carrying back country hikers). This provided Steve with time to park the Suburban nearby (meaning a longer hike to get the vehicle after the hike but our immediate concern was making the bus).
We loaded the bus last. Bill was standing in front of and outside the bus as Jeff and Tim entered. Jeff stopped, glared at the driver, and identified us as the hikers he had not picked up and stated his displeasure that it wasn't right that he (the bus driver) would leave us and not pick us up. The bus driver responded "You were not suppose to be at that bus stop." I informed the driver that the Ranger had assured me that the bus was going to pick up hikers there due to Bright Angel road construction. The bus driver responded "Well the Ranger was wrong." I then stated "You still did not need to leave us there. You could have stopped. There is a person parking the car could you please wait for him?" Bill remained in front of the bus for fear the driver would decide to leave Steve behind.
I continued conversing with the bus driver with the aim of delaying any impending departure. I told the bus driver how important it was for us to catch the earliest possible bus to the trail head. The driver no longer conversed. Jeff continued to glare at him, Bill continued to stand in front of the bus and Steve made it to the bus.
"We caught the bus and this was a bullet dodged. Thank the Lord!" were the exact words in my log.
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Please note that the views expressed here by me do not represent the views of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, Archdiocese of Mobile or any part of the Universal Catholic Church.
