The Grand Canyon: Postcards from the edge of heaven

'Warning! Do not attempt to hike from the canyon rim to the river and back in one day. Each year hikers suffer serious illnesses or die from exhaustion."

The message on the strategically placed signs at the top of the major trails into the Grand Canyon could not be more stark. Yet getting to the bottom of the great fissure and back in a day is a logical aspiration for visitors fit enough and short of time.

Which is not to ignore the fact that people do die while hiking in the canyon. Flyers placed on dining tables at the restaurants and cafes in Grand Canyon village reveal that each year park rangers carry out 250 rescues of people who have not heeded basic advice. The number of fatalities is not so well publicised, but for the morbidly curious there is at least one book available in the village's gift shops that details causes of deaths in the Grand Canyon National Park: heat exhaustion; hypothermia; falling over the edge; snake bites (locals call it "rattlesnake heaven"); and drowning.

More interesting still is the fact that of those who get into trouble, most are the type of person represented by the ruggedly handsome young man on the front of the flyer. "The majority of those rescued look like the person pictured: 20- to 40 year-old males who enjoy the outdoors and think they're fit."

Which is precisely the category I fall in to, although my rugged good looks do need to be viewed from my better side. Otherwise, I enjoy the outdoors and think I am pretty fit. So I decide wilfully to ignore the official advice against attempting to reach the river and back in a day.

The hike itself is one of staggering beauty and grandeur, especially for those used to the temperate landscapes of north-west Europe. It is hills and mountains that give a valley its frame; in the arid surroundings of the Grand Canyon and the interminable plateau that surrounds it, it is precisely their complete absence that makes the area so striking.

Obviously all of this can be appreciated to some degree without having to walk down to the Colorado River and back. Mules will do the, erm, donkey work for you, although not in one day. There is plenty of spectacular scenery to be appreciated by shorter, out-and-back trips on the main trails, yet the scale of the canyon and the challenge it presents can only be fully appreciated on a trip from top to bottom and back.

This is best done by following one of the three maintained trails that run from rim to river. Of these, one, the North Kaibab Trail, sets off from the north rim and as such is out of commission for more than half the year as winter snow closes the access roads. This leaves the routes from the south rim, access to which is kept open year-round.

The shortest of these two options is via the South Kaibab Trail, which starts just east of the Grand Canyon village. There and back on this path is about 12-and-a-half miles and involves a vertical drop of 4,780 feet. The other alternative is the Bright Angel Trail (the original tourist route into the canyon), which requires a there-and- back journey of 15-and- a-half miles.

Both of these sound benign enough, but why go out and back on the same route when it is perfectly possible to make a loop? Combining the two trails makes a very pleasant round trip but does mean increasing your mileage to a total distance of 16- and-a-half miles. If, as is advisable, you incorporate a brief visit to the Phantom Ranch, the only place to get water and refreshments at river level, the distance grows by another mile.

This, then, is the measure of the task. But there is more to the walk than merely the distance and climbing required. For a start, the rim's altitude of 7,000 feet makes feeling the effects of the rarefied air a distinct possibility.

You also have to factor in one of the unique aspects of walking in the canyon: unlike most mountaineering challenges, the easy bit - the descent - comes first, leaving the tough stuff until the homeward leg. Not that any of the walking could be described as easy. Although the trails are clear and well signposted, the continual wear and tear of hundreds of thousands of tourists and almost as many mules means the conditions under-foot are often precarious.

Yet in the right conditions I discover the walk to the bottom and back is as pleasant and exhilarating a day's hiking as you could wish for, although it is no walk in the park: my round trip, including an extra three miles to the fabulous views of Plateau Point, takes up nearly nine of the 10 available daylight hours.

Then there is the weather, the real key to the feasibility of a day trip to the waters of the Colorado. Although the height of the rim acts to mitigate the heat of the surrounding desert, many hikers are caught out by temperatures which in summer can reach nearly 40C. And for those who fail to make it out by nightfall, hypo-thermia can pose a serious threat; at night-time and in winter the temperature can plummet to -10C, particularly with the arrival of several inches, sometimes feet, of snow in winter storms that can brew up in a flash.

In the summer, temperatures soar to near Death Valley proportions. At Phantom Ranch, the average is 40C in the shade. In the sun, and in the confined spaces and still air of the side canyons, temperatures in excess of 50C are not uncommon. In such heat, almost any physical activity is too much.

On my hike, with temperatures in the canyon barely 13C - perfect hiking conditions - I still consumed over two litres of water. And this in January, when I was more concerned about the cold than the heat. On the way to the canyon I had sought reassurance when filling up my hire car that the road to the south rim was passable. I was told to watch out for snow flurries, ice and elk, and was then left to wonder whether a snow flurry in the US was actually the equivalent of a blizzard at home, in the same way American snacks equate to our main meals.

In fact, my trip to the river and back was simply a long, tiring but very rewarding day-hike. I set off at 8.30am, an hour after daybreak, leaving the crisp chill of the snowy rim clad in coat, gloves and hat. Within half an hour these had all become surplus to require-ments, and would remain so until I left the canyon shortly after 5pm.

In between, the combination of a bone-jarring descent and the sun's middle-of-the-day warmth on the canyon floor meant shirt sleeves and jumper were all that was necessary; on the way back up, one layer sufficed.

Even the late-afternoon chill of the final, arduous pull from above the Indian Garden was mitigated by the effort required to climb 3,500 feet in three-and-a-half miles. It is this section, and a similarly steep but much shorter portion of the Bright Angel Trail nearer the river, that is likely to the be the most difficult passage for unprepared visitors.

Even though I made it in a day, and had no problems with the altitude, I finished with rather more respect for those warning signs than I had had before I set off. My first reaction had been that this was an overstated American response to a litigious society and the over-confident, "flip-flops on Snowdon", brigade.

But now I feel that although bald warnings of injuries and fatalities may be a crude tool with which to discourage the foolhardy, in a country where everything seems larger than life the hyperbole is forgivable. You have been warned.

Avoiding the donkey work out West

The best way to walk to the river and back is down the shorter, more exposed South Kaibab Trail, returning up the Bright Angel Trail, which offers a modicum of shade and some occasional water in spring, summer and autumn. The South Kaibab and Bright Angel Trails can also be linked above the river by the Tonto Trail, a round trip of about 13 miles. If you want to go to the river and back but not in a day, you can camp at Indian Garden or the Bright Angel Campground (both on the Bright Angel Trail), or stay in the neighbouring Phantom Ranch (backcountry permits and reservations required). If you are happy not to venture down the canyon, there are plenty of alternatives. The Rim Trail, which runs for a few miles near the Grand Canyon village, affords excellent views. And if you want to put contemporary adventures in perspective, and understand some of the risks encountered by pioneers of travelling in the Grand Canyon, read Down the Great Unknown by Edward Dolnick, an account of the first descent of the Colorado River from its origins as a tributary in Wyoming to the Pacific.

For more information about visiting the Grand Canyon: www.nps.gov/grca.

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