Bruce Babbitt

Grand Canyon's sheer depth, purple-hazed distances, rugged side canyons, buttes, temples and spires are a siren call to hikers.

And for the many thousands of the millions who journey from all parts of the world to its rims each year, the Canyon's call must be answered.

Glimpses of the winding green river in the black inner gorge, side canyons jeweled with sparkling willow-and-cottonwood-lined streams, ribbon-like ramparts of limestone, sandstone and shale, and sculptured temples and buttes...

Destinations like Thunder River, Ribbon Falls, Tapeats Creek, Roaring Springs, Deer Creek with its spectacular water fall to the river, Hance Rapids, Clear Creek, old Hermit Camp and Havasupai with its string of beautiful waterfalls... this is the stuff that makes campfire dreams.

After listening to that call for many years, I met a young fellow by the name of Bruce Babbitt and found a backpack exploring partner.

Bruce's mother, Frances, was taking her family on a river trip by chartered boat from Lee's Ferry to Phantom Ranch, and we camped together at Nankoweap. Our annual trips since that time years ago have become a tra-dition. And, luckily, Bruce married a young lady who also heard the call of the canyon, and willingly faced long, dry trails, steep climbs, scrambles down rocky slides, heat, cold and rough trail-side camps.

Bruce Babbitt: Walking Tall in the Grand Canyon

A Personal Narrative by Ben Avery With spirit that would have done credit to the hardiest of Arizona's pioneer women, Hattie Babbitt took a five-month pregnancy and the 14-mile Boucher Trail in stride. Then she nursed and changed nine-month old Christo-pher on the cross-canyon Kaibab-Bright Angel Trail a few months later and pretty much repeated the experience with Thomas Jeffrey (TJ) two years later.

Somehow, it is fitting they now are Arizona's First Family.

It happened suddenly.

Bruce Edward Babbitt was awakened from a sound sleep in the early morning last May 4 and informed that Governor Wesley Bolin was dead and that he was the new governor of Arizona.

He had entertained the thought of someday seeking the governor's office in pursuit of his chosen career in government, but only a few months before had publicly postponed that ambition to continue his aggressive job as state attorney general.

But destiny took over and almost two months before his 40th birthday Bruce Babbitt had to step into the shoes of Governor Wesley Bolin who had passed away after 40 years of public life.

But despite the pressures of office, the governor and his family haven't changed their attitudes toward hiking the Grand Canyon. This year's trek took us down Bright Angel Trail to the Tonto Platform.

It was a relaxing, fun outing. The governor and first lady profited by several hours of lolling and napping under the cottonwoods of Indian Gardens and visiting with Ranger Gale Burak, one of the park's most interesting specialists. Ms. Burak's hobby is researching old trails of the park, and Bruce, Hattie and I have been devoting a few years to following them.

When the cooler part of the afternoon arrived, we explored the Indian ruins of Pipe Creek then hiked out to Plateau Point to watch the sunset.

Like ourselves, Grand Canyon draws most visitors to view its scenic grandeur, its colorful walls of sandstone, limestone, shale and the dark inner gorge of schist and granite... its spectacular sunsets and sunrises the ever-changing shadows of clouds and streamers of rain during a summer cloudburst... the blanketing clouds and snow of a winter storm.. and always the freshness of color and contrast after a fall of rain.

My love for the Canyon has ripened during my annual explorations with Governor Babbitt, who toiled over its walls, platforms and talus slopes as a graduate student studying for his Master's Degree in geology, then carrying specimens back to Newcastle University in England to analyze them.

On one of our last hikes the Governor and I hiked alone to Thunder River and Tapeats creek. Then over through Surprise Valley to Deer creek, exploring it to the river.

This hike was one we did as part of Bruce's work on his new book, Grand Canyon: An Anthology published by Northland Press. We were primarily (Right) Rays of the early morning sun mark the route on the Bright Angel Trail as the Governor leisurely makes his ascent to the South Rim.

(Below) Amidst splendor unparalleled, Governor and Hattie Babbit relax and enjoy yet another enchantment, a Grand Canyon sunset.

(Bottom) Governor Babbitt, with first son Christopher, sets the pace into the Canyon followed by author Ben Avery and fellow hikers Beau Johnson and Bob Aguilera.

Interested in this area where Zane Grey hunted mountain lions with Buffalo Jones and Uncle Jimmy Owens, and got his inspiration for Riders of the Purple Sage, The Rainbow Trail and Heritage of the Desert. Going in from Monument Point, we hiked in hot, humid weather. We were prepared to stay over a day, but when we rolled out at 5 a.m. on Tapeats creek, a storm was brewing, so we decided to skip the day of rest. We had explored Tapeats the afternoon before, so we packed up and climbed the steep trail up Thunder River, dropped over into Surprise Valley, cached our packs under a ledge and took off for Deer creek. Snow clouds covered the rims and drifted across the Canyon so walking was cool and we covered the rough trail in good time, visited briefly with a Sierra Club group from San Francisco camped in Deer Creek valley, and went on down in time to watch a group in oarpowered rafts across the river prepare for departure. We returned to our packs by 11, ate a brief lunch as it started to rain, and started slogging up out of Surprise Valley over the Redwall. By the time we reached the long hike across the Esplanade, water was running off the sandstone in sheets, every gully was a rivulet, and it was impossible to see the trail. I was protected by my poncho, but Bruce's rain repellent jacket was soaked. Luckily we knew the landmarks and had little trouble picking a way around the heads of the sheer gullies that break from the Esplanade down through the Redwall. We climbed out in the snow, which began falling in earnest after we reached my camper. We hiked at least 20 miles that day,climbing out from river level to the Tonto level, back down into Deer Creek, then out again to the top of Monument point. The effort of that particular hike reminds me of the time two years before when Christopher was due in just four months. Hattie hiked the old Boucher Trail with us, and we climbed out Hermit in a wind so strong you frequently had to take several steps backward to keep from falling. We had gotten a late 10:30 start on the Boucher about 14 miles of dry trail that was little more than a deer trail then. But Hattie made it on her own to old Henri's camp before dark. A hiker in Grand Canyon who leaves the trails is certain to get into some tight places. On a trip down the old Bright Angel (North Kaibab) Bruce and I decided to explore Fern Canyon and get a picture of Fern Spring. We followed the little stream until we came to a 12-foot waterfall. Bruce watched as I tried to climb it, failed and fell back into the waist deep pool. Like a good partner Bruce didn't laugh. "Are you hurt?" was the first thing I heard. "No - mad." I reciprocated a little later when he got bluffed-in trying to climb up around the waterfall and had to turn loose and slide 50 or 60 feet down a steep slope, landing in a cloud of dust at the bottom of a 10-foot bank. A second try on the waterfall was successful, and Fern Spring proved to be a beautiful wild place. One day, we will go back to the Tonto Platform as it holds one of the Grand Canyon's secrets that has eluded Governor Babbitt despite hours of searching on several of our trips. It is a tiny fossil called a trilobite. "It looks something like a scorpion. It was the dominant life form in the beginning when worms and other tiny crawling creatures lived in the mud deposited deposited on the earth's crust, back when that first sea formed the Bright Angel Shale," the governor explained as we joined him in his search on our last trip to Indian Gardens. "When I was doing my graduate work for Newcastle, I climbed out of the Canyon many times carrying up to 50 pounds of rocks," the governor said. "It's funny how one little fossil can frustrate you." "But it makes you keep trying." Our next explorations will move west, probably the old Bass Trail. "We must go visit Bill Bass at Wickenburg before we make that trip," Bruce said, and delays in making that visit probably kept the Bass Trail off this year's itinerary. Also scheduled is another boat trip, hopefully one that will give Bruce time to take a closer look at the old volcanic flows that once filled the Canyon to a depth of about 400 feet in the lower 80 miles. Bruce is a native of Los Angeles, but his family roots in Arizona reach back to pre-territorial days. He promises to be different from any other governor in Arizona history because he is the youngest to hold that office and the first whose age matches the median age of the state's heads of households - 40. As a family they complement each other. Hattie went back to school to get her JD in law at Arizona State University, and became a practicing trial lawyer. As parents, Governor and Mrs. Babbitt unabashedly show great pleasure in being with their children, and share in their care as much as possible. It is not unusual for a visitor to the governor's home to find him holding TJ and giving him a bottle while he discusses problems of state. For him, the future of the state is in his arms.

Editor's Note: Hiking the old historic trails of Grand Canyon with a pack on your back is probably the most strenuous hiking-climbing you will find anywhere, and the difficulty is compounded by lack of water, scorching mid-day heat, treacherous footing, and unexpected storms and wind. It can be foolhardy for the inexperienced. If you plan a trip be sure that at least one member of your party is an experienced Canyon hiker.