We spent 2 nights down in Phantom Ranch at the beginning of Feb. I had never hiked the Grand Canyon before and didn't know what to expect. We hiked from the south rim down Kaibab and were really lucky to have amazing weather. It was pretty amazing to hike for hours and then end up at this tiny community (Phantom Ranch) down at the bottom of the Canyon. Phantom Ranch consists of several small buildings, including a canteen which serves as a store, mess hall, and from 8-10pm, bar. There are also small cabins you can rent but we stayed in one of the shared bunk houses with 10 beds, toilet, shower and sink. You will have a set meal time for breakfast and dinner (no lunch) and it is family style dining. Breakfast is at 5:30a.m. or 7:00a.m. and dinner also has 2 seatings, I think at 5:30 and 6:30. You have to have all of these meals reserved in advance. It was super fun to get to know fellow hikers and share a meal of stew and chocolate cake (which I guess is the standard meal there) and then play games and drink beer for a few hours. We were lucky enough to be there during a full moon so one night we walked about 10 minutes down the path to get to a sandy beach right on the Colorado River - didn't even need our headlamps because the moon was so bright. During our day down at Phantom Ranch we lounged around the picnic tables in front of the canteen, reading, and also hiked up to a ridge that overlooked the Colorado and part of the Kaibab trail that we had hiked down the day before.

There is plenty of potable water at Phantom Ranch so you can fill up your water bottles before you start your hike out. You also need to carry your trash back out with you. Trash from things you buy at Phantom Ranch can be left there.

We hiked out via Bright Angel trail which I loved! not as steep as Kaibab with beautiful turns and beautiful pockets.