Phantom Ranch

Greetings from Kenai.  I haven’t stayed in the cabins or bunkhouse at PR but camped there last year and have been hiking past for many decades.  A few adjacent thoughts:

Reservations are hard to get.  I suspect it’s one of those “Be up at midnight AZ time and type fast when reservations open up” unless there’s a lottery like there is for backcountry permits.

There’s a bunch of construction going on, especially with the trans-canyon water pipeline.  That mostly effects the Bright Angel trail, but some supplies and some temporary worker housing was staged at PR when I was last there.  So check frequently but consider that you may need to take the steeper South Kaibab with no water.

Last I looked at it, the dinner menu consisted of 1) beef stew or 2) veggie chili so consider people’s dietary preferences and if they’ll want to bring their own meals.

There’s a weight limit for people riding the mules down of 200?  220? pounds.

The absolute best bit of ultralight kit for hiking in the main corridor is a $20 bill.  It weighs 1 gram but can be converted to lemonade, beer, granola and candy bars at the snack bar.  Canteen winter hours were 8:30 am to 8 pm at the outside window and 8 pm to 9:30 pm inside).

On the South Rim, the showers in the campground are Men’s and Women’s but there’s lots of families taking different genders into each and all the shower stalls are private – you close a door and there’s a bench and hooks to hang clothes and toiletries on as you put tokens into the time meter.  A trans or NB person wouldn’t have a problem.  I don’t know what the deal is at PR, but if it was me, I’d sell tokens to use in a timer to minimize hauling more propane tanks down there.

Now you’ve got me curious if South Rim tokens would work in PR showers.  That would be a sweet rest stop during a R2R2R.

Within 1/3 mile upstream of PR, Bright Angel Creek has deep pools in which one could even take a few swimming strokes.

Good luck herding the cats!

This is probably old data and needs to be updated.
Reservations may be hard to come by as most people who go down by mule taking the stay in cabins. I mainly camp, but on one trip my wife and daughters took the mules and stayed in a cabin, and I hiked (hate horses and mules).
If I recall, if you get to the bottom before 4 you can get a beer, then they close to prep for the dinner crowd.
There used to be two seating for dinner: Stew and Veggie at one and Steak at the other
I don’t recall the shower situation at the bottom, sorry
They did have a duffel service where they will transport a small bag and if I recall it was about $30 each way (but probably more than that by now).

Good luck

I stayed once (by chance) in the a dorm cabin back in 2008.  At that time the shower/bathroom had a door separating from the main bunk room.  For me, plenty of privacy.

I say by chance because I was about halfway on my Tonto Trail thru hike planning to stay at the BA campground.  Stepping into the canteen for a Lemmy and a beer I asked on a whim if they any beds.  It happened they had 2 no shows and were happy sell an empty bed a 2nd time.

But as to bathroom privacy, my experience suggests it not an issue.