The Grand Canyon is an unusual place for backpackers. The rhythm of hiking is reversed as you start downhill and finish with long arduous climbs. Most top tier backpacking areas, and the national park crown jewels especially, have lots of front country hikes, interpretive trails, and long day hikes to go along with their multiday backpacking choices. Not so at the canyon. Here you’re pretty much thrown directly into the fire, and it is up to you to see if you can stand the heat. Sure, there are a few other options such a day hikes from Grandview, flat trails on the canyon rim, and tentative forays down the corridor trails, but for most backpackers it is all the way to the canyon bottom, or nothing at all.
With
so little on the moderate side, it is no wonder that visitors tend to get
themselves into trouble here. The blistering heat and lack of water can be a
deadly combination. The agony of climbing out of the canyon, after a limits
pushing descent, is an often told, but little heeded, lesson in hubris.
Combined with the tendency of awestruck visitors to stumble off the canyon rim,
rangering at Grand Canyon must seem like a Groundhog Day task of saving
visitors from themselves.
Jean
and I had spent an incredible four days in the canyon on the Boucher-Hermit
loop in 2001. The trip went almost perfectly, and left us with the desire for
another canyon wilderness experience. This spring it would mean one of the trips
on the Tonto Trail below the south rim. We decided to skip the obvious choice,
the section east of the South Kaibab/Bright Angel corridor, wanting to avoid
the crowds. In 2001 we’d talked with a group finishing a shuttle hike from
South Bass to Boucher and decided to try that route. We were able to secure a
permit, and found a shuttle driver who would take us from our finish at
Hermit’s Rest to the start of the hike at South Bass. The shuttle would entail
long miles of little marked or maintained 4WD dirt road across the Indian Reservation.
At
this point we were well experienced backpackers with multiday trips in the Wind
Rivers, Bighorns, and maybe even more importantly on North Dakota’s Maah Daah
Hey Trail, where water management was the key to the success of the trip. Along
with following the often faint Tonto Trail, finding water looked to be the main
challenge for us. I scoured through maps and trip reports for all the updated
water information I could find, but ultimately water availability would depend
on rainfall conditions just prior to our hike. Because of the potential
difficulty of the backpacking trip, our plan was simple; just fly in, do the
backpack trip, and head home with no side trips to other parks or attractions.
We
left Knoxville at 5:30PM and flew to Phoenix via Chicago on American. Arrived after midnight.
Got a rental car from National and stayed in a Super 8 near the airport. In bed
by 2AM.
Lookout Studio on the South Rim.
3-16-2002
We
woke up late and drove to Flagstaff. We bought our topo maps, plus food and
fuel in the Milton area of town which had a Target, a Safeway, and two
bookstores, including one with the best selection of used guidebooks that I had
ever seen. It had guides from all over the US, including a first edition of my
Black Hills book.
It
had started to snow when we got within a half hour of town. I was driving in
shorts, so we froze driving around town until we found a nice brew pub to warm
up in. We stayed in the Super 8 on the east side of Flagstaff.
Snow at the Bright Angel Trailhead.
3-17-2002
A
bad omen, two inches of snow fell overnight. The roads looked rough for driving,
but the interstates were well cleared. We drove up to park and checked in with
the backcountry office. It looked like the park had gotten even more snow that
Flagstaff. The park seemed to think that our South Bass to Boucher permit was
still viable for the next day, but we weren’t able to contact our shuttle
driver Tim (charging $125- for the ride to South Bass). The pictures shown here
are scanned slides that have faded over time.
We
spent the afternoon walking the South Rim Trail to the El Tovar Hotel, then
took the NPS Shuttle out to Hermit, our
launch site for last year’s trip. We got off at Hopi Point on the return and
walked the rest of the way back. The Hermit Shuttle offered great views and
stopped at all the overlooks. It’s too bad we essentially ignored the drive
last year in our eagerness to launch the backpack trip. Hermit’s Rest is an old
stone structure with a mammoth oval fireplace. The views from there aren’t
great, and it’s not a spot with other attractions. We walked by the adit for
the Orphan copper mine, and also a shaft mine that was the major source of
uranium on the south rim in the 1950s.
Orphan Mine.
We
went into Tusayan and got ahold of Tim (no sure thing in the pre-cell phone
era), and made plans for a 2:15 shuttle to South Bass. We stayed in the Red
Feather Lodge.
More snow near Bright Angel Trailhead.
South Rim Trail, 4 miles
3-18-2002
A
morning surprise! Even though Sunday’s snow had almost completely melted, we
now had another four inches, and it was still snowing hard. The roads looked
like hell, but there was no call from Tim. We left Tusayan late, and by the
time we reached the park the snow had nearly stopped. We stopped by the
backcountry office, where we chatted with the rangers about altering our
permit, then went out to the rim for more pictures of snow and fog. We walked
the South Rim Trail out to Mather Point and back, then had lunch at the Maswik
Lodge.
When
Tim showed up he confirmed what we already feared, it would be impossible to run
the shuttle with the roads so wet. By then it was sunny, and the snow was
melting. Tim stuck around while we talked with the rangers and settled on a
permit for the Escalante Route from Tanner to Grandview starting the next day.
The route connected the Tanner and New Hance trails along the river with an off
trail route, then used the Tonto and Grandview trails to return to the rim at
Grandview Point. This was step up in difficulty from our South Bass to Boucher
plan, at least that one was all on trail. But the rangers carefully talked Jean
and I through the difficulties. The route was not shown on most park maps, but luckily
it was on our Trails Illustrated park map. We also got the park’s one sheet
handout with a route description that proved super useful. Our previous Grand
Canyon experience, and the fact that we’d already been permitted for South
Bass, gave us enough credibility with the rangers to keep us from having to settle
for a permit in the corridor. We were bummed about having to start another day
later, but there was little else we could do, and we would have plenty of time
to complete the trip. Tim’s wife would shuttle us at 6:30AM from Grandview to
Tanner, so at least this shuttle would be straightforward. We headed back to
Tusayan for another night at the Red Feather Lodge.
Ravens above the South Rim.
South Rim Trail, 3 miles
3-19-2002
We
were up at 5AM to catch our shuttle. Thankfully there was no new snow, but it
was still cold and frosty. We saw a herd of six elk on the drive to Grandview
where we arrived just in time for sunrise. The shuttle over to the Tanner Trailhead
was quick, and we were finally on our way!
Sunrise at Grandview.
After our short venture down Tanner last year, we both wore our instep crampons at the start. The crampons were helpful in 3” of snow without much ice. We went carefully down the steep switchbacks at the top to 75 Mile Saddle, the first good campsite on the descent. There we took a short break before walking along the Supai, and passing two groups that had started out late yesterday. One hiker had hiked the Escalante Route the year before, and gave us some pointers. We also saw a group of 11 boy scouts who caught us at our second break, just below the descent through the Redwall. Luckily that group would spend the night above the river. 75 Mile Saddle was great. A huge, deep canyon is on the west side and more modest Tanner Canyon on the east. There were lots of campsites on the Supai, and a few below the Redwall as well. There was no snow below the Supai.
View from the Tanner Trail
The
last two miles of the descent were more mundane, leading through some badlands
looking topography in the red beds of the Precambrian Dox Formation. Our knees
were aching, there was just no way to train for such a steep, long descent in
the Smokies. We’d gone from freezing on the rim to frying deep in the canyon,
and were ready to camp. We passed the west end of the Beamer Trail, marked by
two cairns, about 200 yards from the river on the east side of the draw.
Jean at our Tanner Campsite.
The
beach at Tanner was crowded with hikers and a float group preparing to run the
rapids. We first chose a shady campsite backed into a wall near the biffy since
it offered plenty of shade. By dinner time we moved to the west side of the
draw right on the river to enjoy better vistas. At least three other parties
were camped at Tanner, plus two more on the Beamer Trail. The Colorado was
flowing cool and clear, we had no problem with our filter clogging on this trip.
The folks doing Tanner out and back with intermediate stops were caching water
on their descents, a great idea for future trips. We also learned of a ruin
above Unkar Rapid. The night was cool, but the stars fantastic. We could see
the outline of the Watchtower above us on the rim. Fell asleep with no
soreness, yet.
Tanner Campsite, 10 miles
3-20-2002
The
Adventure Begins! We started early on the relatively easy walk to Cardenas
Creek. We lost the trail once briefly near the river, and passed a rafting
group at Basalt Creek. West of Cardenas there was only a single route and we
followed it up a small butte and took a shade break. The NPS instructions were
terse, but we found them complete and accurate. Just below us on the butte we
could see another couple on a side trail to the overlook above Unkar Rapid. We
then headed to the overlook which was on our right and saw a stone (miner’s)
cabin on our left. Both side trails were well marked and close together.
Overall, we found the difference between this year’s unmarked/unmaintained
route last year’s barely marked or maintained Boucher Trail to be slight. The
main differences would come later in the climbs and descents through the side
canyons.
Near Cardens Creek.
Next
we began a long gradual climb beside the unnamed creek west of Cardenas. At its
head there was a natural stone shelter where a sandstone block rests on two
other boulders. The shelter was 30-40 minute from the overlook, so we took
another break. Then we hiked a long 90 minutes to the saddle of the ridge
dividing West Cardenas and Escalante Creek. There was a lot of up and down, and
in and out of side draws, plus some coarse talus, and a few slightly exposed narrow
sections across steep shale slopes. The Escalante Route was starting to live up
to its reputation. Jean didn’t mind the steep slopes as much as the boulders
which were tougher for a short person to navigate.
Hiking along the Colorado River.
The
Cardenas/ Escalante divide was our planned stop, and we had lugged water all
the way from Tanner beach to enable camping in the high, dry saddle. But it was
too narrow and exposed for our tastes, so we decided to move on. But first we
took another 90 minute break to cook soup and make coffee, we needed any fluid
we could get. I was zapped by the sun, but after the break we both recovered
well. I remember being tired and light-headed from the exertion of carrying a
full back across all the exposed rock, mostly some red beds of the Dox(?)
Formation. Probably a good thing we weren’t out in the wild lands near South
Bass suffering in the heat with so much of the Tonto left ahead of us to
traverse.
Trying to keep hydrated.
Moving
on we found the descent down to Escalante Creek fairly easy, though navigating
the side creek was a bit confusing. Once in the Escalante canyon, and near the
outlet, we found a beautiful little slot canyon. Without any other camping
options, we arrived at the beach, with 6-7 quarts of water for our planned dry
camp.
Escalante Creek, 8 miles
3-21-02
We
knew this would be the most challenging day of the trip, and we got all the
challenge we asked for. The start wasn’t bad, we handled the climb out of
Escalante Canyon well. Next we were hiking alongside 75 Mile Canyon, which is a
long slot canyon. The entry to the canyon is well marked with a steep 12’ drop
where we lowered our packs down. We had expected that part, but not the 40’ down
climb near the floor of the slot where we again had to shuttle the packs down. I
took longer than expected to make the first run down the long climb, and Jean
was just starting to worry when I returned for trip two. The 12’ pool and pour
over in the canyon are just upstream of the descent point. The slot was worn
smooth into the Shimano Quartzite and had a few small pools of water. 75 Mile
would be a great side trip for a river group. About 30 minutes from Escalante
to the drop into 75 Mile Canyon.
Lowering packs in 75 Mile Canyon.
The
next stretch of the hike over to Papago Creek wasn’t too tough, just a few
stretches of boulder field and a bit of loose down climbing at the end. It took
an hour to reach Papago from 75 Mile. We had rested at 75 Mile along with the
couple we had seen earlier and a group of 3 guys we had leapfrogged a few
times. It was good to have company as we negotiated a swap of some TP for
sunscreen with the other couple.
The 75 Mile Canyon Descent.
Jean at 75 Mile Canyon.
Papago
cliffs out at a 20’ pour over only 100 feet from the mouth of the canyon, so
there is little room for exploring here. The big excitement is the climb out, a
50’ cliff on the west side that is the most imposing part of the route. Its
likely third class with a lot of big easy holds. Its steep and exposed, but at
least no loose rock this time. I ferried the packs up, and Jean used her rock
climbing training to scramble quickly up. Beyond the climb we had trouble with
one narrow chute before rounding the nose of the dividing ridge into Red
Canyon.
The start of the climb out of Papago Creek.
The
trip down to Red Canyon might have been the scariest part of the trip. It is
loose, steep, and exposed for over 100 feet. I again ferried the packs down to
river level, where we both hoped the worst was over. Luckily the rest of the
hike was a brushy path to Red Canyon and to the junction with the New Hance and
Tonto trails.
We
found a campsite in the mesquite. I took a swim in water so cold I could barely
get myself all wet. After a nice break, we walked about a half mile up Red Canyon
on what we guessed was part of the New Hance Trail, based on all the footprints.
Red Canyon, 4 miles
3-22-02
After
our adventures the day before we were ready for an easier day, and luckily we
got it. From Red Canyon our route climbed toward Mineral Canyon on the east end
of the Tonto Trail, but luckily the steep or rocky sections didn’t last long. We found the heat to be the
greatest obstacle, but the east slope of Mineral Canyon proved well shaded. It
took 90 minutes to hike to the dry creek bed, and another 90 minutes to hike to
a shady rest stop on the next unnamed creek to the west. Just beyond this creek
we had the rare pleasure of seeing the intersections of the two unconformities
where the Precambrian and Cambrian erosional surfaces met. The younger PC rocks
must be mostly eroded off to the west because continued down section to the
Bass Limestone and some spectacular basal conglomerates.
Colorado River.
At
the head of Hance Creek, the view into the drainage is so shear and barren to
be vertigo inducing. I could barely bring myself to peek over the edge. It was
like there were badlands of granite hidden in the canyon. The trail beyond that
point stayed on the Tonto platform, not particularly straight, but at least
reasonably level.
We
were the second party to arrive at the camping area along Hance Creek, but the
first party planned to move onto the rim, and promised us their prime spot by
the afternoon. We found some cool overhangs on the west side of the creek in
the Tapeats Sandstone and read away the afternoon. Later we moved down to the
“Big Cottonwood” site, then walked off trail about a half hour down the canyon.
There we found another campsite about 15 minutes down on the left, just before
we reached the contact with the granite. Jean found lots of malachite,
presumably from the copper mines on Horseshoe Mesa above us.
Near New Hance Trail
Back
in camp it was cloudy for the second night in a row. Where were those clouds
when we toiled under the hot sun with heavy packs? There was no roaring river
to lull us to sleep, but a nice breeze came in spurts down the canyon.
Hance Creek, 6.5 miles
3-23-02
Our
route out was via Horseshoe Mesa and the Grandview Trail. We woke early to beat
the heat and had 45 minutes of easy hiking to reach Page Springs, then another
45 minutes of hard steep hiking to Horseshoe Mesa. That trail was steep, and a
bit exposed, especially at the top of the Redwall Fm. We passed a pair of old
mining prospects with relics including an old wheelbarrow and a steam boiler.
Jean picked up some good malachite and azurite specimens. I couldn’t tell the
origin of the ore, there was little gossan, and the copper was mostly as
carbonate stains on otherwise little altered limestone. The trail crossed one
mass of coarse calcite crystals.
Jean on Horseshoe Mesa.
On
Horseshoe Mesa there are more prospects, a shaft, and decline, plus an old
stone cabin and the fallen remains of a timber cabin. We took our time on the
Mesa, but you could spend all day exploring there. I had not been on this side
of the mesa on my 1992 visit. We left when a cold stiff wind began to blow. The
wind kept the remaining climb pleasantly cool. 
View down to Horseshoe Mesa.
We took an hour + to Coconino
Saddle then another half hour to the rim. There were lots of day hikers above
the Coconino Saddle, especially close to the top. We got one picture of the two
of us happy to be on the rim, then it was off to the Super 8 in Flagstaff,
where my journal notes abruptly end except for some notes for next time.
Climbing the Grandview Trail.
Sadly,
this would be out last trip to Grand Canyon (at least as of 2022!). Because
there are few good options for moderate backpacking trips outside the crowded
Corridor, we’ve since chosen to go elsewhere. Maybe we’ll get back some day,
when the crowds in the Corridor and at Phantom Ranch are more tolerable to us.
Happy to be back on the rim!
Flagstaff Super 8, 6.5 miles
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