trip: New Hance Trail, AZ
author: MaryPhyl
date: Sep 25 2000

posted September 29, 2000 03:24 PM
Let me tell you upfront--this was one of the best Grand Canyon hikes I've ever done.

It was a tough summer. I never got out to hike and I got fat and lazy. I missed the Highline hike. So ... last Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock when my work was all done I called the boyfriend and said that I was going up to Grand Canyon to see what kind of a permit I could get. Nope sez the man--can't do it. I call him back and say "would you mind if I went by myself?" He said some sort of thing so since our hiking stuff was already in the car I drove up to the canyon. I made several plans in my mind on the way up there about what trails I could ask for. I finally decided to ask for three nights on New Hance. That's what I asked for and that's what I got.
By the time I had driven up there and gotten the permit and scooted back to the trailhead it was maybe 5 o'clock. I forced myself to slow down as I changed into hiking clothes and packed my bag. I had pulled off on the shoulder of the road just a little way west of the trailhead and I opened the two doors away from the road and dressed between them.
I said our hiking stuff was in the car but I had not sorted through it and the food was just stuff I had around the house. I found a tiny photon light in my purse and a huge two pound book I'd been trying to read. There was a new 9X12 painter's dropcloth so I took that. The old plan had included Robert fishing so I had my Hank Roberts stove and a half used can of fuel. After I had the bag all packed I could not remember if I had put the fuel in so I had another half can and added that too. I had one of my gatorade bottles with a drinking tube and two one quart platys. I found another half drunk up gatorade bottle in the car (it sometimes pays to be a messy person) so I drank the rest of the gatorade. I had some one gallon bottles of grocery store water so I filled the four one quart bottles and hand carried a one gallon bottle that was half full. For clothes I took my down vest, a pair of socks and undies. I noticed a polartec jacket in the car so I threw that in too.
All this took about half an hour to dress and pack up so I needed to scurry because I would run out of daylight. I crossed the road when I could see no cars in either direction and went cross country through the woods to the trailhead so no one saw me leave. I can't tell you how good it felt to see my canyon. I went down a ways and found a ledge about halfway down the Coconino and set up camp. The sun was down but I still had good light. I made coffee and ate something. I set up my bedroll right next to the canyon wall in a Mary sized nitch and put my things up. Then I sat in my good slinglight chair and watched a million stars pop out, listened to an owl down below me, smoked my cigarettes and drank the last of my coffee.
Now I discover that I have no toothbrush. Aargh. I do have dental floss and in the pocket of that polartec jacket I told you about is a pair of those liner gloves. They are kind of rough and made a fine toothbrush. Now I find that I have no toilet paper. The leaves of the two pound book are very absorbent. God must be on my side.
I went to sleep early and woke up about three because I heard a slight noise. As I lay there thinking about it I remembered I had failed to put my sweetrolls and cookies in with the rest of the food. I got up and found the cookies but the sweetrolls were gone. After I went back to bed I smelled the faint telltale scent of skunk. I was more careful with my food thereafter.
Next morning I decided that cookies would have to be my breakfasts. There were a dozen cookies so if I ate four per meal that would work. I had some coffee too and was packed up and walking by eight. I stashed a quart of my water in my bedroll spot.
This trail is not much of a trail. It is short but rugged. I lost the trail probably a half dozen times going down and more times than that coming out. If I did it again tomorrow I would lose the trail again--it is just like that. I've hiked it many times before but it has been several years. There are lots of big step ups and dozens of places where slides have covered the trail.
Hance trail follows the east side of Red Canyon so I had shade till almost noon. It goes down steeply through the Coconino layer to a saddle and then swings north and crosses the drainage back and forth down the Supai layer until the top of the Redwall layer. There are small oaks and pinon pines in through here. Big fat blue jays and tiny canyon wrens flitted about. Ravens croaked above me. This is a really pretty part of the trail.
The trail then followed the top of the redwall and I dropped two more quarts of water and the extra can of fuel at potential camping spots. My plan was to hike part way out the next day because I was so out of shape getting out in one day would have been a real chore.
Red Canyon is so named because of the deep red Hakatai shale which shows up below the Tapeats layer near the bottom. It is pushed up at odd angles with dark basaltic dikes injected up through it.
I got to the river about one and promptly stuck my feet in the icy water and had a big drink. The river level is so low right now that the rapid looked like a huge rock garden (I stole that phrase from somewhere, but it is the best description) or a big creek. I was hoping to see some river runners do the rapid to see how they would tackle it.
I made camp under some big catclaw just east of the bed of Red Canyon. I had my second or third lunch and set up in my chair to read. I chose a sandy spot to sleep that was open to the sky for another night of stars. Before morning some clouds rolled in and made a lovely pink sunrise.
I was up and dressed and reading again when a young woman stepped up and asked me if there was a trail out here. I described the trail a bit for her. She and her companion that I never saw had hiked from Bright Angel Trail across the Tonto.
Later I saw some river runners scouting the rapid so I went down to the river and found a high perch to watch them go through. They must have been real city people because they just looked at me when I said good morning.
They had two of those wooden boats and two yellow rubber rafts piled high with provisions. While they were still getting ready five small blue rafts pulled in on the opposite shore and the people in them climbed up on that side to scout the rapid. They watched as the first bunch went down, first the wooden boats and then the rafts. It was scary to me just watching but everyone made it.
I had planned to head out sometime late afternoon when there might be some shade but since some new clouds had come in I decided to head out early. I filled my water bottles and watched a small frog. I tried to put the gallon bottle in my pack but it did not work very well so I drank a bunch out of it so it was not so heavy and hand carried it again. I had checked a small seep about a mile from the river the day before but the water in it was udgie and I preferred to carry the cold clear river water.
Just before I reached the bottom of the redwall it began to sprinkle. I sat on a rock and covered my pack and myself with my plastic sheet. I decided that if the rain quit in ten minutes I would go on and if not I would go back down to an OK place I had seen. The rain quit and so I headed on up. A minute or two later I met the only other hiker I saw on the trail, another lone woman in her 40s perhaps. She said that going down was getting to her--probably her knees -- and that it would be easier going up. You wish I thought. She said she had not been on that trail in twenty years so I assumed she was a veteran canyon person.
Just after I left her I found a perfect place to camp under a big cedar tree. The rain made everything smell wonderful and the little animals and birds were coming out. I saw a chipmunk across the way and a silver dollar size toad. I tied the corners of my plastic to the cedar tree and some smaller trees and used a small branch for a stake so the water would run down to that corner. The sun came in and out and it sprinkled off and on all afternoon while I read my book. I looked for a rainbow but none appeared. I decided to take the tarp down after the clouds moved on so I would have a groundcloth again and not have to sleep in the dirt which was bright red and dusty. No sooner had I set up this new arrangement the rain began again. I quickly put the tarp back up and left it. It was much more comfortable that way even if I was in the dirt. I looked like pigpen already so what the heck. My chair fit under it nicely. By eight o'clock I was asleep.
Next morning I awoke to that rainbow.It was a big double one that came straight up from the canyon wall across from me. Nice. There was thunder and lightening. It flashed and boomed and echoed through the canyon. Marvelous!!!
I ate some breakfast and halfway took the tarp down. I was just putting on my nice clean socks and had one shoe off and one shoe on when the sky opened up and really poured. I hopped to and shoved everything back into my nest and tied it back up. Things got a bit damp before I rescued them but not bad. It was the last rain of the day and lasted about 20 minutes.
I was packed and on the trail by eight. My pack was light with only one quart of water and I felt strong and good. I was seeing big fresh tracks in the mud. Perhaps ten minutes later when I had lost the trail again I looked up to see the biggest healthiest ram I've ever seen maybe forty feet up. He was huge and had big horns that curled all the way up and back around. He was as interested in me as I was in him so we looked at each other for maybe 10 minutes while he grazed.
The day continued to stay cool for me and I had shade. I stopped and ate and drank many times and generally took my time. I watched birds and lizards and smelled the fresh scents the plants exude when they are wet. I just drank the water in each bottle I had dropped as I reached them so I did not have to carry it. A fat tarantula crawled across the trail. Near the rim I was exhausted so I sat and ate a big meal and drank a bunch. Five minutes after I started again I topped out. By 3o'clock I was home at Cameron and Robert brought me a big cheeseburger and some fritos and a huge glass of milk.