Snow levels

[robxxx]

I'm thinking of going down S Bass later next week and was wondering if anyone knows the levels of snow on the trail lately ? In particular is it too deep to see the larger rocks ? Especially in the steep red wall section as not being able to see the rock outlines would be hard to navigate. I see on the bright angel webcam that there could be more than a foot covering the top of the trail. Thanks Rob Murphy

[shelby147]

My instinct is that the redwall has much shallower snow than the rim, as we can see in some recent photos from the corridor. Havasupai gardens had very little accumulation. I'm heading into the canyon this weekend and can update you after.

[robxxx]

@shelby147
Great that would help !

[rcorfman]

@robxxx
Will you even be able to get to South Bass? I hiked Hermit's Rest to South Bass and out week after Christmas. We had 6" of snow at the South Bass trailhead and then a 7.5 mile walk to where we parked the truck. There wasn't much snow where the truck was, maybe 2", but there was snow on the road all the way to Tusayan. My understanding is that there's been a lot of snow dumped since then. Here's the photo set/trip report from that trip. You can also look at the route which has our path from trailhead to the truck.

As for the South Bass trail, we camped on Darwin Plateau at the junction to Royal Arch. There was no snow there, but the snow line wasn't that far above us. Once we reached the snow, it steadily increased as we climbed up to the trailhead. It was never hard to follow the trail and, thankfully, it was never icy for us.

If you do make it out there, I would recommend bringing some kind of traction. I had Katoola Microspikes with me but never needed to use them.

[robxxx]

@rcorfman
Thank you very much for that picture ! It looks too problematic/dangerous especially solo and just all wheel drive to get to the gate. In Dec I rode a mountain bike from the gate to the trailhead. It wasn't easy on that last section and a heavy water carry and judging from your pictures the ruts are now invisible ! Oh well I'll go enjoy a desert hike and come back to the canyon in March , thanks again Rob Murphy

[shelby147]

Good call on the road. In case others want to reference: top of redwall in shady ravine of bright angel trail had no more than 3in. Top of grandview had drifts over 3ft. Lots of potholes where it's warm enough to melt now.