Bad Directions to Horseshoe Mesa - Backpacker Magazine

[Canyonram]

The October 2010 edition of Backpacker Magazine has a one-and-half page article on dayhiking down Grandview Trail and doing the loop around Horseshoe Mesa. The article has several dangeous mistakes that can get someone in deep trouble. Here's the message I sent to the editors:

The Oct. 2010 Grandview Loop Hike article has several mistakes. (1)A photo taken from the Western Arm of Horsehoe Mesa is incorrectly labeled. I believe this is a photo of Vishnu Temple, not Zoroaster. Big problem if one attempts to orient to Zoroaster and not Vishnu.

(2)One gallon per person per day is not enough for the Grandview, even in cool weather.

3)You do not pass the cookhouse to get to the East Horseshoe Mesa Trail---you turn after going past the mine opening. If you go down to the cook house you have missed the turn off and will have to double back to the south to connect with the East Horseshoe Mesa Trail. If you head east at the cookhouse, you will go past the designated campsites and toilet and then stumble around looking for the trail down. If you go west at the cookhouse you will drop off Horseshoe Mesa and may or may not find water in Cottonwood Creek.

Please correct this mistake---someone down with minimal water and trying to re-supply at Miner's Spring will be left high-and-dry.

Doing the loop off Grandview can be dangerous--hikers have missed the return trail and instead head out across the Tonto---and run out of water. Last summer, a day hiker did die after he went down and headed across the Tonto Plateau.

Has anyone else read or seen this article in Backpacker?

[PaleoRob]

Fascinating! I wonder what a stay at the Grand Canyon Hotel would have been like. Imagine coming out of a hike from the canyon, putting on some trunks, and relaxing in that pool!

[Canyonram]

There was a 'natural' swimming pool at Phantom Ranch constructed by the CCC in 1934 that was fed by Bright Angel Creek. About 10 feet deep at one end and cold! The Park Service decided to decommission the pool in 1972 when they couldn't meet public health standards for water quality. Here's how Wayne Tomasi phrased the closing: "After being trashed by hippies rebelling against virtually everything, the swimming pool was back-filled on April 19, 1972 for sanitary reasons and also to create a more natural looking environment."

You can still see the 'natural looking area' in the outline in the weedy area next to the employee bunkhouses.

And here I thought me and all my hippie friends were just splashing around and enjoying the Canyon. After we lost our swimming pool, we all became Forest Service administrators and destroyed the rest of the ecosystem.

[azbackpackr]

And here I thought me and all my hippie friends were just splashing around and enjoying the Canyon. After we lost our swimming pool, we all became Forest Service administrators and destroyed the rest of the ecosystem.

Yeah, we hippies caused all of today's societal problems, don't you know? I think I'll get me a bible, start thumping it (in time with a Grateful Dead tune, of course...)

[maxpower]

I blame all of my problems on Woodstock.

[azbackpackr]

Woodstock? That was a bubble-gummer event.

[maxpower]

Yes I forgot...the rest of you were still toiling with Mrs McNally in freshman Geography class. ;)

[azbackpackr]

I remember it well. I was traveling in a VW bus, had spent several months going up the west coast to BC, spending a month in BC, and going canoeing on a lake at night when the moon was full and we knew the first moon landing had occurred. Then on down through Idaho and Montana, where a hitchhiker told us about Woodstock. We stopped at a little crossroads store, and saw the cover of Time magazine, with the big crowd.

I was about a month late for school that year, went to it one day in late September, then walked off campus and refused to attend it any more. So much for that geography class...

My husband said that he, along with 150,000 other people, was at the Isle of Wight a couple weekends later, where Bob Dylan, who refused to go to Woodstock, was performing his comeback concert, along with The Who.
;) ;) Actually, I'm just yankin' your chain a little! I would love to have been at Woodstock. But can console myself with the fact I did see more than half of those bands elsewhere, without having to get all cold, wet and muddy!

[maxpower]

LOL...truth be told, I ended up missing it because I was one of the thousands stranded on the highway and never got there! I think the closest we got was maybe 30 miles away, coming into upstate NY from western MA and the traffic just came to a grinding halt. I think at one point we sat, unmoving, for about 2 hours before finally finding a way to turn off on a different road and make our way home. In the end, I don't think we missed all that much. Even as a backpacker, it probably would have been a lousy time, sleeping in the rain and mud. I don't do well with large, out of control crowds....I often wonder why I even thought of going in the first place. Ah, the dreams of a mis-spent youth.

[azbackpackr]

Well, then. You should have been with us! We camped for 4 months while traveling, and helped refurbish a cabin in BC.

[Canyonram]

Well . . . the Baby Boomer generation has been in charge for some time. I guess we have to own up to what we did and didn't accomplish. Some of our mess will be here long after we're moldering in our graves. Of course before we cash in our chips, our population numbers will gut Social Security, overwhelm the medical system, bankrupt our children (if they are misguided enough to allow it). Our unfortunate legacy may be to remebered in history as the self-important glutton generation. Pity the poor nursing home administrator who allows a few dozen Boomers into the facility. It's a tough pill to swallow especially since we grew up pointing the accusatory finger at the WWII generation. I hope the directions we're leaving behind are better than the ones Backpacker Magazine printed for Horsehoe Mesa. LOL.

[PaleoRob]

I hope the directions we're leaving behind are better than the ones Backpacker Magazine printed for Horsehoe Mesa. LOL.

LOL. I guess that brings it back on topic.

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, I was wondering how to gracefully bring the topic back! ;)

[Canyonram]

So much for contacting Backpacker Magazine. I did not receive any acknowledgement from them regarding my query. Now (11/11/2010), they have posted the Grandview Trail hike report on their Internet site: http://www.backpacker.com/october-2010- ... wsletter01

Hope I'm not overreacting to the errors I see in the article. I know others have voiced opinions that the report is not as bad as I judge it. As was pointed out by others, the second page of the article mentions carrying along additional empty water containers to fill later. I still see it as an error to state 'one gallon per person' on the first page then change the prescription on page 2. Of course, the better tactic is to cache adequate water on the trail on the hike down since you return via the same route eliminating the need to carry water around the Mesa, up to Horseshoe, then up to the Rim.

[azbackpackr]

Hmmm... I assume by "around the Mesa" you are talking about the Tonto Trail that loops around below it? I have not done that yet. I went there, set up camp, hiked to Miner's/Page Spring for more water, hiked back to camp, stayed 2 nights, explored the mesa top. I used no directions or guidebook, just a map, and there is also a sign, as I recall, that directs you to Miner's/Page Spring. It all seemed pretty straightforward to me.

[maxpower]

There were a number of inaccuracies in the article. I guess no one can stress enough the need to carry sufficient water AND to plan hikes around known water resources. I was just in the Cottonwood Creek area and it was running with a good steady stream, but that might not be so in the summertime. The other point that was missed was the need to realize that not all Grand Canyon trail junctions are marked with signage, especially when you get away from the corridor. While hiking across the Tonto, it would be quite easy to walk straight past the trail back up to the western arm of Horseshoe Mesa. Terrain recognition helps here, but the first time tramper might simply walk right on by and then find himself over at Cottonwood Creek. If there is no water available there, it's going to be a dry climb back up to the mesa again, and that still requires an additional trip back down to Miner Spring for water!

[Canyonram]

I received the requested info from the NPS on the death of hiker Andrew Brunelli in Sept. 2009. There was no indication as to which way he way he was traveling. The final report assumes he went down Grandview Trail and headed out across the Tonto in order to connect with the South Kaibab. When he was found, he had a daypack with 2 empty quarts bottles for water and 2 empty quart bottles for sports drink---a gallon to travel app. 30 miles in the Inner Canyon Sept. heat at 100+ degrees. (The 'one gallon' is the same recommendaiton in the Backpacker Magazine article of Oct. 2010.)

He had left no hiking plan of his proposed route. The NPS did not expand the search until they were contacted and informed by a friend that he was going to do a more extensive hike than just down the Grandview. By this time, it was too late. By the time he was reported missing, he was probably already deceased. In his motel room were some books on hiking Grand Canyon.

My guess is that he dropped off Horseshoe Mesa and was attempting the loop around the Mesa and back up. I have taken dayhikers around this same loop when we didn't have time for an overnighter. I assume he missed his turn on the Tonto that would have taken him back up to Horseshoe Mesa. As maxpower pointed out, the signage is pretty bad. Instead, he continued to the West on the Tonto. Given that he had some hiking books on the Canyon at his hotel room, I can't imagine that he didn't understand the necessity for a lot of water. The easier guess is that he simply got turned around and lost on the Tonto and just kept hiking.

Over the years I have done this hike across the Tonto. I'd always do a dayhike down the South Kaibab and cache water onto the Tonto, the same down Grandview. We're talking gallons, not quart bottles. I've seen Cottonwood Creek flowing like a river and also dry as dust.

Whatever his mistake and however you want to assign responsibility, may he rest in peace.


'

[joebartels]

Does the article suggest hiking in 100+ degree heat with that amount of water?

[Canyonram]

Hi Joe,

(1) Did you read the article? What is the intent of your question?
(2) It advises that the best time to do the hike is between Sept. and June. Temps on Horsehoe Mesa can be 90-100+ well into Sept. and early in June. You would not be avoiding the heat if you go on either end of the time range given.
(3) Page 1 of the article sends you packing with but one gallon of water per person.
(4) The death of Andrew Brunelli occurred BEFORE the Backpacker article. I'm not trying to state that Andrew Brunelli died as a result of the Backpacker article. My concern is that the information could easily send someone into the same type of situation that killed a hiker the year before.
(5) Here's the content from the article: "Hike September to June to avoid the searing heat; in winter, pack lightweight crampons—ice can make the upper trail treacherous. From Grandview Point (1), pack a gallon of water per person and descend gravel switchbacks on the Grandview Trail." So, to answer your question, I believe that the article is indeed sending someone down the trail in extreme temps with but one gallon of water.

[joebartels]

No I haven't
My intent is trying to understand your concern

[Canyonram]

Joe,

The article is posted here:
http://www.backpacker.com/october-2010- ... wsletter01

Have you done this hike?