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?

[azbackpackr]

The way my mind works, once I were to get away from that dune and that beach, and I am carrying this wag bag, then maybe I am going to think about digging a hole somewhere more remote along the Tonto, and burying its contents. This is not kosher, I realize, but I can imagine it happening.

Also, you know, while constipation remains a problem for some of us, others occasionally suffer from the opposite problem...

[RedwallNHops]

We did participate in the pilot program for our night at Hance Rapids. The NPS sent us both WAG bags and Restop2s along with a link for a questionairre to fill out. Luckily, we were going out New Hance....carrying them for a few more days would not have been the greatest. We did meet a rafting party at Hance, and they did offer to take any of our trash with them. I thought it would be asking too much to give them our full WAG bags! The top of New Hance has an ammo can to deposit your full bags on the way out.

This was my second time using them and they're not too bad.

[GrottoGirl]

For bknorby--Good report on the conditions down Grandview and back up New Hance for this time of year. Since the hike is fresh in your mind I'm curious if you see any problems with the Backpacker article for Grandview. I notice you found the signage advertising 'Page Spring' --- the article directs you to Miner's Spring. Also, did NPS have you use the human waste bags to transport your stuff out of the Canyon after spending the night at the Colorado???

I really didn't find anything glaringly wrong with the Backpacker article based on my experiences. All the NPS literature regarding the Grandview trail call the spring Page Spring aka Miners Spring. My memory recalls the sign saying Page - but I could be wrong. When you get your permit the NPS sends you the literature so as long as the backpacker can read they shouldn't have a problem figuring it out. The photo I took of the sign was into the sun so you can't read the sign at all. I have noticed that most other sources call the spring Miners Spring so I can see why Backpacker would go by that name. I could not confirm the name of the trail that goes past the spring in any of the documentation in which Backpacker calls the East Horseshoe Mesa Trail. I personally would have called it the Page Spring Trail.

As for WAG bags, as Elizabeth stated it was a pilot program and optional. The area around Hance Rapids was mainly sand so I choose to carry out my poo. It was cold so were no worries regarding smell... That is the second time I've used a WAG bag (It's required in the La Verkin Creek area in Zion).

[Al_HikesAZ]

Also, you know, while constipation remains a problem for some of us, others occasionally suffer from the opposite problem...

i plan for both. Some immodium and some Senna in the medkit. And some cortisone cream. I think Merrel Clubb mentioned that he was turned back - I think it was from a Vishnu ascent - by raging hemorrhoids. I agree with George Carlin - why aren't they called assteroids?

[azbackpackr]

Also, you know, while constipation remains a problem for some of us, others occasionally suffer from the opposite problem...

i plan for both. Some immodium and some Senna in the medkit. And some cortisone cream. I think Merrel Clubb mentioned that he was turned back - I think it was from a Vishnu ascent - by raging hemorrhoids. I agree with George Carlin - why aren't they called assteroids?

I also bring both senna and imodium. I don't bring Exlax, however. That stuff is just plain EXPLOSIVE!

I bring analgesic triple antibiotic ointment. Works well for butt rash. Make sure you get the analgesic kind, it works better. Of course, butt rash can be at least partially prevented if you try to stay clean every day. I remember a couple of trips where I loaned out that butt rash ointment to a guy, and never got it back until the end of the trip! By that time, I didn't really WANT it back!

If you have never had butt rash on a backpacking trip, you have not truly lived life.

[PaleoRob]

I brought some immodium along on our Boucher trip in October, for all the good it did me that first day...
Now, the next three were just fine.

[azbackpackr]

[Canyonram]

Late comment to this thread. I was looking at some trip videos posted at 'Youtube' on Grandview / Horsehsoe Mesa / Page Spring. (Make a choice if you want to view this videos OR if you prefer to see the hike on your own for the first time.)

This is a two part video of two hikers going down to Horseshoe Mesa and spending the night. In part 2, they are going down off the mesa to draw water from Cottonwood Creek. One of the hikers reports that he is already out of water before they descend off the mesa. They are not 100% certain to find water in Cottonwood Creek and come upon a small puddle. Risky move to be down that far with no certain water. Better option would have been to drop off Horseshoe Mesa to the east and stop at Page Spring (also known as Miner's Spring)---water supply is more certain here---they could then complete the loop around Horsehoe Mesa and climb back up. The disadvantage would be that they would carry their water around the mesa as they did their dayhike.

Part 1 down to Horsehoe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHLdQFkjEi0
Part 2 down to Cottonwood and around the Mesa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLd8Eiru ... re=related

Here's a brief shot of Page Spring and a hiker pumping water:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8J4MN0uMiU

Cache enough water on the way down to Horsehoe Mesa for your return trip---even if Cottonwood is dry and/or you're not inclined to hit Page Spring, you will have sufficient water to get back up to the rim on your return hike.