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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?

I haven't seen it, it doesn't surprise me--Backpacker is not all that great a rag. Whenever I have camped at Horseshoe Mesa I have made the hike down to Miner's Spring for water. I have really never gotten lost anywhere around there, but I suppose anything is possible.

I can remember at least one recent instance of a party getting themselves into trouble by (incorrectly) following a route in Backpacker. The trouble was their own fault, but some people think that anything in a magazine is a walk in the park.

Anyway, while I agree about the water, I can't comment on the accuracy since I haven't been to Horseshoe Mesa. Did you look at Backpacker's map data at the link they published?

No. I don't bother with their stuff too much.

azbackpackr wrote:No. I don't bother with their stuff too much.

It's interesting to compare to hikes on HAZ. The descriptions here are more detailed and reliable, and it helps to be able to review so many trip reports. The user-based approach ultimately filters out mistakes. My only experience with a Backpacker-hike (not one featured in the magazine, but from the site), was in the White Mountains in NH. It was a great trip and I'm glad I did it, but as I was working my way up a headwall, I unexpectedly came to an arrow painted on the rock face, pointing up. The description hadn't adequately captured the scrambling required. I don't like to depend on my arms, but an 8-year old girl and her dad had just descended it moments before, so I figured it was tame enough, and I didn't want to bail out so early in the day.

I am thinking of the kid who died after taking a wrong turn at Surprise Valley last summer. I seem to recall that the article about Thunder River was in the May issue, which was where he was trying to go, without a permit. Sheesh.

The Oct. 2010 Backpacker article on hiking Grandview recommends carrying 1 gallon of water per person for a three-day loop hike then provides incorrect directions on how to get to Miner's Spring below Horseshoe Mesa for re-supply. Note that it is not 1 gallon per person per day but 1 gallon period. The hike to the mesa is farily short (3 miles+) but steep with lots of sun exposure---it is very easy to go through a gallon just getting to the Mesa. You still have over a mile+ down to the Tonto to get the water supply at Miner Spring. Good luck when the directions have you wandering around the campground looking for the route down.

The GPS coordinates are provided at the Backpacker website for download---this assumes you get on the Internet, go to their site, and download the map. Also, not everyone has a GPS to either download or punch in coordinates. The written description should you tear out the description from the magazine has you turning east from the cook cabin instead of double-tracking back south to link up with the East Horsehoe Mesa Trail.

If you tell someone they only need 1 gal per person, chances are they are taking along a single gallon container. If by chance you do make it down to Miner's Spring, you now have a single 1 gal container to fill for the hike around the Mesa. Not everyone knows how to find water in Cottonwood Creek--I've been down there when the creek was dry and you have to walk upstream for puddles and seeps. If you don't resupply at Cottonwood, you now have what's left in your one gallon container to climb back up to the mesa and then back to the Rim.

In Sept. 2009, a dayhiker went down to Horseshoe Mesa and was found dead on the Tonto Trail about 21 miles from the Grandview trailhead where he had parked his car. I can't imagine that he was attempting a day hike loop that would have him going down to Horsehoe-over the Tonto--back up the South Kaibab trail. His car was parked at Grandview and he would have ended this loop without transportation. I'm guessing that he went down to Horseshoe Mesa and wanted to loop around the mesa on the Tonto and then return the way he came down. Instead, my guess is that he missed the trail along Cottonwood Creek and instead went west along the Tonto. He put in some miles before he went down---he was only two miles from the South Kaibab junction with the high hiker traffic and rescue. (Brian Lane has a brief write-up of this hiker on his website at ( dead link removed ) The death of this dayhiker is what prompted me to post my concern about the Backpacker article since it provides misleading information and directions that can easily lead unprepared hikers to make the same mistakes. They would think they are prepared because they got their directions from a national publication and have the page in their hands.

I like Backpacker but they sometimes print incorrect or poorly-vetted info. They printed incorrect information about respiratory alkalosis last year (or maybe the year before?) and earlier this year there was some bad info about Saguaro East. Oh well...

Canyon Ram is bringing up a lot of good points. Has anyone written letters to the editor?

azbackpackr wrote:Has anyone written letters to the editor?

Doesn't sound like they have one!

While I agree that there is a potential issue here, this is starting to remind me of what happened to the Donner Party. People need to make educated and informed decisions about what information they can trust and from whom before embarking on potentially life-threatening excursions. Woe is he that trusts a single source for beta on just about anything, my experiences have taught me. Especially if that source is not an authority, or is a self-proclaimed authority on a subject matter.

Backpacker writes articles and cooks up silly little pictures and figures to tantalize people into wanting to explore things they might not explore left to their own ambitions. That probably sells a lot of magazines for them; 90% of the people who read those things are sitting on the john thinking about how they would go and do it if only they weighed fifty pounds less or whatever. The other ten percent can probably be broken down as follows:

- 9% experienced and avid outdoor travelers who think to themselves "Wow, I forgot I wanted to do that" and then go and research and prepare for whatever "that" is properly before indulging in it; and

- 1% impulsive, inexperienced but self-confident outdoor travelers who take the magazine and a bag of random stuff, get in their car, and head directly for whatever the article is telling them to do. These people get beta from listservs, emails, you name it and just go. They keep SAR in business.

Note: My analysis is not scientific in any way, except for the part about bathroom reading...

azbackpackr wrote:Canyon Ram is bringing up a lot of good points. Has anyone written letters to the editor?

They've been incorporating a lot of reader-generated content lately. I'm sure they would pay attention.
He wouldn't know me, but I have at least seen Jon Dorn. He beat me by 17 seconds in the 2003 Runner's World Half Marathon. (He didn't run in 2004, but I cut 3:20 off my time, so there!).

Canyonram wrote:The Oct. 2010 Backpacker article on hiking Grandview recommends carrying 1 gallon of water per person for a three-day loop hike then provides incorrect directions on how to get to Miner's Spring below Horseshoe Mesa for re-supply. Note that it is not 1 gallon per person per day but 1 gallon period. The hike to the mesa is farily short (3 miles+) but steep with lots of sun exposure---it is very easy to go through a gallon just getting to the Mesa. You still have over a mile+ down to the Tonto to get the water supply at Miner Spring. Good luck when the directions have you wandering around the campground looking for the route down.

If you read the second page of that article you'll see that they recommend 1 gallon per person per day plus a 2 liter back up. That's plenty for me for the short hike down to Grandview Mesa in a non-summer month, which they also recommend. I probably wouldn't take water from Miner's/Page spring though as I have read that the radioactive content is higher than normal. Anyways I don't really think that Backpacker mag should be your only source for info for a particular hike. Its the hiker's responsibility to do their own research and know their body's water needs.

Here's the abbreviated Backpacker article on hiking to Grandview/Horseshoe Mesa. ( dead link removed )

I wonder about the liability the magazine has when they publish trail descriptions that can result in fatalities? We've all run into unprepared people out where they really don't belong because they did no preparation----I consider researching a hike via a national publication as something that qualifies as reasonable care. I've done hikes based on published trail descriptions and hiker blogs such as this forum. I personally would blame the magazine for someone in trouble, dehydrated, and stumbling around on Horseshoe Mesa based on the magazine's trail description. And yes, I did email them my concerns when I first read the article a few days ago---no response as of today 9/15.

I was at the Canyon last Sept. when the hiker was reported overdue and went searching along the trail down to the mesa when he was found way out on the Tonto.

Here's a description: "On September 9th, a search helicopter discovered the body of Andrew Brunelli, 43, of Clayton, North Carolina, who had been missing since August 31st. Brunelli had a history of short to medium day hikes in the canyon, so searchers initially concentrated on the Grandview Trail/Horseshoe Mesa/Hance Creek region, without success. After one of Brunelli's co-workers told authorities he was planning more ambitious trips, they expanded their search area westward. A helicopter eventually discovered Brunelli's body outside in a drainage north/downhill of the Tonto Trail, approximately two miles east of its junction with the South Kaibab Trail near Pattie Butte. This means that Brunelli had traveled most of the way along the Tonto Bench, from the foot of the very steep Grandview Trail, almost to the foot of the South Kaibab near Phantom Ranch.

The Problem: The Tonto Trail is notoriously hot and dry and the Park Service trail descriptions call it "dangerous in hot weather." Temperatures on the Tonto were over 100 Fahrenheit during his trip. The site where Brunelli was found is nearly 21 miles from where his car was parked. Only two reliable water sources (both trickles) can be found along this route, but neither are necessarily visible from trailside in hot weather.The search for Brunelli was complicated by the fact that he left no itinerary and did not fill out any overnight permit."

If Backpacker responds, I'll post their comments here. (By the way, what are we doing inside on a day like today!!! LOL).

Canyonram wrote:I personally would blame the magazine for someone in trouble, dehydrated, and stumbling around on Horseshoe Mesa based on the magazine's trail description

I disagree..... but respect your point of view....the people(hikers) need to be held accountable for their actions. If your out there with a few sentances on a piece of paper(which I've done) then shame on you. Hikers/tourists need to be prepared with maps,gps,etc and evenso things can still go wrong. I would hope...like this website somewhere there is somekind of disclaimer in the magazine.

Personal responsibility is crucial, but I do think that Backpacker has an obligation to be careful. Its readership includes many newbies, especially young ones whose judgment and critical thinking capacities aren't fully developed. To most, desert hiking is an abstract concept, and quite often they don't even associate the Grand Canyon with the desert.

Hi Dave1,

The main article recommends 1 gallon per person with the intent that one is going to re-supply at Miner's Spring. The article is describing a three day hike and not a dayhike. The call-out box on pg. 38 that describes hiking 'in the Grand' recommends a gallon per day per person and does describe a two-liter back-up system. The problem is that the trail description overrides this more general description and suggests the 1 gallon per person requirement. The article should not provide contradictory information; the article should not negate its own advice. A gallon per day per person is not enough since they are suggesting the hike between Sept-to-June. It can get over a 100 deg F on the Tonto well into Sept. and also late May and early June. Horseshoe Meas has little shade and is under full sun exposure pretty much from sunrise to sunset.

A lot of hikers who show up at the Canyon have not calibrated themselves to desert hiking and do not have a clue as to how much water they are going to need to stay hydrated. It can take a few days to acclimate to both the low humidity, altitude, and water loss via sweating. The article does not mention replacement of electrolytes on a three-day hike. The danger is that those not acclimated or calibrated to the Canyon are going to take as gospel the write-up in the magazine article.

You're right about the water quality at Miner's Spring (also known as Page Spring). Not only is radioactivity a concern but also arsenic. Biological contamination is another concern since every living creature hits the spring for water----it can be a split-pea soup full of stuff---the article does not mention the need to treat the water for the biological nasties.

I'm addressing those not fully alert to hiking the Canyon. On this forum, there are plenty of hikers who have 'been there and done that.'

I was more concerned when I went to BP online looking for this article and read their description for the Tanner-Beamer-Little Colorado and back hike as a 3 day hike, then mentioning 4 days in the article. There were recommending to go from Tanner TH all the way to Pallisades Day 1, out to the LC and Back Day 2 and out on Day 3. I wouldn't even do that in that short of time and I've done some pretty long and fast canyon hikes.

As far as this goes if it is talking about a 3 day back pack and not a day hike I don't really have a problem with it. I've never not had water at Cottonwood and I would trust Hance Creek and Page/Miners spring for water as well in the cooler months. 1 Gallon capacity is plenty IMO, refilling at known water sources. As for radiactive water, I'll take my chances with that for the few liters I would need for a day. I would rather live a year less and drink for that than sit at home and drink Phoenix tap water.

There is radio active water at the canyon?

Jim_H wrote:There is radio active water at the canyon?

Yep, Little Colorado, Horn Creek, and Miner's Spring are 3 that I have read of. There's probably more...