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So I have this brilliant notion (yes! another one! ) to hike ourselves out to visit:

1) the crash site of the TWA & United jetliners that collided about The GC in 1956 (Chuar Butte & Temple Butte)
2)
3) The "fifty room indian village" off Kwagunt
4) The "cliff dwellings" or "granary" off Nankoweap



Now, from what I can gather...the tanner trail is "close" to that general area(2 days?!), but we need to get as close to the Little Colorado / Colorado River Junction as possible before we begin our adventure...I've heard rumour of "Beamer Trail" but when I read it up it seems it connects somehwere along Tanner???
What I'm desperately trying to figure out...is there anywhere nearer the junction that we could hike in from?

Of course this is with my mind coming from the south...perhaps coming from the North...Nankoweap Trail itself would lead us in the right direction? I know that heads right up to the "granary" or pretty dang close doesn't it? and from there we could back track along the river toward the 1956 crashsite??

A couple of things:

The TWA crash site is on the other side of the river from the Beamer trail, there are pieces left, but it is a serious trip to get there.
They don't like white men visiting the Sipapu, be discreet.
The Kwagunt ruins are fairly remote up the Horsethief route. From the descriptions I've seen, there isn't much left.
The Nankoweap granary is well known.
The Beamer trail is a Grand Canyon official trail that has a few minor exposed spots that connects the Tanner trail to the LCR. The fact that you have so little info is concerning. Remember not to go into their area until at least late October, it is known as furnace flats for a reason.
The Nankoweap trail is one of the most difficult official trails in the canyon, most people will not reach the granary on their first day.


These are all nowhere near the Tanner trail. You probably cannot get close to any of them on a 2 day trip.

TWA crash site is at least a 6 day trip.
Sipapu in 3 days probably.
Kwagunt ruins - 3 to 4 days
Nankoweap granary - 3 day trip for most.

@nonot the fact that I have so little info IS concerning which is why I asked and we are in the planning stages, hoping to do this later winter/early spring when it's still cool out for safety reasons of course, knowing me i'll freeze but that's okay.
I know the crash site is on the other side, we have river experience and have plans on crossing safely already in the final stages, it is simply a matter of reaching the area in due time.

We were considering a 7 day trip for the whole thing, as for the sipapu we know the rules and have an "IN" but I worry about the trail time on that one, all things considered the sipapu and kwagunt ruins might be dropped due to time restraints for the trip in the works.

My main desires are 1)Nankoweap Trail 2) the granary and 3) the crashsite 4) the LCR/CR junction.

I read a guy's blog who said he and some friends did the crashsite trip (36 miles) in 3 days, his photos say there are still plenty remains to be seen at the crashsite, maybe not a full plane as most people expect but even the tiniest shard of evidence is fascinating to us, we see beyond the physical...If all else fails we might split this into 2 different trips coming from nankoweap once and tanner another. but we're still not sure.
any further suggestions? would be much appreciated.

I'm planning on a layover at Nanko and also hiking from the LCR along the Beamer to Tanner in the fall, during my river trip. We'll camp at Tanner. Some will hike, the rest will row the boats down and wait for us.

As for Nanko, I am more interested in less touristy places to stop, since the granaries are so popular. Planning to hike up Little Nankoweap.

Cool, more info is good.

Early spring is a good time, you won't freeze, except for the first and last day. You should be careful about staging a car on the north rim, many roads are closed due to the snow until mid May.

7 days is plenty to do a lot. It sounds like you want to do approximately the Hayduke route. You could also do the Horsethief route, or perhaps a combo of both.

There are remnants of the plane left in the canyon, the location is between Chuar and Temple. You can scramble between the river (Hayduke Route) and the horsethief route in this drainage, though it is not a pleasant hike.

To do this in 3 days would involve using the Tanner trail and crossing the river. I am not sure how you plan to cross, but there are not many river rafts early in the season and you may have to wait awhile, perhaps a full day or two. Packrafting across above Lava is possible, but I wouldn't recommend attempting to cross by yourself at the LCR/CR junction - Harvey Butchart's best friend died (drown) on a trip w/Harvey there when he went through the rapids on an inflatable mattress. Crossing above the LCR junction may be possible, but I know of no triplogs.

If you carry a packraft, it seems possible (slightly aggressive) to hit all items: Lower LCR, Crashsite, Kwagunt, Granary, in 7 days. I would only recommend this to experienced backcountry/offtrail backpackers. Spring would be best - you will probably have water problems on one of your days.

Otherwise I'd recommend you split it into 2 trips, which would be easier logistics wise. Other than visiting the crash site, your itinerary is pretty reasonable.

HippyHaley wrote:@nonot the fact that I have so little info IS concerning which is why I asked and we are in the planning stages, hoping to do this later winter/early spring when it's still cool out for safety reasons of course, knowing me i'll freeze but that's okay.
I know the crash site is on the other side, we have river experience and have plans on crossing safely already in the final stages, it is simply a matter of reaching the area in due time.

We were considering a 7 day trip for the whole thing, as for the sipapu we know the rules and have an "IN" but I worry about the trail time on that one, all things considered the sipapu and kwagunt ruins might be dropped due to time restraints for the trip in the works.

My main desires are 1)Nankoweap Trail 2) the granary and 3) the crashsite 4) the LCR/CR junction.

I read a guy's blog who said he and some friends did the crashsite trip (36 miles) in 3 days, his photos say there are still plenty remains to be seen at the crashsite, maybe not a full plane as most people expect but even the tiniest shard of evidence is fascinating to us, we see beyond the physical...If all else fails we might split this into 2 different trips coming from nankoweap once and tanner another. but we're still not sure.
any further suggestions? would be much appreciated.

What would you suggest with parking a car? There are also North Rim shuttles that take you back south aren't there? but they are seasonal right?
Hayduke route sounds about right, we are willing to make that trip at least to see the crashsite, it intrigues me and is a must for this or a trip.
i've been reading up on horsethief route so that's all up in the air, luckily we have plenty of time to pick and choose and plan accordingly.
i think lower lcr, crashsite & kwagunt might be a nice option, azbackpackr is right about granaries being "popular" we can see those another time
i suppose it all boils down to what is physically possible between us and what we want to explore. the crashsite is a must for sure and i think the LCR junction too, the geology in the area makes the trip a win-win no matter what.

as for crossing the river, we have plans but i dont think packrafting is part of them, hmmm

HippyHaley -- Nanko area is beautiful - much to see and explore off the beaten path to Nako Granaries. A beautiful destination but most raft trips will stop at Nanko & make the trip to the granaries that are along the river. There are other destinations in the area to the hiker!

You might want to try the Yahoo Grand canyon Backpackers Group -- a lot of experience in the less popular aspects of the grandcanyon & they are fairly generous with information.

LCR & CR junction is a direct Tanner - Beamer destination from South side. Fairly straight forward to any well prepared experience hiker. You can see the confluence from North side I suppose but you will need to get across to really explore the more wonderful aspects of this area.

@desertgirlthank you too for the info! We are very excited about this trip even if we don't get to it for a year We would much rather start from the south so tanner/beamer is our bag!

any other info/advice/comments/tips from anyone and everyone is much appreciated.