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| Backpack | 30.00 Miles |
9,494 AEG |
| | Backpack | 30.00 Miles | | | |
| 9,494 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | We did a 4-day backpack over the Thanksgiving holiday. We took the Grandview, Cottonwood Creek, Tonto, and New Hance Trails.
When we left the Grandview trailhead it was barely 20 degrees. We put on our traction devices and descended down 2500 feet and 3 miles to Horseshoe Mesa. After we had set up our camp, we headed out for some water. From the campsites go back towards the South Rim, but turn east at the sign marked for Page Spring. It is a very steep 400 feet drop over the half mile down the trail marked for Page Spring (aka Miners Spring). Since it wasn't exactly warm and we had hiked just a few miles we decided to go on additional adventure. We walked to the end of the western most tip of Horseshoe Mesa. We spent some time taking in the view and taking photographs. On the way back to camp, we took the side route to the Cave of the Domes. We found the Cave of the Domes right around sunset which was at 4:35 pm on the Mesa. The Cave of the Domes was carved out over 320 million years ago. We were so happy to find the cave because it was "warm" in there compared to the 20 degree weather outside.
On day two we left the Mesa going west down the steep Cottonwood Creek trail. Once we were done with the steep decent we were able to get water from the creek. The creek was flowing but we also were able to find the spring by taking a side trail. You could tell that the Cottonwood Spring is perennial spring (maybe not always above ground) by the concentration of Cottonwoods in the drainage. We continued our trek to the Tonto trail and then headed east along the foot of Horseshoe Mesa. We found a nice lunch spot right before Hance Creek Canyon. From there we started our trek along the Tonto Platform above Hance Creek Canyon. The views down into Hance Creek were amazing. It is a very rugged looking canyon that would be great to explore if you had a layover day. Our second night, after hiking about 7 miles, we stayed at Hance Creek - it was also flowing at the time. We had a nice campsite below a big Cottonwood tree. Unfortunately for us, the sun had already set for Hance Creek but at least it wasn't dark.
After leaving our camp on day three, it was about 28 degrees so we decided we stop once the sun hit the trail to finish getting ready for the day. When we were about to stop we noticed some bones in a drainage - a Big Horn Sheep! As we walked along the trail left Hance Creek and went over to visit Mineral Creek. We followed Mineral Creek, from the Tonto Platform, as the creek went towards the Colorado River. Once we were able to see the Colorado, we decended off the Tonto Platform to be near the river.
Along the way there were boulders larger than cars and you could see how easy it could be to get lost amongst them. As we were descending we could see Hance Rapids up ahead - that is where we'd stay the night. We went over some dunes and crossed the red gravel in the Red Canyon drainage. Near there we found our camp at the end of the Tonto trail where it hits Red Canyon. Across the river from our campsite you could see a diagonal dike in the wall which magma had used to flow to the earth's surface. After setting camp we explored a bit up the Escalante Route. That night we met some rafters who were camped just a little way up stream from us. They invited us over for pork tenderloin, couscous, and zucchini. It was an awesome meal after having our homemade dehydrated meals the previous two nights.
At Hance Rapids we were part of a pilot program in which the NPS wanted you to use a WAG bag to carry out any fecal waste. Since it was our last day - it wasn't a big deal to participate.
We awoke to ominous clouds in the sky. Overnight the winds had moved in a storm. Our agenda for the day was to go 6.5 miles with over 4500 feet of elevation gain on the New Hance Trail to the Rim. The trail started going up Red Canyon. It was obvious as to why it was called Red Canyon - all the rocks and dirt in the canyon were red! As we walked we could see that it was snowing on the Rim. The weather was not nice to us. We had to deal with gusts of winds that blew one of our hiking partners off the trail into a prickly pear. We were lucky that it wasn't warm enough to rain yet it did snow on us a little bit. The hike out wasn't "too" bad until the last mile (it's all relative - right?). I think the fatigue of hiking nearly 30 miles on these rugged trails had finally done me in! But I made it and deposited my WAG bag in the ammo can at the top.
We had a surprise after we left the New Hance trailhead. The NPS had closed the road between New Hance and Grandview. We couldn't get our shuttle car! We had to go the long way to retrieve our other car. In doing so we decided to stop in Flagstaff for the night to eat and spend the night before returning to the Park to retrieve our other car.
Overall it was an awesome trip. There is nothing like spending a holiday backpacking in such a wonderful environment - even in the cold! |
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Page Spring |
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| | | Cottonwood Creek and Hance Creek were flowing. | | _____________________
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