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| Hiking | 11.50 Miles |
4,100 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.50 Miles | 7 Hrs 53 Mns | | 1.73 mph |
| 4,100 ft AEG | 1 Hour 14 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I figured I'd better get back into the canyon and hike up something steep to reduce the a**-kicking I'll get with Pernell in a few days. The relatively warm weather was also a motivating factor. My plan was something like, descend Grandview to Tonto then decide what I'm in the mood for.
The trail was quiet and I saw only one other hiker. There is snow to 5000ft and lower on the north-facing slopes but it's not deep yet. I spotted a sheep's behind as it walked over a hill ahead of me. The cottonwoods down in the creek already have leaf buds. The sky was overcast and moody all day and I was glad that the flurries seemed to be concentrated in upper Bright Angel Canyon.
When I reached Cottonwood Creek, I figured I might as well check out the Redwall break in the west arm. The creekbed in the Bright Angel Shale has a rather steep gradient. This Redwall break was very easy from a route-finding perspective but a relative pain to walk up. The ravine has flashed somewhat recently, leaving plenty of boulders that take time to climb over. Eventually I ascended to a sheep trail and contoured, but it was faint and remained poor walking. After a month away from the canyon, I was rather out of breath hiking up here. Near the top of the break where a large bay opens up, I found a much better trail on more moderate slopes.
Rather than visit the points toward the river along the Redwall, I decided I'd better keep the elevation I'd gained and continue up and out the east arm of Grapevine. I would like to walk along the Redwall plateaus out to the points between the arms of Cottonwood and between Cottonwood and Grapevine, but that will have to wait for another trip. I had a relatively easy time contouring left around Berry Butte and scrambled up at the standard SW corner because I found no good breaks through the top two Supai bands along my way. On the second to last band I scrambled up by wedging myself in a flake and was irrationally afraid that the huge flake would break. I trust Supai much less, even when it looks solid, since I broke that piece in Grapevine in November. At the corner there seem to be several good ways up the final cliffband, and I opted for a secure and easy way through a small hole, leaving my pack below. There are other neat holes and tunnels in the vicinity. The top of the butte is so flat that I positively trotted up to the summit.
On my way back to Grandview I contoured rather high when I might as well have stayed on a broad flat platform 100ft below. The nice saddle of grey pitted Supai had many wet potholes and (I think) I found a lodgepole pine there, which seems unusual. The walking slowed down as I encountered more boulders and brush below the unnamed Coconino butte. When I neared the head of the ravine, I also had to deal with snow and slidy mud. Here, I was surprised to find a set of snowy bootprints heading down that must have been less than a week old. My guess is they headed into Grapevine, because there were no tracks on Berry and I saw none returning upwards. Ascending the broken Esplanade band and Coconino was challenging because the slopes were so steep that I could hardly move upwards between the slippery snow and deep mud. This Coconino talus seems especially slidy, which makes me feel better about bailing on my first attempt going down here in 2022. There were no more than 3 inches of snow where I rejoined the trail, and I wouldn't want to do this route with much more than that.
All in all, a very satisfying day hike with very little planning. |
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