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| Backpack | 18.00 Miles |
4,924 AEG |
| | Backpack | 18.00 Miles | 10 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.71 mph |
| 4,924 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Hermit Trail to Hermit Rapids 18 mi 4,924 AEG.
Zach got the permit and invited me along. He was introducing his friend Martin and Martin's 17 year old football player son Pablo to Grand Canyon Hiking. This trail is tougher than the Corridor Trails but still suitable for introducing newbies to the Canyon provided they are fit hikers with backpacking experience. Martin is new to the Grand Canyon National Park trails, but has backpacked Havasu Canyon and Barranca del Cobre which is deeper in portions than the Grand Canyon and is at least four times larger than the Grand Canyon.
Water management is a slight issue - more so than on most Corridor Trails - and there are several eroded sections between Santa Maria Spring and Cathedral Stairs. We drove up together Friday afternoon and camped at Mather Campground. I have a ratsack and we bought an Outsack at the General Store for Martin's & Pablo's food. We had dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge restaurant and headed back to camp to discuss gear and water management, Tequila and Bacanora.
The weather was perfect. On the Rim it was 32° Friday night and 57° during the day. At the River it was 50° at night and mid-70's during the day.
We got up early Saturday and went to Maswik for breakfast. We had a code for the gate to Hermit's Rest so we drove to the Trailhead. I have a scale so we weighed out packs and made sure Zach and Pablo were carrying the most weight. My pack weighed 24lbs with 3.5 liters of water, food and Partido Anejo.
We did not have a good status report on Santa Maria Spring so rather than risking it and since the weather was so nice we carried 3.5 liters of water each. We found that Santa Maria Spring was dripping, the trough was full and had no algae bloom. We ended up making it to the River with an ounce or two to spare. We could have filtered Hermit Creek if we had needed to. We would definitely have needed more water if it was hotter.
We made good time going down. Martin stumbled at one of the eroded sections on the traverse but Zach pulled him back before he became a statistic. We stopped at Breezy Point to rest and eat. We made good time down Cathedral Stairs and across the Tonto. The Tonto is a delight as a trail - nice tread and gentle elevation changes. We decided not to head up to Hermit Creek and camp on this trip so we proceeded down Hermit Creek to the beach. 5 hours for 9 miles. We soaked our ankles and knees in the cold water of the Colorado.
I slept in my Outdoor Research Bug Bivy. The others slept under the stars. We had the most incredible moon rise I have seen. They saw the Space Station shoot overhead but I was sound asleep. Zach is thinking about getting a Bug Bivy since he thinks he felt a mouse run across his face.
In addition to learning about Bacanora we enjoyed some cecina that Martin brought along. It is some incredibly tasty Mexican dried beef.
We had several mouse attacks on the ratsack and the outsak but both performed perfectly. I typically carry my food in the rainflap of my Granite Gear Ozone, but I clear it out and put trash in the trash bag and in the outsak. Some darn mouse must have smelled food so even though the zipper was open, it chewed a hole in the rainflap. It came up empty but now I have to repair that hole and think about using an odorlock liner next time.
We got up early Sunday and filtered 2.5 liters of water each with the idea that we would filter another liter each at Santa Maria Spring.
We had two conejos, and two mules and made good time up Cathedral Stairs to Breezy Point. We stopped, rested and snacked before tackling the traverse to Santa Maria Spring. I also learned a few palabras that aren't in typical Spanish/English dictionaries - Bacanora, cecina, ruco, almorranas, Zacharias and "no me haga enojado".
We rested at Santa Maria Spring and I used my Steri-Pen to treat our water. Los conejos headed on ahead while the mules paced it up that last mile and a half to the Hermit TH. I'm not sure if my struggles with the last mile coming out of the Canyon are physical or mental. It's like I just don't want to leave. |
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Santa Maria Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Dripping into trough. Trough was full with no algae bloom. | | _____________________
Anybody can make a hike harder. The real skill comes in making the hike easier.
life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. Andy Rooney |
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