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| Backpack | 6.40 Miles |
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| | Backpack | 6.40 Miles | 2 Days | | |
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| no partners | | This was my 11-year-old niece's first backpacking trip, so 3 miles out, camp, then 3 miles back seemed just about perfect.
Loaded up with a hot breakfast at Desert View campground, we set out down the trail after enjoying the views from Grandview Point. Shortly, we came to the first series of switchbacks, which are along sometimes narrow rock ledges - a bit of a squeeze at times with the pack on. The amazing views pretty much started here and continued throughout the hike. As with Hermit Trail, the switchbacks through the Coconino are mostly paved with hand-laid cobbles - wow!
When we reached the spot where the trail goes along the narrow divide separating Cottonwood and Hance Creeks, I realized how afraid of heights my niece is. It's pretty wide here, but she was frozen at the thought of walking between 2 drop-offs. We finally talked her over the scariest bit and began traversing the Supai. Now, we could see our goal and moved along more quickly by playing a word game. There were a few more tense moments at some of the minor rock slides along the trail, but all that was forgotten when we reached Horseshoe Mesa and slopes littered with azurite and malachite (I think). I'm not much on geology, but my niece loves rocks and had selected the hike from a list of choices for this very reason. We set up camp and hiked back over to poke around a bit more. But the views were the real attraction - Pete Berry was lucky to live here!
The moon was full and bright, which I love for desert camping. In the morning, we made the most of the trail's location by starting early. This meant we were in the shade almost the entire hike out. Shockingly, we hiked out in less than 1/2 the time it took to hike in - my niece wasn't afraid of falling on the way up and could concentrate on hiking.
A fun hike with amazing views away from the south rim crowds. We saw exactly 4 people on trail and all were day hiking - easily a worth-while day hike. In summer, it was fairly hot, but there was sporatic shade. |
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Page Spring |
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Quart per minute |
| | | There was a large pool of clear water under the rock overhang. It was hard to assess the flow rate, since water flows down the rock into this pool. If you plan on using this water source, bring something flavored to mix into it, because it tastes pretty bad (also, it's apparently high in radium, so I was the only one who drank it). The side trail to the spring from Horseshoe Mesa is very exposed and has almost dropped off completely in some places, requiring some scrambling. | | _____________________
| "Let it ride / Let it roll / Let it go" |
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