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| Backpack | 38.00 Miles |
8,114 AEG |
| | Backpack | 38.00 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 8,114 ft AEG | | 50 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | This was a first for me. I do an annual Grand Canyon trip with friends that fly in from out of town and we've been pondering new areas of the canyon to check out. Our previous trips include multiple variations of Rim2Rim, so our next goal is to explore the park from east to west. First ever backpacking trip for me (excluding a number of trips in the late 70's when I was a Boy Scout). Wanted to get to the Confluence and while doing the research stumbled across an itinerary from Backpacking Magazine that fit the bill. Put in for the permits and easily scored the days I wanted. After that started scouring REI, Summit Hut and GearTrade for deals on backpacking gear and started to accumulate items over the summer.
Wednesday 11/12 - Tanner Trail to Beamer: Spent the night at the Grand Canyon Inn in Valle, for $85 it's a room rate that can't be beat. Hit the road early, got breakfast along the way and was at Lipan Point by 7:30AM. Felt nice not to have to wake up at 2AM to tackle a monster long day like in previous years. Got situated and was on the Tanner trail by 8AM. Both of us had been down to about the 3 mile mark in other hikes, so we knew what we were in for. Fairly uneventful hike, just slogged our way to the Beamer trail, cached some water and then kept going until we hit Lava Canyon rapids. Set up camp right along the rapids and crashed hard. Discovered that the water was running an emerald green and crystal clear alongside the beach. So we could have gotten by on filtering water instead of bringing three day's worth with us. Ended up filtering water just to get a cool drink on occasion.
Thursday 11/13 - Beamer Trail to the Confluence & Back: Not much to do after the sun sets, so we had fallen asleep by 8PM the night before and were up by 5AM. Made breakfast really quick and then emptied our packs down to just half a day's worth of food and some water to begin our day hike out to the Confluence. Almost perfect day weather wise, ended up hiking in the shade all the way out to the LCR and the sun popped out on the way back. Bought a new camera for specifically for the trip and glad I did. The LCR was flowing bright blue and was able to snag some AZ Highways worthy photos along the way. Plus some nice video footage of the trail to show my family. Hiked back to our camp, ate lunch and then packed everything up to get to our next campsite. Hiked over to Tanner Rapids and set up camp there.
Friday 11/14 - Tanner Rapids to Lipan Point: slept an impressive 10 hours and woke up before the sunrise. Started breaking camp and making breakfast. Got going on the tough climb out right at daybreak and made decent time up. Was actually faster hiking out than it was hiking down the Tanner trail. Made it back to the car in about 4.5 hours. The only calamity of the trip was my friend forgot to hang his backpack at Tanner Rapids. Woke up to discover that the mouthpiece to his hydration bladder was missing and one half of his hip belt was chewed almost all the way through. Found his mouthpiece about 10 feet away at the entrance to a mouse tunnel and it was chewed up like a piece of gum.
Overall a fantastic hike, already plotting out next year's trip. Learned some new skills and wondering why I never attempted a backpacking trip before. Just a completely different way to experience the canyon. |
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| See my pics on Instagram @tucsonexplorer |
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