Oct 25-27 1996

Up and down the Boucher Trail

The hikers: John Bernardo, Tom Ralston, Cheech Calenti

Friday October 25: We left Tucson at 4:15 on the morning of the 25th of October after watching the weather reports carefully the previous two days. There was unseasonably cold weather forecast for Arizona and Tucson was already 10 degrees below normal. On Wednesday preceding it had been in the teens on the Grand Canyon rim and low 40's at the river. Snow was forcast for Friday night down to an elevation of 5,000'.

The weather was clear for the drive up but by Flagstaff we were seeing ominous weather up ahead. By the time we hit the intersection of the road from Flag and where Bedrock city is (I have to look at a map!) it was snowing lightly. It steadily increased in intensity until it was a blizzard. We pulled over and engaged our 4 wheel drive and proceeded to Tusayan very slowly, along the way passing a busload of Japanese tourists which had gone off the road and an overturned pickup truck. Visibility was extremely poor and we began to talk about alternative plans. The best one we came up with was getting sloshed at El Tovar. It took us nearly an hour to go that last 15 miles but by the time we reached the south rim the snow had stopped, the sun was out again and the entire area was blanketed in a majestic carpet of white. There was an accumulation of about 3 inches.

We finally got to Hermits rest at 11:10am, almost 1.5 hours later than we had originally anticipated. With no breeze and the blanket of fresh snow, the scene was magnificent. Within a half hour we were below the snow, which petered out about midway through the Coconino sandstone. We picked up the Boucher at the junction of the Dripping Springs trail and followed it due north pretty much along the top of the Supai. Unlike reports I had read, this section of the trail out to Yuma Point did not seem in any way exposed or more dangerous than other unmaintained trails in the canyon. The area is flat and the views are magical. Our original plan had been to go all the way to Boucher Creek but we realized after reaching Yuma Point at 2:30 that we'd have to modify our itinerary. I had picked two other areas to camp for contingency purposes. One was at Yuma Point itself and the other was below Whites Butte, on the saddle just before dropping off the Redwall. The wind was howling at Yuma Point and it was bitterly cold because of it. Snow has also been forecast down to the 5,000' level and Yuma Point is about 5,500. Camping was not an option though we did stop to get water in the tinajas at the edge of the point. We knew we'd have a dry camp that night and wanted to have as much water as possible. Our plan was to get to Whites Butte.

The wind continued to howl as we descended the Supai formation and this was the only area of the hike which caused me concern. The dropoffs were steep and the wind was buffetting us hard. We took every switchback carefully because as soon as we turned a corner around a rock the wind which had been blowing us backward suddenly would heave us forward! We crawled along very cautiously and were through the Supai and to the bed of Travertine Canyon iby 4pm. Although we could see Whites Butte about a mile away, we stopped at the first available camping area in Travertine and set up camp.

As usual we had a great meal that first night. Fresh Pasta (1.5lbs) with fresh maranara sauce. Italian(?) sausage, Boudins sourdough bread straight from San Francisco, a nice green salad with homemade salad dressing, all washed down with some excellent merlot and a flask of Sambuca. After hundreds of jokes, we slept soundly all night.

Saturday October 26: The first thing John said when he awoke was that he had been in a horizontal position for 12 hours, which is by far his longest rest since his son was born. We had a good breakfast and began our day trip to the river at about 10am. The first helicopter noises began at 8:02am. Those bastards don't waste any time. It took us 20 minutes to reach the saddle below Whites Butte. This was, as I had gathered from the topo map, an excellent place to camp. The trail through the Redwall is steep and took us about an hour. It was in the redwall that John found the famous "Penis Rock" which he insisted looked exactly like, well, guess what. I mention this because a few weeks later, when we were all together with our respective spouses and were reliving the trip (to the utter boredom of the wives), we pulled out a picture of the rock and passed it around the table. The only wife who recognized the formation as a penis was John's. They must be very compatible!

We reached Boucher creek around noon and filled up our water bottles. We also found the ruins of Bouchers cabin. There was a party of six camped at the creek. After caching the water we headed down the creek to the river. I decided to stop short of the river and just rested on the sun covered 2.4 billion year old schist, reading and writing in my journal. John and Tom reached the river. Coming back up the creek bed we paused for a moment at a major intersection we had not noticed while going downstream. Going downstream there is a large tributary coming in from the left which we just hadn't paid attention too while heading down to the river. Watch this area or you'll lose a couple of hours before you realize you've chosen the wrong branch.

We had a nice dinner that evening, though not the gourmet fare of the night before. After polishing off the rest of the refreshments, there were a few more rounds of jokes and then to bed. It turned a little cold that evening and rained slightly through the night, but not enough to worry about.

Sunday, October 27: We were on the trail by about 9am. Once again the planes and helicopters started their droning at 8:02am. This is the last trip I take in the dragoon corridor. The scenery is breathtaking but the constant noise really puts a damper on the experience. It snowed briefly between Yuma Point and Dripping Springs, very pretty. Hermits trail, especially going up, is becoming very familiar to me, this having been the third time in three years.

Probably the most interesting part of this trip for me was that I was suddenly able to see all the fossils that surrounded us in the Kaibab formation and especially at our campsite above the Redwall. Shells and brachiopods were everywhere I turned. Another wonderful trip.