April 1995

Bright Angel to Grandview

April 19-23, 1995. Spent the night on the rim and as usual got a late start, not getting to the trailhead until noon. It was unseasonably cold, with a blanket of snow covering the rim and a ligth snow falling as we headed down the Bright Angel. The snow turned heavy when we reached the Coconino sandstone and it was utterly beautiful. We arrived at Indian Gardens at 3pm, filled our water bottles, ate a good meal and headed east on the Tonto. We ran into 2 hikers coming from the opposite direction and they told us that there was water in every canyon along the way, greatly simplifying our planning as far as water goes. We spent the night at Pipe Springs, in an overhang on the east side of the creek just after the trail crossing.

The second day the rain was intermittent as we headed east on the Tonto, crossing the Kaibab. Our second days goal was Lonetree Canyon, 7.7 miles to the east. For those wanting to spend the night on the plateau, and yet still be protected, there is a wonderful camp area between cremation canyon and Lonetree canyon which has a overhang large enough for 4 people to sleep under, with a large flat spot on the plateau if the weather is clear.
We spent the second night in Lonetree Canyon, listed as a seasonal water source and it did have water. It also rained most of the night. We set up tents at a camp site but didn't want to sit inside a tent all evening so we hiked downstream in the tapeats for about 1/4 -1/2 mile until we found an overhang where we could all gather comfortably. We had our evening meal there, and talked until way past dark when we stumbled back to our tents for the night.

Friday morning, the beginning of our third day, started off with the sun shining, but only briefly. It was raining slightly as we broke camp. Our destination was Grapevine Canyon, 8.7 miles to the east. We crossed Boulder creek (lots of water), and had lunch on the Tonto before heading into Grapevine. The views along the Tonto are magnificent, is it skirts the rim in many places. Contrary to what I've read about the Tonto in this area, it was very easy to follow the trail on the plateau and there was very little evidence of feral burro tracks. We stayed on the west fork of the canyon in a huge overhang someone had christened "Hotel de Willow Creek", carved in stone in a turn of the century font. Water was plentiful here also.

Saturday morning we headed east again, our destination being Horseshoe Mesa, 5.3 miles further on. It was going to be an easy day, with the exception of climbing the Redwall onto the mesa. We had a long rest, lunch and shower at Cottonwood canyon before tackling the Redwall. There are some small mines on the west side of Horseshoe Mesa which we explored. We never did find the cave which we're told is on that side. Once on the Mesa we headed out the west arm and found our favorite campsite, which offers panoramic views of the canyon. It was spectacular, and cold!

Sunday morning we divided up the remaining water (there is no water on the Mesa), stopped at the outhouse (take advantage of these amenities) and headed up the Grandview trail.

Another great Grand Canyon trek.