New Hance Trail West to the South Kaibab, Grand Canyon Arizona

April 16 - 21 1998

The hikers:.

Thursday April 16: We discovered that we had left the tent in Tucson when we stopped for some world famous apple pie around 7am. Gary, Tom and I left Tucson at 4:30 and about 7 am we rolled into a cafe off Interstate 17 north of Phoenix when Gary asked where his black bag was. Why someone would put a tent into a duffle bag instead of his backpack was a question which was never satisfactorily answered, but eventually we discovered that the duffle bag was indeed missing. The good news was that it was only the rain flap which had been left in Tucson. I'm of the opinion that a tent is only good if it rains and therefore the tent was essentially worthless. Gary thought otherwise and was happy to crawl into his flyless tent, especially after lifting a rock on the plateau while making a stove wind shield and finding a scorpion. But I get ahead of myself.

We arrived at Grand Canyon Village and met Johnny at our designated spot outside Babbit's store. After last minute shopping (including looking unsuccessfully for a tent flap) and some redistribution of supplies into various packs, we headed off in two cars to the South Kaibab Trailhead. Our plan was to drop a car off there and head to the New Hance trailhead. There Tom would drop off the three of us, park his car at Moran Pt. and hitchhike or walk back to the trailhead.
Upon arriving at Yaqui Point, where the South Kaibab Trail begins, we discovered that the overlook had been shut off to private vehicles and the only way to get in was by shuttle. Back to the village we went, dropping off a car near the shuttle stop and heading out once again to the New Hance Trailhead.

We finally started out just before noon. It was chilly and we were walking through snow on the trail that leads from the road to the trailhead. It was slow going in the snow through the Kaibab and the Toroweap,and in the shady areas of the Coconino, where little sun ever hit. We moved through these areas carefully and were soon through the Coconino and beneath the snow.

There aren't many flat areas on the New Hance, it just seems to bear down, down, like it can't wait to get to the Colorado. Just as we were guessing which of the rock promontories in the distance was where we dropped off the Redwall, it started raining lightly, but never enough that we bothered stopping to put on our rain gear. The beginning to the descent of the Redwall is uniquely recognizable by the large rock outcropping that you walk over and through before heading down. It even narrows enough at one point to force you to think about where you're stepping instead of how sore your thighs are.

There's really not much of the Tonto plateau left this far east, so there is not much of a respite after getting through the Redwall. We continued down into the drainage and through the scree that gives Red Canyon it's name. We passed the time singing "Day-O, Me Say Day-O" and making up lyrics ( included soon) to the tune "Old Man River" . We arrived at our campsite about 5:30, the rain having disappeared without any of us noticing when. We were all sore, and immediately got down to some serious relaxing, since our bodies flat out refused to do anything else on our behalf.

The first night's dinner on any Calenti/Ralston trip is always memorable and this one was no exception. Fresh pasta in a hot and sweet sausage marinara sauce, italian bread, fresh salad with creamy italian dressing, and a choice of merlot or zinfandel to wash it down. Later there was scotch, and the beginning of a discussion which would last the entire trip, namely the attributes of a really fine one. Since both Tom and Gary fancy themselves connosoeurs(sp), they had both brought along exceptional single malt scotch. Whether Tom's was sherrywood or cherrywood aged I don't think we ever established, but no matter, since after tasting Gary's Johnny decided Tom's was plywood aged and we all agreed. Tom and I set up and shared our new tent and Gary and John shared a tent.
Numbers: It is 8 miles from the New Hance trailhead to the Colorado River. Our campsite was in the drainage about 1.5 miles from the river.

Friday, April 17: Typical morning. Gary complained that John snored all night and that he never wanted to share a tent with him again. Did breakfast, slowly packed, pumped water from the stream. I assume this stream is always running. At least it has been each time I've been through. In the event it isn't, the Colorado is only about 1.5 miles further down, but Colorado river silt wreaks havoc on a water filter so it is best to avoid it if possible. The walk from this point on is in the creek bed. Shortly past the campsite (marked by a very large boulder) the water goes underground and the creek bed widens. We reached the mouth of the creek, left our packs where the trail climbs up through the sand on the west side, and went down to Hance rapids for a snack and some serious pondering.

It was starting to warm up and Gary's feet were starting to form the blisters he was to nurse for the entire trip. After about an hour or so at the river we continued west up the sand dunes and toward Hance Creek. Sand walking is not that easy but soon the trail climbs out of it and enters the Hakatai shale paralleling the river. There is a quick scramble and then the trail levels out, with the start of this section marked by some large, grotesque limestone boulders. We rested in the shade here and debated whether we were going ot spend the night on the plateau about 15 minutes ahead, where we had stayed the second night of our Fall 1994 trip. The plateau site offers panoramic views of the inner gorge as well as a clear view of Hance's asbestos mine across the river. It was decided to forge ahead to Hance creek since 2.5 miles was not very much to cover in one day!

From the bluff bordering Hance Creek on the east we saw many fine camping areas and saw that the water was running freely. There were no other people in the area. We chose a nice flat, open spot and set up the two tents about 50 yards from one another. Since Gary had been expounding all day on the volume of John's snoring, Tom decided to set up far enough away so he wouldn't have to hear it. Since it was a clear day and looked to be a clear night, I set up my sleeping area on a flat, grassy spot in the open, and made a mental note to ask my sister how she sleeps if Johnny snores that loudly. (He's my brother in law).

We pumped water, explored, pondered, read and wrote for the rest of the evening. At dinner Gary begged that he not have to sleep in the same tent as John. Tom was hesitant. Since I was sleeping under the stars Tom figured he had a tent all to himself. Finally he acquiesced and John was given a tent all to himself while Tom and Gary shared one.
Numbers: We had traveled 1.5 miles from our first campsite to the Colorado and another 4.5 from the Colorado to Hance creek, for a total of 6 miles the second day.

Saturday April 18: The next morning after breakfast we climbed out of Hance creek and headed towards Horseshoe Mesa. The junction for the trail heading north around the base of the mesa can be easily overlooked so watch carefully. Taking this trail up and west will lead to Miners spring and the eastern trail up to Horseshoe Mesa. Miners Spring was the primary water source for the men who worked the mines of Peter Berry around the turn of the century. The spring is well worth the side trip. In an otherwise dry,desert environment, water drips right out of the Redwall into a fern lined grotto. A real oasis.

Our itinerary however, was to stay on the Tonto plateau and go north around the base of the mesa. Within a few hours we had passed the spur trail which leads up the north side of the Mesa and by early afternoon we were having lunch at Cottonwood creek, which runs along the west base of the mesa. Tom and I congratulated ourselves. Having done that 3.5 mile section of the Tonto around the base of Horseshoe Mesa, we had now completed the entire Tonto plateau, from the Tanner trail in the east to the South Bass in the west. Cottonwood creek was running, so we cooled off and pumped enough water to get us to our campsite that evening, Grapevine Canyon.

Grapevine Canyon is a huge drainage, and it took us close to 2 hours to walk from it's mouth to where we crossed the water. This entire section, on the eastside of the drainage, is narrow and requires paying attention to the trail. It slopes off rather steeply on the right for maybe 50 feet and then drops over the canyon walls hundreds of feet down into the Grapevine Canyon drainage. There are a number of campsites where the trail crosses the creek. The best one though, was occupied. The vastness of the Canyon makes you less willing to camp close to other people, so we continued west to Willow Creek. This is the west drainage of Grapevine canyon and has water and a nice overhang in the event of inclement weather. The overhang is carved with the names of many early travelers, including "Peter Berry" who mined Horseshoe Mesa. While we couldn't swear to the authenticity of the carving, the script used led us to believe it was real. There is also a fine carving in the limestone which says "Hotel de Willow Creek".

The water went underground in front of the "Hotel" so we went a little upstream to scout out other potential camp areas closer to the water. However, the constant frog croaking drove us back to the overhang where we spent the night.

Sunday April 19: After breakfast we walked back over the hill to the first crossing where there were a number of large pools for bathing. The campers from the night before had already departed. Please follow all guidelines when washing in canyon creeks. Wet yourself in the creek, then move well away from the creek (50-100 ft.) before using any soap,(if you must) and make sure the soap is biodegradable. Rinse by carrying water in pots to where you are washing and rinse there. Do not rinse in the creek!
This bath felt wonderful, and after some time sunbathing, we headed back to the camp, finished packing up, pumped water, and headed west.

Images of Grapevine Canyon

The hike out of Grapevine on the west is flatter and we kept looking across the drainage to try to see the trail we had been on the day before. It was extremely difficult to find. Indeed, it seemed impossible that there would be a trail on such steep cliffs! However, this is often the case when hiking the canyon. The scale is so grand that there is no perspective on things you are looking at.
We hiked a little over 6 miles on Sunday, crossing Boulder Creek and camping on the Tonto plateau with absolutely incredible views in all directions!

Monday April 20: We got an early start because we knew it was going to be a hot day and by 10 am we were in Lonetree canyon, where we decided to spend the day. Our plan was to spend this night out on the plateau again, but we were in no hurry to get out where there would be no water or shade. Lonetree had running water and shade so we unloaded and spent the day exploring, reading, writing, identifying plants, looking for fossils, talking, tending sore feet, napping and generally relaxing. We filled all the water containers we had, realizing this might be our last water source before reaching the rim. At about 3pm we headed out of the canyon and back out to the plateau, our destination being a flat area west of Cremation Canyon which we had scouted out during our Bright Angel to Horseshoe Mesa trip in the Spring of '95. Cremation Canyon was a surprise for us. While we had realized it consisted of three drainages, we didn't remember how many ups and down there really were. Of course we weren't in as good shape for this trip as we were in '95. It's a perfect campsite, with shelter available in case of rain and commanding views of the canyon in all directions. Since this was our last night in the canyon, we tried to eat as much of our extra food as possible, not wanting to haul it back up to the rim. We finished off the rest of the liquor and were careful to conserve water, as there would be no more reliable water sources between here and the rim, and we knew it was going to be hot on the South Kaibab the following day. Gary set up his tent and slept alone. I guess that scorpion must have freaked him out a bit. The rest of us, being southwesterners for quite some time now, paid it no heed and slept under the stars.

Tuesday April 21: We were on the trail by 6am, not bothering to heat water for breakfast or coffee. We were more interested in getting as far up the Kaibab as we could before it started getting hot. We reached the junction of the Tonto and South Kaibab in about 1.5 hours. There are nice toilet facilities there. Gary was surprised to see how wide and well maintained the South Kaibab was. His hiking experiences in the Grand Canyon up to this point had been the Tanner and New Hance trails, and the Tonto plateau.

The heat we were concerned about never materialized and there was a nice breeze when we stopped on top of the Redwall for some breakfast. John decided to keep going and that's the last we ever saw of him on the trail. He was so quick to the top that he had time to take the tram back to the village and had the car waiting when the rest of us finally made it to the rim.

The South Kaibab is narrow at times and has many breathtaking views. It is also a major route for the cowboys leading mule trains laden with supplies down to Phantom Ranch. At some point I was resting when Gary arrived. Tom was somewhere up ahead. Gary was agitated and wound up.
"Did you see that mule train that was coming down the trail a while back?"
"Yeah, I saw it, why?"
( voice rising) "The &%^$#$ guy was sleeping!!"
"Huh?"
(voice up another notch in pitch) "The &%^$#$ guy was sleeping!! He had his hat pulled down over his eyes and he was snoring!!"
That's pretty funny!"
(voice even higher and arms waving) "Funny?? I turned a corner on the narrowest part of the trail and the $%#%^%$ guy is leading a whole $%#^ load of mules right at me and he's ^%$%#^% sleeping!!! He could have killed me!!!"
"So what did you do?"
"So what did I do??? What the %^$%#$ do you think I did?? I started yelling at the #@$%$# to wake up! He would have run me right off the cliff!! He was $%^#$%$# SLEEPING!!"
"Wish I coulda been there."

We eventually reached the rim, piled into the car and headed out to Moran Point to get the other vehicle. Then we went back to the village, showered up, and had lunch at one of the restaurants on the rim. It was a wonderful trip.

Images of the South Kaibab Trail, including the locale of Gary's close encounter.

As always, I encouraged my fellow travelers to contribute their impressions of the trip. Five months after the fact, I received this from Gary. For another skewed, yet entertaining view of this trip, take a look at "The Novice Hiker's View of the Grand Canyon." And P.S. he's right, we crossed Cremation Canyon on Monday, not Tuesday, the day we hiked out.