Backcountry Dayhikes!
Kaibab to Bright Angel Redwall
Route September 02, 1997 Mike
Mahanay
I thought to make a loop out of
this so I parked at Mather Point. I walked along the rim through the forest around to
the Kaibab Trailhead on Yaki Point. The Park Service has closed Yaki Point to parking so
the only access is via a shuttle bus. Consequently people are
now using a nearby picnic area and view points along Highway 64 for parking. I was amazed at how few people there was on the trail at ten in
the morning! I
breezed down the Kaibab Trail until it intersected with the Redwall.
A ranger I met along the way warned of heat. When I asked him about the monsoons he
replied, "they are over, don't count on them." I walked away before he was
finished with his heat lecture thinking he was a bit of a jerk. A few days later three
people were washed away in Phantom Creek and a German couple were hit by lightning! They
were far from over!
Two minutes after leaving the
Kaibab Trail and heading west along the top of the Redwall formation I found a huge piece
of Quartz! Suddenly, I was in a remote part of the Canyon although the Kaibab Trail was
very near. The route was easy, just contour around along the top of the Redwall. There
were no big washes to go through and no exposure. The incline of 30 degrees was the
biggest problem. Within an hour I had a good sweat going, but the monsoon appeared and the
rest of the day was spent in the rain. The views were wonderful as the storm moved back
and forth across the Canyon. I became very concerned about lightning and hypothermia. It
was storming hard and I was soaked through my rain jacket. Only a few times have I been so
wet. The sound of the water was everywhere cascading off the Redwall. There was a superb
view looking down on Indian Gardens. I connected with the Bright Angel Trail at the
Three Mile House. It was overflowing with hikers so I continued up the trail. Two cold
hours later I reached Bright Angel Lodge.
Salt Wash to Jackass
Wash September 03, 04, 1997 Mike
Mahanay
The trailhead was on Highway
89A at mile post 529 under Red Point in the Echo Cliffs. I headed due west across the
highway and over a barbed wire fence and dropped into the
first wash. It was easy walking down the streambed and in two hours I was at the river. There were two tricky downclimbs but someone had left a nice rope
anchored at each one. The river was high and the rapid was
almost washed out. I headed upriver to
Jackass. There is very little trail along the river so the route
varies from high to low, in and around and over boulders, or along the sand. I was very
hot and impatient. I knew it must be very close, it had to be around the next bend. I was
flabbergasted to find myself looking at the Navaho Bridge! I had mistakenly gone down an
upper arm of Jackass! I felt like a real fool! I had not even recognized Badger Rapid
although I had been there many times. Now facing the hot sun, it was a toasty two hours to
walk back down river to Jackass, and then another hour to climb out Jackass the normal
route.
Overnight I reviewed my
research. In Treks I Harvey says it is hard to distinguish the correct ravine. It turns out that Salt Wash is due west from Red Point,
but it is in and out of the first wash and over to the second that actually heads west.
How easy it is to make an error in the Canyon! The trip down Salt is easy and fast. There
were redbuds growing as it sloped to the river below Soap Creek Rapid. I looked for
the Brown Inscription and found it almost at river level. It was near hear that Brown had
drowned on July 10, 1889. Peter Hansbrough had done the inscription and he later drowned
as well. Hansbrough Point is above President Harding Rapid.
The route along the river
almost pinches out at the head of Soap Rapid. It was scary to have
all that water raging and foaming just a couple of feet below me. Along the river up to
Jackass is business as usual with ten mile rock and a big slide at mile 8.5 being the
landmarks. It is four miles from Salt at mile 11.9 to Jackass at mile 8. Going up Jackass
was easy the second time around and I didn't give a thought to the two ropes in the
narrows.
Mt
Huethawali May 08, 1996 Mike
Mahanay
A view hike but nothing hard
about it. One afternoon I headed down the South Bass along
the trail to the Esplanade and then up the obvious route on the left side. It is always a
wonderful feeling to be standing so high in the middle of the Grand Canyon. It was warm
and clear but so windy by daypack and water bottle were threatening to be blown away if I
let loose of them. To make the day a little more sporty I headed down and around Mount
Huethawali to the end of Spencer Terrace, and Huxley Terrace. Here was an
inscription "Monte Video". I wonder who put that there? Maybe one of the W. W.
Bass party?
Grapevine
Creek September 05, 1997 Mike
Mahanay
This hike was a challenge. Down
Grapevine to the Tonto and around to Horseshoe Mesa and out
the Grandview Trail. Knowing this would be a long day, I packed an extra large lunch and put new batteries in my headlamp. After a short walk down
the Grandview Trail to the Grapevine Saddle I descended into
Grapevine Canyon. It is very steep and loose. I hung on to
bushes and trees where ever I could. Two falls are bypassed
on the right. Below the Coconino is where a huge flashflood scoured the bed in 1994. It must of been a terrible amount of water that rushed down this
normally peaceful canyon. What was once covered in brush and
redbud trees is now bare dirt and rock to the top of the Redwall. It made for faster
travel, however. Charlie Bongo had given me a talk on how to find the correct route in the
Redwall and I went right to it this time. The third time is the charm. I know Harvey spent
years looking for routes some times. Three attempts is not many in the Canyon world. The
Redwall Route is just beyond the head on the right side over the second hump. There was
deer scat on the route but it was hands and toes for me.
Grapevine was flowing big and
muddy below the Redwall from the unusually heavy, daily monsoon
season. The grapevines were thick and I wished I had a machete to hack my way through. I alternated from wading the creek and walking just outside
the bush. I crawled on my hands and knees under one treelimb
but looked up too soon and banged my head on a second,
knocking me on my rear! Eventually I reached the Tonto platform and took a high route out
of the creek bed. There were really nice waterfalls below in the Tapeats, but there was
too much water to follow the stream through there. There are some nice campsites at the
intersection of the Tonto trail but again too much water to continue below the Tapeats on
this day. In August of 1983 I was happy to find a dripping spring here below the trail
junction to fill my water bottles.
After lunch and rest I headed
along the Tonto Trail to Horseshoe Mesa. As usual the clouds
were really starting to build and I feared lightning rounding the points. I love to be in
the Canyon in storms! The rain started to come as I contoured around Cottonwood Creek. There were no tents although there is permanent water there. The
storm was right overhead as I headed up Horseshoe Mesa. Thunder and lightning, and
waterfalls were running everywhere and falling off the Redwall. A fantastic sight. The
cool weather was great for hiking. I was shocked to see no tents on the Mesa. Were the new
user fees reducing usage? Finally I pulled out my headlamp in the Coconino. I arrived back
at Grandview Point eleven hours after I started. There were no cars parked there and I had
not seen one person the whole day!
Berry
Butte November 26, 1998 Mike Quinn
Berry Butte was a fun climb.
Took us about 2 hours to summit (from the Grandview Trail head.) We climbed all the way
down through the Coconino from the Grandview Trail, then traversed for about a mile north
along the Coconino / Hermit shale contact. Then a climb back up through the Coconino to
summit at 6,400 feet. A great view looking down at Horseshoe Mesa. It is less rocky at the
summit than it appears from the Canyon Rim. There are some nice pinion & juniper trees
and even some nice sheltered spots where one could lay out a bag. It would be a great peak
from which to watch a sunset - followed by the next mornings sunrise.
Vulcans
Throne 5,108’ April 22, 2001 Mike Quinn and Mike Mahanay
This is an easy morning outing. Mike Quinn and I parked at the dry lake 4,498’ and
started up the northwest ridge. We had quite the view from the summit. We could not see
the river, but Prospect Canyon and the Toroweap Valley opened up to the south and north.
We could see The Dome and Mt. Sinyala to the east! We went down the north side, finding a
couple old tin cans here and there from the herders of days gone by.
Mt. Trumbell 8,028’ April 22, 2001 Mike Quinn and Mike Mahanay
Mt Trumbell, we visited in the afternoon.
The trailhead is marked and begins west of the Nixon Guard Station. The elevation gain to
the summit is about 1,500’. We were in fresh snow above 7,800’, which made the
trail difficult to find. There were a few flags in the trees, and rock cairns, to mark the
route through the big Ponderosa Pines to the summit. It’s amazing that the Mormon
pioneers missed these trees 100 years ago. This is the area that they cut the timber for
the temple in St. George.
email at
mikem@rem0vethisgrandcanyontreks.org