Grand Canyon Hermit Creek Backpacking Trip--Day 3

October 19, 2024--returning to the South Rim on the Hermit Trail

We had an even longer rainstorm last night.  But around 2 am I think it was, I got up to use the bathroom and the nearly full moon was out for the first time in the whole trip.  Clouds scuttled fast across it, and the sight was so beautiful I just sat and watched.  

Not a very good picture, but you get the idea:

Since it wasn't going to be hot today, I didn't get up before dawn (as had been the plan with the earlier UNSEASONABLY HOT forecast), but I still got up pretty early.  Everything was WET.  There was a huge puddle in my alcove, and a puddle under my tent when I took it down--but nothing had seeped inside.  Yay for my tent.

I tried to de-mud and dry out the tent, but I eventually gave up and packed it dampish and muddyish.

The day was gorgeous.

Where the Hermit Trail meets the Tonto, I saw these beauties:

And this resurrection moss that I doubt was green and soft two days ago (I don't think this is real resurrection moss, but people use the term--and if you ever spy it and pour a little water on it, you'll see why):

At the Cathedral Stairs, the air was still cool enough and my body warm enough from the climb that when I put on my glasses, they immediately fogged up.  And then I saw this:

Yes.  That's snow on the North Rim.  A bit up the trail, I learned from a downward hiker that they'd also had quite a bit of snow at the South Rim.

Just above the Cathedral Stairs, I met a trail runner headed down.  He had probably a liter of water on him and maybe enough room in his waist pack for a granola bar or two.  His plan?  Down to Hermit Creek, along the Tonto, and all the way up Boucher today.  That's about 20 miles with 5700 feet of gain, and the Boucher is, by all accounts, a very difficult trail with a lot of washouts.  Amazing or crazy, I thought.  If (when?) I do that, I'll backpack it in 4-5 days.  Trail runners are a whole different species.    

I stopped for a relaxing lunch at this boring place with no view at all:

That's my freeze-dried lunch cold-soaking in the sun. Yum.  

A few months back, I read a novel that talked about how there's little to no vegetation down in the Canyon.  To that, I say:

The water in Santa Maria Spring, where we were explicitly instructed not to drink the tadpoles:

The day had been gorgeous:  mostly sunny with a few pretty clouds, warm but not hot below, cool but not cold the higher I climbed.  Around Santa Maria Spring, it started getting cloudier.  By the junction with the Dripping Springs Trail it was starting to look threatening.  The sky got darker and darker as we climbed.

Maybe half a mile from the top, on those steep switchbacks, I'll give you one guess who I met.  Yes.  The trail runner.  I hadn't been hurrying, enjoying instead a leisurely hike.  But he...he'd done the whole loop and lapped me.  Sigh.  Hats off to you, trail runner.  I think, however, that I prefer my style of foot travel.

Here's me, at the requisite "Going down is optional.  Coming up is mandatory" sign.  Success!

What a fantastic trip. 

I met my dad at the trailhead, where the wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping.  

I'd worked up a sweat on the uphill section, and I figured it would be best to change into something dry.  I had time to do that and take a quick trip to the outhouse before it started raining.  Talk about perfect timing.  The whole trip, the rain happened a) at night, b) early morning on a day I didn't need an early start, c) as soon as I finished the hike.  Amazing. 

I absolutely recommend this route (but not in hot weather).

See my posts on the first two days of the trip here:

Day 1

Day 2   

I took them fast enough that I got my body all warmed up, but the air was still cool enough that when I put on my glasses, they immediately fogged up because ok

  A bit warm down on some of the switchbacks before the C

My story long-listed for the Welkin Mini prize

My story got long-listed for the Welkin Mini prize--but I can't tell you yet which one is mine.  This is a competition for micro fiction, and out of 819 entries, mine was in the top 50.  

A lot of the titles are really long.  I think that's because the story itself could only be 100 words, so the titles have to do some of the work.   

Check out the list here: https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize/news

Grand Canyon Hermit Creek Backpacking Trip--Day 2

Hermit Creek and Tonto Trail exploration--October 18, 2024:

We had quite a thunder concert in the night, along with rain.  A beautiful sound when you're (mostly) safe and snug.  It was the first night I'd ever used my tent in the rain, and it did well.

In the morning, a foggy, slightly drizzling morning met me, gorgeous in its own mysterious, color-deepening way:

I lazily ate breakfast and invited my neighbors from last night to shelter in my alcove while they did the last of their packing and snacking.  By the time I was ready to go exploring, the rain drizzle had stopped, but a few delightful sights like this met me as I headed west on the Tonto Trail.

Then things started clearing up and I got views like this:

I only went about 2.5 or 3 miles before I turned around and sat at the best viewpoint, overlooking Hermit Rapid (pictured above) and ate lunch.  

When I got back to camp, a new set of neighbors had arrived.  Two older women backpacking together on a seven-night trip:  down the Bright Angel and across the Tonto to Cedar Springs, then a night at Granite Rapids, two nights here, two nights at Boucher, one night halfway up the Boucher trail.  They amaze me.  I chatted a lot with one of the women, who has been on even longer trips here, solo.  She's my new hero. 

In the afternoon I headed upstream along Hermit Creek, which both sets of neighboring campers had recommended because it was so pretty. I found a gorgeous little cascade and thought, "This must be what they were talking about."

But they just kept coming--one little waterfall after another.  It was incredibly beautiful.

Again, I was thankful for my water shoes that let me explore with so much ease.

Besides the two women in camp with me, I saw absolutely no one else the entire day.  Which is amazing for a place as popular as this.  I'm even more convinced that the bad forecasts contributed to the emptiness here.  I feel bad for those who must have cancelled...but selfishly happy for me.  It felt like I had the canyon almost entirely to myself.  

It was a beautiful, beautiful day.  

For my report on Day 1, click here:  https://www.melindabrasher.com/2024/12/grand-canyon-hermit-creek-backpacking.html

Grand Canyon Hermit Creek Backpacking Trip--Day 1

On October 17, 2024, I headed down into the Grand Canyon for my second backpacking trip.  

My first trip was back in May--the classic route of South Kaibab Trail to Bright Angel campground, then to Havasupai Gardens and up the Bright Angel.  It was fantastic.  See my entries here:

South Kaibab to Bright Angel Campground

Bright Angel Campground to Havasupai Gardens

Havasupai Gardens to Rim

I loved that trip so much I decided to take another.  This time, I hiked Hermit Trail to Hermit Creek Campground, stayed there two nights, exploring the area, and then climbed back out the same way.  It was a very different experience...and no less fantastic.  Here's a little about day 1:

I started around dawn, because the original forecast had been for unseasonable warmth (and sunrise is such an amazing time in the canyon).  But about a week before the trip, the forecast changed to cold and snow on the rim, rain and thunder down below.  Either way, best to start early.

Hermit trail, at the beginning:

Wow, so fancy!  All those paving stones and nice borders.  Who says this trail is "less maintained?"   

  A little down the trail--not so fancy, but so pretty:

Still trail-like:

And then...hey, what's a little rockslide?  See that stretch of trail on the other side, just get yourself there!

What part of this doesn't look like a trail to you?

SOOO much fun navigating this trail.  There were a few places where you did have to pay attention, and a few places you had to use your hands a bit to get over big rocks.  The last picture was a recent rockslide, where you just sort of found a way across.  But nothing was particularly scary--even for someone with a moderately significant fear of heights, and none of the trail-finding was difficult.  But...it's definitely not the Bright Angel.  :) 

I loved it.  

There were so many places where I'd look ahead at these sheer cliffs with a little sloping area above them and then another sheer cliff, and I knew the trail had to go on that sloping bit, but I couldn't see it and it looked slightly terrifying.  When the trail got there, however, it wasn't terrifying at all.  The trail found a way.  Here's an example:

When I got to the Cathedral Stairs, I understood why they were called that--soaring walls, spires, beautiful views out window-like gaps...and steep descent.  It was 10:00 AM and I still mostly had shade here.  

I'd only met one set of people going down and about four sets of people going up, and when I got to Hermit Creek Campground, I had it all to myself.  I set up my tent in the prime spot, under the alcove.

I'd planned to spend the next day hiking down to the river and having a beach day, but I knew that it might rain later, and the creek might swell, making the trail tricky or dangerous, so I started hiking to the river on Day 1, with a bright blue sky above.  I was shortly astounded by Hermit Creek's beauty.

Earlier in the day, that one set of hikers I'd met going down was a young couple with smallish packs.  They had reservations at Monument Creek but had heard a terrible forecast of rain and wind, and they'd about decided to do it as a day trip.  I warned them that it was a very ambitious day trip, but they didn't seem intimidated.  They were from somewhere flat in the midwest and it was their first time here, and after we separated, I wished I'd warned them more strongly.  Anyway, I met them again in Hermit Creek.  Apparently they'd made it all the way to the river and were headed up.  At about 1:15 in the afternoon.  Starting the 7+-mile trek up 4500 feet.  I should have offered them to stay with me in my campsite.  I hope they got up safely, and that they weren't hating the Canyon by the end.  

There is a trail that follows Hermit Creek down to the river, but it's hard to follow.  I lost it a dozen times, but it follows a creek, so you're never really lost, and I had water shoes and was having fun playing in the creek, so I didn't mind so much.  TAKE WATER SHOES if you go on this trail.  It was the best $9.00 I ever spent.  :)

Here's the Colorado River upstream:

Hermit rapids downstream (with rafters!  How lucky was I to be able to watch that?):

That water in my bottle is straight, unfiltered, from the river. Can you believe how clear it is?  I of course filtered it before I drank it, but the clarity was amazing, as was the beautiful blue-green color.  I've been at the river four times now, and twice it was like this.  Twice it was muddy brown. 

I lounged around at the beach for a while, explored, then went back to camp, where I met my very friendly neighbors--but only one set of them.  Hermit Creek Campground has permits for 4 groups, I believe, but it was only me and the one group.  Awesome.  Probably a combination of the BEWARE!  UNSEASONABLE HEAT! e-mail we got a few weeks ago and the BEWARE!  SNOW! RAIN! COLD! forecast we saw a few days ago.  But it had been an absolutely gorgeous day:  blue sky, not too hot.  

I talked with my neighbors, who are avid Grand Canyon backpackers, and who invited me to tag along with them a day longer (they were going to Monument Creek and then back here), since they'd had a couple of cancellations on their permit.  If I'd had a way to communicate with the people expecting me above, I might have done it, but phones are useless down here, and I didn't want to worry them.

I hung my food and backpack on the handy pole provided for the campsite and went to bed.  

When it started to thunder late that night, I went and retrieved my empty backpack and pulled it into the tent with me, making for some very tight quarters.  And then the rain started.  Perfect timing.  Thunder, lightning, rain...and me, safe in my tent.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.      

For my report on Day 2, click here:  https://www.melindabrasher.com/2025/01/grand-canyon-hermit-creek-backpacking.html

   

    

Butterfly in the Desert

 Today at Thunderbird Conservation Park:

Vultures circling

So, I often see vultures making lazy circles around me, and joke with them about how I'm not dying yet, but on an October hike at Skyline Regional Park in Arizona, I was on a high ridge and they started circling RIGHT above me.  So close I could clearly see their eyes.  First four, then five, then seven.  At one point there were thirteen.  Circling, circling.  

Usually there's only three or four.  Usually they're not so close.  Usually they don't circle for 15-20 minutes.  I admit, it was a little creepy.  I even called out and looked around to see if there was anyone really in trouble.  

I think there were just good currents that day, and they were having fun.  

Thanks, vultures, for the awesome show.  

  

October full moon in the Grand Canyon

Delayed posting:  this was from October 16, 2024 at Mohave Point on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  The (almost) full moon rose in the east just before the sun set in the west, so whichever direction you looked, it was gorgeous.

Full moon:

Sunset: