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November/December, 1993 - Grandview, Tonto, South Kaibab, Clear Creek, Bright Angel |
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Trip number 4 - November, 1989 : Tanner Trail
Trip number 5 - December, 1990 : South Kaibab, North Kaibab, Clear Creek and Bright Angel Trails
Trip number 6 - September, 1991 : Red Canyon (New Hance), Tonto, Grandview Trails
Trip number 7 - September, 1991 : Grandview Trail
Trip number 8 - December, 1991 : Hermit, Tonto, Bright Angel Trails
Trip number 9 - December, 1992 : Red Canyon, Escalante, Tonto, Grandview
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Still learning and having some ups and downs. On trip number 4 Robin and I did an overnight trip on the Tanner Trail, down one day and back the back. Brilliant. The daylight hours are short in late November and we had very little daylight left by the time we got to camp and got back to the rim just as the moon was coming up the next day. I also twisted my ankle on the way in but refused to turn back. It took many months to heal. Trip number 5 was pretty nice actually. It was supposed to be a New Hance, Tonto, Grandview trip but it snowed the day before and when we checked out the trail we decided against it. We lucked out with a cabin at Phantom Ranch instead. Trip number 6 was a reattempt of New Hance, Tonto, Grandview but Robin slipped and broke her ankle just above the Redwall on the first day. We didn't know it was broken at the time and just thought it was a bad sprain but we aborted luckily. Trip number 7 was just me killing time while Robin went to the infirmary in the village to have the ankle checked. Trips 8 and 9 we solo and very nice with no problems.
This trip, number 10, was going to be a long one. On the way down to camp the first night I took some time to explore the Cave of the Domes on Horshoe Mesa. After that I found a wonderful spot to have some lunch at the tip of the western arm of the mesa and enjoyed some turkey sandwiches that I had brought from home. It was only a couple of days after Thanksgiving. I lucked out with being able to see total lunar eclipse on the first night while camped at Cottonwood Creek on the west wide of Horseshoe Mesa Day 2 was a nice hike along the Tonto to Lonetree Canyon. Grapevine Canyon was amazing. I had been hoping to get to Cremation but ran out of daylight. Camping in Lonetree Canyon was eerie, definitely the quietest place I had ever been and I had a hard time getting to sleep. Day 3 was longer than planned because I did not get as far as I wanted on day 2. But I still made it to Bright Angel campground by early afternoon. It was nice to get to see Phantom Ranch again. Days 4 and 5 were hard. I went from Bright Angel campground all the way to Clear Creek on day 4 and then all the way back again on day 5. It was late when I got to Clear Creek and had very little time to enjoy it. Dumb. I immediately started thinking about a return trip and spending a few days. Another meal at Phantom Ranch was very nice at the end of day 5. The final day was just hiking back up the Bright Angel Trail to the south rim after another nice breakfast at the ranch. It was a pretty good trip all-in-all, I just wished I had a layover day at Clear Creek to do some exploring. The full trip report is here. |
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Next => Trip number 19 - April/May, 1998 - South Bass, Elves Chasm, Tonto, Boucher
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