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There was a spell of rain at some point during the evening, close to day break I think. I slept very well and it's really hard to say. I also remember waking once and see some stars in the sky as well though. This was one of the strangest trips for me as far as weather. In thirty years of backpacking in the Canyon I can count the number of times it has rained on any of those trips on one day. Usually it was only once for a fraction of one day or overnight for anyone trip. On this trip we had rain pretty much every day. It was not a lot of rain for the most part, just passing showers with some heavier than others, but the threat was always there.
I was up early again on the last day, before the sun. I just love seeing the sun come up in the Canyon. There were a lot of clouds around on this last morning and the north rim was pretty much shrouded in them. We lingered over breakfast and no one seemed in any particular hurry to get moving. It was no big deal since we only had about 3 or 4 miles to do. My plan was always to be on the trail by 7am and that never happened. On this last day it was around 745.
We were camped right at the base of the Redwall and it did not take long at all to get up through that. It was only a half of a mile and took us about 45 minutes. After that we had about a mile of reasonably level terrain before beginning the final climb back to the rim. I was looking for the spot where Robin and I had camped after she broke her ankle on our first Red Canyon adventure way back in 1991 and managed to find that easily enough.
Shortly after that trail started an uphill climb that lasted for about 2 miles until we reached the trailhead. The first mile or so of this followed the drainage and the last mile was just switchback after switchback. There were some magnificent views of Coronado Butte as we neared the top and I remembered these from the hike out on the last trip.
I reached the trailhead just a little before 130pm and the rest of the group was only a few minutes behind. We took some photos there and the walked the final quarter mile or so out to the highway. We all dumped our packs and then Jake went back to fetch his car about a half of a mile away. He drove me back to Lipan point to get my vehicle and then I drove back to pick up the rest of the party. We all headed into We Cook Pizza and Pasta in Tusayan for a celebratory meal of pizza and beer.
No, it wasn't Nankoweap, but it was still a good trip. They are all good trips in one way or another, some are just better than others.
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Morning clouds and sun - Red Canyon camp, New Hance Trail, Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Heading up through the Redwall - New Hance Trail, Red Canyon, Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Paintbrush - New Hance Trail, Red Canyon, Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Coronado Butte - New Hance Trail, Red Canyon, Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Group photo at the trailhead - New Hance Trail, Red Canyon, Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Group photo - We Cook Pizza and Pasta, Tusayan, Arizona
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