Trip Report
March 11 to March 15, 2012, my youngest daughter Sophi and I (Gravelboy) hiked to the Little Colorado River. At Lipan Point we picked up the Tanner Trail to the Colorado River. From there we hiked the Beamer Trail to the Little Colorado River.
Tanner Trail Descent, March 11
The hike was exceedingly difficult. The Tanner Trail had two very steep sections. The first section began at the trailhead. For some reason Sophi and I did not pack or use our spikes (for walking on packed snow and ice). I assumed that the trail would be clear because it is fully exposed to sunlight every day. The trail was not clear and we suffered going down the first section because of inadequate preparation. We were lucky to have not hurt ourselves although we each took about 6-7 spills. Part of the problem is the backpack upsetting our center of gravity. Combining that with slippery paths caused the spills. About a mile into the Tanner Trail, approaching Escalante Butte, the Tanner begins to follow a contour. By that time my knees were pretty well whacked but we had been clear of snow and ice for at least 1/2 mile.
Gravelboy podcast Well, it’s March 11, uh, it’s Sunday morning, Sophi and I are a little bit into the Tanner Trail. We’re walking down the steep uh part right, right from Lipon Point. It just goes down. And it switch backs a lot. It’s covered in snow. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring crampons so we’re kind of suffering with that. We’ve each fallen a number of times. I took kind of a bad spill. You know, where you’re rolling over down the side, trying to grab something, but we’re OK. It’s just that it’s uh really early in the hike and we’ve been falling all over the trail. It’s uh, going to be a challenge it looks like.
At about the 1/2 point of the Tanner Trail, just below the Tanner Overlook, the second steep descent begins. This part of the trail we called the “Holy Mother” because that was the exclamation of a pair of hikers who were behind us made when they first came upon this descent. The Holy Mother pretty much finished off my knees. Sophi was holding herself back, waiting for me, but I could only move at a slow rate. After the Holy Mother the trail descends less steeply down to the Tanner Beach for about 3 miles. I could only make my way slowly for that three miles. Sophi developed a hitch in her right leg and that slowed her a bit. We arrived at Tanner Beach around 5:30 or so and set up camp.
The Colorado River water was refreshingly clean and cold. I had expected dirty brown water like in past years. The first day was a successful one—we had arrived at our goal destination safe and sound.
Lava Canyon Rapids, March 12
According to my guide book Hiking Grand Canyon National Park, the hike on the Beamer Trail to the Little Colorado is too long to complete in a single day. That is, hike from Tanner Beach to the LCR and back to Tanner Beach. The guide book suggests that you set up camp at Lava Canyon Rapids, where the Palisades creek empties into the Colorado (dry creek). That makes the hike to the LCR more manageable, about 12.2 miles instead of 18 miles. I would not want to attempt 18 miles in one day in the Grand Canyon. On looking back I believe a wiser course of action would be to hike down to the campsites near the overlook and make that campsite 1. Then, next morning, hike to Lava Canyon Rapids and establish that as headquarters for two nights. This seems much more doable as each day’s hike would only involve one of the steep Tanner Canyon descents. In fact, in March 2015 I hiked the Escalante Route with my oldest daughter Vivian and we stayed at a nice campsite near the Holy Mother. The next day we stayed at Cardenas Creek.
Hiking from Tanner Beach to Lava Rapids Canyon made our second day very short. We hiked about 3 miles to Lava Canyon Rapids and found a nice campsite for the next two days. We spent the day recovering from the first day descent.
Video—Lava Canyon Rapids
Sophi and I weren’t feeling real confidant about this one day hike to the Little Colorado and back. It would be more than 12 miles and the hike down the Tanner had shaken our confidence a bit. We decided to start very early and at around 12:00 noon we would make a decision to turn back or “go for it” depending on how close we were. I must admit, it would be devastating for me to not get to the Little Colorado.
Lava Canyon Rapids-Little Colorado-Lava Canyon Rapids, March 13
The Beamer Trail proved to be difficult. The hike from Lava Canyon Rapids to the Little Colorado involves more than 20 inlets, some of them quite difficult to negotiate. But, as planned, Sophi and I began early and were at the Little Colorado by 11:30. Both of us found our legs were back to normal and we were able to hike steadily.
Gravelboy podcast It’s Tuesday, March 13, about 7:50 in the morning. Sophi and I are hiking out to the Little Colorado today. That’s our goal. We left Lava Springs [sic] campground about 40 minutes ago. And it’s kind of a steep climb out. I’ve hit the level ground. Sophi’s a bit behind me but I plan to keep you posted throughout the day.
Gravelboy podcast It’s 11:35. Sophi and I arrived at the end of the Beamer Trail Um, We did well…because we’re going to have a nice relaxing lunch here before we head back. The scenary here is incredible.
The Beamer Trail terminates at the Beamer Cabin. We had our lunch there (about 30 minutes) and then retraced our steps back to the campsite 6.2 miles west.
Videos—
Lava Canyon Rapids-Tanner Trail Overlook, March 14
We arrived at Tanner Beach at about 11:00 and replenished our water for the final hike out. We also cooked and ate our dinner so that we would not have to use water for that. There is no source of water between the Colorado and the Tanner Trailhead.
We marched out of Tanner beach around noon. Even though it was the last week of winter the heat began to affect us as we were walking on an exposed incline for about 3 miles to the start of the Holy Mother portion of the Tanner. We weren’t sure where we would camp for the night but wanted to make our next day as easy as possible. It turned out that we were able to get to the halfway point of the Tanner Trail-the Tanner Overlook, just above the Holy Mother.
Gravelboy podcast It’s Wednesday March 14. Soph and I left the Tanner Beach area at about 11:30. We’ve hiked one mile, taking a break right now, it’s all, of course, up hill. We plan to take it easy hiking to about 4:00. Then find a place to camp and then we’ll finish it off tomorrow. Yesterday was a great day out to the Little Colorado River. We hiked to the very end where the Beamer Cabin is. Very difficult trail. We had fear of getting caught in the dark coming back. But we left very early in the morning and we arrived at the Beamer Cabin at 11:30. Wonderful place. We had lunch there, left at twelve, and were back at camp at 5:15.
Gravelboy podcast OK. It’s later in the day. Um, Sophi and I are at our campsite about 5:00. It’s probably about 5:30. Tomorrow we hike out. We’re about 3.8 miles that we hiked out today. That leaves us just over 3 miles tomorrow. Not too bad. Um…
Tanner Trail Overlook to Lipan Point, March 15
Gravelboy podcast OK, it’s 6:49, Thursday morning. Soph and I are heading out.
We were able to hike out by about noon. Lipan point (the main parking area where the Tanner Trailhead is) is easy to see and helped us mark our progress out. We did not have problems with the packed snow and ice-going up is easier I guess.
