South Bass, Royal Arch Loop, Bass to Boucher Route
This was the biggest, most anticipated hike of my life.
Back Story
It began one year ago at the South Bass Trailhead with Ty Reidenbaugh, a hiker friend I had met the previous day. While waiting for our shuttle to take us back to the Grand Canyon Village we were looking over Ty’s topo map that showed the trails forming the Royal Arch Route. We noticed a 20 foot rappel was involved. Twenty feet did not appear to be much and the hike was very interesting with a spur to a natural arch and another spur to Elves chasm. The route reaches the western-most point (and beyond) of the Tonto Trail. Our shuttle arrived and the driver had shuttled in 3 hikers. They burst out of the Suburban and began prepping for their afternoon trek down to the Darwin Plateau. They were hiking the Royal Arch Route and would be out for seven days.
The Royal Arch continued to grow in my mind and within a week or so of returning to San Antonio I began to formulate a plan. Internet research provided some information. The rappel was a primary concern since I had never done anything involving rope. A couple of trail journals proved interesting but none provided photos of the rappel. Was a 20 foot rappel really necessary—surely there would be a way to work one down 20 feet? And wouldn’t there be ropes left there? Those questions were never answered.
Sometime in my planning the hike morphed into a two-for-one trip. Since I would already be there at the Bass Trail why not hike back out the Boucher Trail by taking the Bass to Boucher route? The Bass to Boucher route is a Tonto Trail hike between the Bass Trail and the Boucher Trail. It was another major hike but I figured I would already be down there and my last hike I had explored the Tonto Trail over to Ruby Canyon. So, in my thinking, I was already familiar with the first part of the Bass to Boucher route. It was a large chunk to bite off but that is basically what my hike became-two difficult hikes.
The trail permits came in two parts. The first part was 3-4-2007 to 3-8-2007 and the second 3-11-2007 to 3-14-2007. Actually, that would have been a pretty good plan except the more I thought about it I didn’t like paying the shuttle fees which would be over $300. So, while my permits were as described above the reality was that I would do a straight through hike from 3-4-2007 and exit at Hermit’s Rest on 3-11-2007. That would be 8 days and 7 nights, the longest time out I will have ever experienced. As an aside, I can look back on this decision-making process and realize I was over estimating my abilities.
Throughout the year I prepared for this hike. I emailed Ty several times to see if he would be able to join me. I never got a clear answer and had hopes up to the moment I met with the shuttle driver early in the morning of March 4, 2007 that Ty would magically show up. But, he didn’t. A work colleague, Doug Shudde, had lots of hiking experience from his college days as an Outward Bound instructor and I invited him to join me. But, he had family obligations. He was able to advise me regarding the 20 foot rappel. I had the equipment list from the National Park Service flyer
Royal Arch Loop—Plan on carrying a minimum of a 40 foot rappel rope, 20 feet of webbing for the anchor, additional webbing to tie a harness and a locking carabiner.
I spent my weekends in Government Canyon, a State Natural Area about 25 minutes from my home in San Antonio. The basic perimeter loop available March-September is about 11.5 miles of rugged trail. The rest of the year it extends to about 15.2 miles. It is unusual if I don’t hike Government Canyon at least once a week and often times twice. The rest of my conditioning is a Health Max exercise machine that I use 3 times a week in the early morning before heading out to work. This program seemed to keep me trail ready.
About 6 weeks before my scheduled departure, I purchased the rappel equipment at Good Sports Outfitters in San Antonio. Doug helped me with a basic rappelling workshop off the loading dock at our place of work. After work I headed out to Highway 281 and Encino Commons. A housing development is wedged between these two roads and at one time I had noticed that the development terminated on the south side with a cliff face—probably around 20-25 feet with a thick growth of trees. It appeared to be the perfect simulation for the 20 foot Grand Canyon rappel. After parking my car as close to the cliff face as I could I walked an access road along the cliff line and found a good spot to practice—about a 20 foot drop. I set about attaching the webbing like Doug had shown me and then slipped into the harness. But I forgot about hooking the carabiner to the harness and didn’t really have a good sense of how this would play out. Unfortunately, without being locked into the rope with an 8-brake I sailed down the cliff face. Grabbing the rope to slow me caused a severe rope burn on my left hand. I hit the ground on all fours, like a cat, and would probably have been OK but my head hit against a large flat rock. My insides tightened but I had not broken anything-quite lucky in fact. I gathered the rappel gear together and headed back to the car. When I saw my face in the rear view mirror I realized that I had hit my head a good one and so drove to the emergency room where I spent some long hours waiting and then being attended to by a doctor who chided me for rappelling alone. That was bad enough but the next morning I had to face my co-workers who knew I was out doing this rappel. I arrived about 20 minutes late and they had already begun to worry about me. Telling my colleagues that I had hit my head on a filing cabinet was disingenuous and I had to confess that I had really screwed up my first rappel big time. What I didn’t tell them was that my confidence had taken a blow. How was I going to do this Royal Arch if I couldn’t do this stupid rappel?
In the following days I felt my insides were stiffened and sore in places I did not know existed, although I recovered quickly. A better plan was needed and I had to listen to what experience I did have hiking and force myself to use some common sense. The next Saturday morning I set out for Enchanted Rock, a state park, as I figured there would be good places to rappel. Just before arriving at the park I found a turnoff that was near a 10 foot cliff face. On the other side of the face was a large sloping meadow with an oak tree. I practiced the technique Doug had shared with me by rappelling down a steep slope, not a cliff face. The oak tree served as my anchor point. It gave me confidence that I could now manage a straight drop. I went back to the 10 foot cliff face and did 3 rappels with success. On the way back to San Antonio I stopped by the 281 and Encino Commons site and did 3 rappels there, 20 foot drops with success. And that removed a huge monkey from my back.
More Prep
March 2, 2007, I arrived in Phoenix and picked up a Jeep Liberty rental. The shuttle was arranged for March 4 so that gave me March 3 free. I used the day for a warm up hike on Grandview Trail, a trail that I had been down several times before. I slipped down to Miner Springs and hiked out onto the Tonto plateau before returning. The hike was about 9 miles. That night, just before retiring, I cramped up in my groin area. That frightened me as I have never had a groin cramp before. I stretched it off, walked around and it never bothered me again. But it did give me a bit of a fright being so close to my first day on this highly anticipated hike. The excitement of being in the canyon caused me to walk too hard and too fast. I have to pace myself so I don’t walk myself out. Apply common sense. Don’t underestimate the trail.
Grandview Trail Photos (March 3, 2007)
The Hike
Day 1, March 4, 2007
I met the shuttle driver at Hermits Rest where I parked my Jeep. It was a wicked two hour drive to the South Bass Trailhead. I began day 1, not knowing that this day would be my most dangerous hiking experience. I began down the South Bass Trail to the Darwin Plateau where a large cairn marked the beginning of the Royal Arch Route-marked as a pack trail on my GPS. From there I walked a contour to below Montezuma Point. All the time I am checking my GPS as there are no signs marking the way. At some point, below Montezuma Point, a dry tributary to the Royal Arch Creek cuts the pack trail. The crossing is marked heavily with cairns and I proceeded down the tributary and within a mile or so reached what appeared to me to be an impassible pouroff. That’s how it is described in the National Park flyer but the reality was that this spot was not the impassible pouroff, I just couldn’t find a way down the trail that wasn’t going to require me to scale a cliff face. It was quite disconcerting as I hunted both sides of the trail for a passage downward. No cairns-and that surprised me.
According to the flyer information the “obstacle can be circumvented on either side but it’s safer on the right.” It was obvious to me that going to the left was impossible so I headed off to the right based on this flyer information. I walked a contour trying to get lower when I could, but the further I walked the deeper the canyon was getting. I was not finding a way down and it was starting to get dark. I decided to head straight down and take my chances and I did pretty well until I came to a spot that required me to jump to a flat rock. The rock was about 20 feet rising from a flat rock tier but seemed to have plenty of surface area although it was sloping a bit. The contour was about 3 feet from the landing area and about 3 feet above it. It doesn’t seem like much of a jump but to be honest it was petrifying. If I somehow missed the landing area or bounced off of it I would drop another 15 to 18 feet to the rocky tier. I gingerly lowered my gear down using some webbing and then flung my poles over. One of them rolled over the side and I could hear a bonking noise as it hit the surface below.
It took a bit of nerve for me to jump across but I finally did. I did not land and stick as expected but bounced over on my back and began to slide down the slope face to the edge. I pressed my fingers into the rock and willed myself to stop and I did. As I laid there looking up to a brilliant blue sky I recall feeling the warm sun fall upon me and the sense of exhilaration that I survived. I laid there, thanked God for not allowing me to go over the edge, and then collected my gear and made my way down the rock face. It was an easy scramble to the tributary and I was back on route. I marked this place on my GPS. It is a shrine for me, this big rock. I was grateful that I was not hurt and that my wonderful hike was going to continue. Camp one was at the tributary, just a short ways from the Jump rock. Here is a live report taken shortly after the jump. At this time I am still under the impression that I have circumvented the impassable pour off. It wasn’t until early morning of the following day that I realized that wasn’t the case and I was making trail decisions based on erroneous information. Lesson learned-read the map with more attention. My GPS would have told me I was still a mile from the impassable pour off.
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Day 2, March 5, 2007
If day one was a day of danger, day 2 was a day of confusion followed by success.
In the morning I quickly found out that I had not crossed the impassable pour-off. I had just now arrived at it. So all my work yesterday, looking for a left trail or a right trail was in vain. Now that I was confronted with the impassable pour-off I could identify the two routes, each marked with cairns. I took the right route as that was determined to be the safest. Once over this hurdle I continued down the Royal Arch creek and was overtaken by another hiker, a Dave Jordan from Salt Lake City. We joined forces for the day as he wanted to join up with somebody for the rappel.
We arrived at the natural arch in the early afternoon. After a few photos we retraced our steps 1/4 mile and exited the Royal Arch Creek and followed a Tonto-like plateau to the rappel area. After a year of wondering what this site would be like I could now determine the facts- there is no other way down to the Colorado-you must take the rappel. The path leading to the rappel shelf becomes quite steep and is bordered with large volcanic rocks. Dave was well ahead of me by this time and I could see him working with the ropes that others had left behind. On the downslope leading to the rappel area I stumbled and braced myself against a rock. One of my Nalgene bottles went shooting from my pack webbing. After several seconds we could hear it splatter down below. That’s how steep it was. And now I was down a water bottle. How could I continue the hike to Boucher without adequate water?
The rappel went quickly. It was decided I go first and Dave followed.
It was a relief to have the rappel behind me. After anticipating it for a year and then practicing and suffering for it, it is now a known quantity. And it is no big deal. The Royal Arch Route is a big deal but not the rappel. Now I have the facts and know what to expect regarding approach, available ropes, difficulty of descent. The approach is quite steep to a small shelf. Several ropes were in place. We attached ours to an existing carabiner but if no ropes were there, webbing could be threaded through a hole in the canyon wall. The descent was 20 feet straight down, but there are possible footholds and protruding rocks as well but they certainly weren’t needed.
The idea was to arrive at Toltec Beach on the Colorado. Dave made it there but I pulled up short as it was quite steep and getting very dark. Dave walks a lot faster than I do.
I set up my second camp and cached a few items nearby. That would be the harness and other equipment used for the rappel as well as my altitude watch (waste of money) and a few other items. They were stashed in a large volcanic rock, just off the trail a bit from where my second camp was. I marked the spot on my GPS so that I might retrieve them someday.
Here are a few in-the-field reports from Day 2—
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Day 3, March 6, 2007
Dave and I parted ways this morning. And he gave me a wonderful gift—two twenty ounce water bottles! My hike was on-all the way to Boucher Trail and Hermit’s Rest.
I worked my way the one and 1/2 miles to Elves Chasm. Actually it is to the Royal Arch Creek where it empties into the Colorado. From there you work your way up the creek to Elves chasm. It’s not far but I never made it. I encountered another jump point and just did not want to go through with that again. I took a long distance shot of the waterfall of the chasm and retraced my steps back to Toltec Beach. By the way, this 1 1/2 mile hike is a tough one. Much of it is over basaltic rock with sharp edges. I used my gloves to protect my hands but the rocks were tough on my boots and clothing.
I left my backpack and supplies on a rock that I thought was well above the Colorado River. The river had risen during my Elves Chasm run. My equipment was sitting perilously close to it. That would have been a bit of a problem if my stuff had gotten swept away by the Colorado.
How many more rookie mistakes will I make before I become a smarter hiker?
I had lunch at the beach and then set out for Garnett Canyon. On entering Garnett Canyon there was a large pot hole filled with beautiful water. Unfortunately it was brackish. To conserve water I thought it would be a neat trick to use this water for cooking, which I did. After a few bites of beef teriyaki I gave it up. No appetite and the food was not editable when cooked in that type of water. But I didn’t really care that much as I had found a great campsite above Garnet and was looking forward to day 4. My camp was on a ledge that I happened across, just about where the Tonto Trail begins. I marked it on my GPS. This was a comfortable spot and the night was beautiful—no need to set up a tent.
Here are a few in-the-field reports from Day 3—
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Day 4, March 7, 2007
This fourth day marked the beginning of rapids on the Colorado. These rapids, along with the land forms and my GPS and topo map kept me aware of where I was.
First were the Walthenberg Rapids and later in the day I came across the Hakatai Rapids.
This stretch of the trail afforded no water. I had hopes that Copper Canyon would have some flowing water but I didn’t find any. My intention was to reach the Bass Beach where I had camped last year. I had forgotten about some large water holes 0.6 miles below the cairn marking the Bass and Tonto trail junctions but I did have them marked on my GPS. That was a welcome site as I had hiked quite some distance that day. By camping here I saved walking at least 1 more mile to the beach, plus a steep and treacherous climb down to the beach itself.
Here are a few “in the field” reports—
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Day 5, March 8, 2007
In the early morning of day 5 I crossed the cairn marking the junction of the Bass Trail and the Tonto Trail. That meant the Royal Arch Route part was complete and I was now beginning the Bass to Boucher Trail. The normal Royal Arch trek would exit out the Bass Canyon.
My goal was to reach Ruby Canyon. Just before noon I hit the Serpentine Canyon where there was a nice flow of water (tiny stream). By 4:30 I was at Ruby where I set up camp near a pot hole of water. Today’s hike was about 9.2 miles.
The Bass to Boucher is a Tonto plateau hike. Much of the time is spent entering a huge canyon, crossing over, and then exiting. The trail is difficult to follow at times. Some of it is marked by cairns but often times it just disappears.
Here are my reports for the day—
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Day 6, March 9, 2007
This day was a rugged 9+ mile hike. Exiting Ruby Canyon was quite a challenge as I kept losing the trail and would find myself in a sea of rolling hills. But I eventually worked my way over to Turquoise Canyon where I was able to replenish my water and pre-cook my meal.
I camped at Sapphire and found more water. The day was a tough slog.
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Day 7, March 10, 2007
Today was another day of walking into and out of canyons surrounded by spectacular scenery and blue skies. But I was getting tired. The hike was wearing on me. I made camp off the T0nto Trail where the Boucher Creek was flowing. In any event I did hike 12 miles this day.
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Day 8, March 11, 2007
Today, if all goes well, I will exit the canyon. I started by walking about a quarter of a mile up the wrong canyon (not a great start). When I was backtracking I heard a dog barking. I called to it but never did see it. I believe it may have been lost from a rafting party just down the trail a ways at the Boucher Rapids. I was sorry that the dog did not approach me as I had aspirations of taking it with me, out of the canyon, and miraculously reuniting the creature with its owner.
Within another quarter of a mile I happened across a camper. I don’t recall his name but we chatted a bit. He was very curious about the Royal Arch, had never heard of it, and more importantly what water lay west of us. I mentioned the dog to him, that he might come across it.
The Boucher Trail is now lying before me. I have a full day’s hike ahead of me and I did get an early start (7:00 am) but already lost time by heading out the wrong trail and then chatting for 20 minutes or so with a full pack on my back. Not smart hiking at all. But, I am quite worn down by now and the going is to be the roughest of the 8 days—a sobering thought.
On the upside, the scenery is spectacular and varied. I particularly like the view of the Whites Butte.
About 1/3 of the way up I took a break and inadvertently left my GPS. I ascended about a quarter of a mile before I realized it and had to retrace my steps. That hurt.
There is one spot of the Boucher that is particularly rugged. It is described as hand-to-toe climbing, whatever that is. However, it is not a very long stretch and posed no significant problems. It was just that the hike out was a relentless climb, quite steep in many places.
I reached the Boucher trailhead at 4:15. It was still a bit of a hike out but the Boucher trailhead was a familiar landmark and a welcome one. Here is a photo of a tired old man who is still about 3 hours inside the canyon—
I was startled when I got back to San Antonio and saw this photo. But, what is happening in this photo is that I placed the camera on timer and balanced it on the Boucher Trail marker. I then ran and sat by the tree but it was sloping and I was sliding a bit while trying to pose for the photo. And I was very tired and haggard with another 3 hours of hiking before me. Smile.
I arrived topside at about 7:00. That made for a 12 hour day. I found my Jeep rental at Hermit’s rest and drove into Tusayan. Thankfully there was a room available at the Seven Mile Lodge.
I still had about 4 days left in Tusayan but I was completely hiked out. The thought of taking another meander into the canyon was not appealing. I changed to an earlier flight and spent the remaining time in San Antonio creating a DVD for this trek that I shared with Grandma.
I did not hike for the rest of March and all of April. It just didn’t call me.
This was a tremendous experience for me. Perhaps the most difficult challenge I have ever undertaken in my life. I am thankful that I came out in one piece and of sound mind. Reading this journal, I realize the many mistakes I made and poor judgment used. Hopefully I will learn from these experiences.
Here are some “in-the-field” reports—
