Tag: Escalante Route

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Escalante Route Complete

Vivian and I successfully completed the Escalante Route. As planned we began hiking down the Tanner Trail around 10:00 am on March 8, 2015 and completed the route March 12 about 5:30 p m. Here is a schema of our route—

Escalante Route, Grand Canyon
March 8 to March 12, 2015. Escalante Route: Tanner Trail – New Hance Trail. Red dots represent campsites.

I am currently creating the page for the trip report. In the report I will describe some of the problems we encountered with staying on the route (if you notice in the above schema that we backtracked near Seventyfive Mile Creek canyon, probably a mile or so due to bad information in the National Park Service informational sheet re the Escalante Route. This caused us to be a bit behind schedule on leaving the canyon as we had hoped to be out by midday.

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Escalante Route

Two years ago I intended to do the Escalante Route with Vivian but could not get permits. Imagine my relief when I received permits for this year’s spring break trip. I got my first choice and that enabled me to proceed with concrete planning for the trip. Here is a summary—

Sunday, March 8, 2015, Vivian and I will hike about 1/2 way down the Tanner Trail and set up camp. When I did the Tanner Trail with Sophia in March, 2012, we hiked to Tanner Beach the first day. That was a bit rough on my knees as the Tanner Trail has two very steep sections. By camping about 1/2 way down we will have completed 1 of the steep sections and leave the second for the next day.

Monday, March 9, 2015. The plan is to get to a campsite along the Colorado, somewhere between Tanner Beach and Hance Rapids.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015. The plan is to get near Hance Rapids

Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Hike about 1/2 way out of the canyon on the New Hance trail. We hope to camp near water that we happened across when Vivian and I hiked down the New Hance during March, 2011.

Thursday, March 12 we will hike out and should reach the rim before noon.

We’ll be HQ’ing at the Red Feather Lodge in Tusayan on March 7 and March 12 and return to San Antonio on the 13th.

Here is a link to some information about the Escalante Route http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalante_Route

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Four more hikes

I realized, in anticipation of the upcoming hike on the AT, that I have a few key hikes left to complete two major hiking milestones in my life. One major milestone  is the completion of the Appalachian Trail and another that I have not been consciously working toward, would be the completion of all hikes on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Here’s how I hope it plays out—

Hike 1: June-July, 2014, 11th section of the AT. I am currently at the summit of Mount Washington and should set off June 26, 2014. I will hike as far into Maine as I can manage, understanding that the situation is much more difficult than in previous sections. The hiking last year was hard fought and I expect more of the same the final two years.

Hike 2: March 2015. I plan to do the Escalante Route with Vivian. I had hoped to do this in 2012 but was not able to get the permits. This will be a challenging hike and I’ve asked Vivian to join me for this as it involves some route finding and common sense. This is not a hike I would want to do alone.

Hike 3: July, 2015. This should be the final section of the AT to Katahdyn. I’m hoping the milage will be low based on the 11th section endeavor. Certainly this could be an emotional moment in my life.

Hike 4: March 2016. The final gap for the south rim trails is the Tonto Trail from Horseshoe Mesa to the South Kaibab. This is a contour run along the Tanto plateau with a stiff hike out the South Kaibab. The completion of this hike will fill all blanks on my South Rim map. And, most of the trails I have hiked multiple times, i.e. The Royal Arch Loop 3 times, Bright Angel and South Kaibab 5 times, Hermit Trail 3 times, Grandview Trail 6 times, South Bass Trail 2 times.

Right now my mental and physical preparation is for the Whites and Maine. I am really looking forward to this one. Hedy and I plan to fly into Portland, Maine, rent a car, and headquarter somewhere near the border where the AT crosses, probably on the Maine side.

I continue to hike in Government canyon on weekends.

 

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Reflections on the Tanner

Well, it’s been 6 weeks since Sophi and I did the Tanner and I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on that adventure. Hiking these past weekends in Government Canyon has given me a chance to think about this last hike and future planned hikes.

Grand Canyon 2012 Tanner
Tanner Trailhead at Tanner Beach.

I realize that I have been extremely fortunate in my hiking this past few years. This year, partnering with Sophi, maximized our chances for success. Neither of us really realized what a difficult 5 days we were getting into and without a good partner we would not have completed the hike, which would have been devastating for me. We encountered two groups on the hike where one of the partners wasn’t up for the long haul and they either quit or changed their destination plans.

Sophi is very tough and she is experienced. She knows what she is in for when she goes with me and is the perfect hiking companion. It is great to hike with your daughter. Sophi has done the Royal Arch Route with me and now the Tanner-Beamer. Those are probably the two toughest trails on the South Rim. Sophi is the first person I hiked with into the Grand Canyon when we hiked down the Bright Angel to Phantom Ranch-just exploring the possibilities of the canyon.

I have been fortunate that Vivian will partner with me as well. She is equally tough and experienced. Vivian has done the Cheyava Falls hike and the New Hance Trail-Grandview Trail loop. Vivian is going to do the Escalante Route with me next March. That will be a tough test and I jumped at the chance to have Vivi join me for that upcoming adventure. This will probably be my last Grand Canyon hike at this level of difficulty.

So, I have been blessed with having some tough daughters who are willing to explore the canyon. Nataly is in line for Spring break 2014 and I have tentatively planned a Boucher-Hermit Trail loop with explorations to the Boucher Rapids, Hermit Rapids and Granite Rapids. It is possible that Josh will be joining us for that hike.

And I can’t ever forget Vivian’s husband Jesse hiking with me when we did the Royal Arch Route. This guy was a trailblazer, and our last 2 tenths of a mile out he was breaking a path for us through crusted snow up to his thighs. I will never forget that.

So, the Tanner has made me reflect on the Grand Canyon hiking and my luck with hiking partners. I am already looking forward to the Escalante Route with Vivian.