Tag: Tanner Trail

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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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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.

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Tanner Trail Prep

It’s been some time since I’ve posted and that is due entirely to a severe computer crash, external hard drive crash, and general lack of access at home. I am updating this post from my wife’s HP. When I return from this Grand Canyon adventure (Tanner-Beamer Trail) I plan to buy a new MacBook and get back online as normal.

This Grand Canyon trip for Spring break 2012 will certainly be an exciting one and it will be a challenge, no doubt about it. Sophi and I will arrive in Phoenix about 2:00 PM and drive to the South Rim. We will stay at the Red Feather Lodge and will make preparations for an early start Sunday morning down the Tanner Trail. The plan is to hike down to the beach on the first day. The second day will be our shortest as we will poise ourselves to set up a second camp near Lava Canyon Rapids. According to our guidebook that is the last suitable campsite on the Beamer. The area near the Little Colorado, our ultimate destination, is restricted. The third day will be our longest as we will hike from Lava Canyon Rapids to the Little Colorado and then return to our camp. The fourth night we will find a suitable campsite on the Tanner Trail heading out. That will leave us with an easier hike out on the final day. We have an extra day assigned to give us a bit of wiggle room but I don’t think we will need it.

I hope to borrow Hedy’s camera. This should provide us with some stunning views of the canyon. It’s great that Sophi can join me for this hike as she is very good in the canyon.