The Missing Links - Finishing the Tonto Trail

I finished the bulk of the Tonto trail in Oct 2010.  I've hiked from the eastern start of the Tonto at Hance Rapids to the Western end at Copper Canyon.  However I missed the two little segments:  the section between the tipoff on the Kiabab trail to Indian Gardens and the section between the Hermits trail/Tonto junction and the Boucher trail at Boucher Creek.  Earlier I rationalized that I had hiked the equivalent of the Tonto trail because, as portions of other hikes, I have:

1. hiked from the tipoff  to Phantom Ranch and then back up to Indian Gardens
2. hiked from Boucher Creek up the Boucher Trail to Hermits Rest and I've hiked from Monument to Hermit's Rest on the Hermit Trail. 

However, after sitting in a cubicle for 9 hours a day, the appeal of the Grand Canyon got to me again.  My newest son-in-law (Jake) and I were given the opportunity to hike in late February and so I applied for permits and got them 10 days before our planned hike.

My hiking companion for this hike has been in the family for 3 months.  He married my daughter in December and now gets to spend 6 days in near solitary confinement with the 'dad'.  Will he survive?  Will I survive?  About 18 months ago, a friend loaned me his copy of "Death in the Canyon." It was an excellent and book and documented a number of the accidents that have happened in the canyon.  Would my new son-in-law and I hit it off, or ...

Getting there:

Our trip started off at the usual spot.  My house.  We loaded our stuff, and then added my wife's suitcase and my daughter's suitcase in the back of my extended cab S-10 pickup.  We then put the youngster's in the jumpseats while Susie and I took the front seats.  It was close quarter's to the SLC airport where we dropped them off.  The girls are flying to Arkansas to visit my oldest daughter which is why I have the opportunity to spend time with Jake.

Our drive down was pretty uneventful except for snowstorms in southern Utah and again once we got inside the Park.  We arrived about midnight and rather than set up camp in the middle of a storm, we opted to do the hotel thing.  Warm beds, hot showers, out of the snow.  Works for me.

Day 1:  Hermit's Rest Trailhead to Hermit Creek Campground

We got up this morning and it was still snowing like crazy.  We had our packs in the room so we went through everything one more time and then repacked.  I brought two packs, my external "Trip 3" pack that I took on my very first trip down the Grand Canyon and I also had my internal frame.  The internal frame pack weighs about 8 pounds while the trusty old trip 3 only weighed 2 pounds.  However, as I was repacking the trip 3, I broke two of the lash points, so I went back to the trusty old internal frame.  I was hoping to give up over 5 pounds of tare weight.  Not on this trip!

Jake at Santa Maria Spring

We went to my favorite rim restaurant and had breakfast and did some shopping.  By the time we were done, the snow and let up and so we headed out to Hermit's Rest.  The road hadn't been plowed yet and the snow was so deep in some places that we had to use the four wheel drive.  We made it the the trailhead and there was only two cars there.  Both were covered in snow.  After changing boots and getting our snow gear on, we headed out.  It was 12 noon.

The snow had stopped by the time we got on the trail, but the wind was still blowing.  As we pulled into the trailhead, one car pulled out.  We saw his tracks on the trail when we started out, but they were quickly completely gone except for an occasional solitary footprint.  Once we dropped a few hundred feet, we were out of the wind and were starting to heat up.   I unzipped the outer layer and took of an inner layer to cool off.  I took off more at Santa Maria Springs.  The trail was nearly snow free starting just below the springs and we started making pretty good time.  We took periodic breaks and made it to Hermit's Creek about 6:00 p.m.  We saw 4 other hikers at the Hermit/Tonto junction, but they were not at the campground when we got there.  I figured that they went down to Hermit Rapids.

Day 2:  Hermit's Creek to Boucher and Return

My objective for the day was to day hike from Hermit's to Boucher Creek to finish the first of my two missing 5 mile segments of the Tonto.  We got a pretty early start and made it to Boucher well before noon.  We relaxed for awhile, took some pictures, and then headed back.  It was an easy 10 miles because we had day packs with some emergency gear, my water filter, and lunch.

Boucher Trail Marker

Jake at Boucher Creek

Day 3: Hermit's Creek to Monument

Our campsite at Monument Creek

Today we head back toward Indian Gardens (IG).  Our campsite tonight is Monument.  Since Monument is only 3 miles away, we left Hermit's late and still arrived before noon.  After setting up camp, I hiked down to the river, took some photos and explored a bit.  I was hoping to see a raft or two come through, but no luck today.  I then hiked back to Monument and arrived right at the agreed upon time.  The trip to Granite rapids is an easy and enjoyable hike.

The Monument

Day 4:  Monument Creek to Indian Garden
Today we hiked from Monument to Indian Garden (IG).  It's the longest hike of the trip, but it is mostly flat with just the normal ups and downs of the Tonto Trail.

Break time at XXX Creek

We made several stops along the way and when I got to the Plateau Point trailhead, I dropped my back and told Jake that I would meet him at Indian Gardens. I had always wanted to hike to Plateau Point, and this was my opportunity.  It was a mostly flat hike and there were several people there and so I had one of them take my picture.

Marker at Plateau Point Trail Junction

At Plateau Point

When I got to IG, I met up with Jake.  He had already asked the ranger if we could change our plans a bit.  We decided to spend two nights at Indian Gardens rather than one night here and another night at Bright Angel Campground.  Jake's knee is bothering him and we both that it might be best to take it easy so we can get out of here without doing additional damage to him.  So we modify our plans.  I will now hike solo from IG to the tipoff.  Because it has been a few years since I've hike up the Bright Angel trail, I also decided to continue as planned and hike down to the river, cross the black bridge to Phantom Ranch and the cross the silver bridge and head up the Bright Angel to IG.

Day 5:  Day Hike from Indian Gardens to the Tipoff and Phantom Ranch
I started my hike at about 9:00 a.m. and took a picture at the Tonto trail - Bright Angel trail junction.  I then started East and made several stops along the way including a stop at Pipe Creek.  Pipe Creek is a nice little Oasis in an otherwise barren area.  There is a nice camp site and the Creek appears to start near the trail crossing.  Unfortunately my battery died while at Pipe Creek.  Fortunately I had a spare, but when I pulled it out to swap, I found out that I had grabbed my cell phone battery, not my camera battery.  That means I carried an extra .5 ounces for miles.  And I was trying to reduce my pack weight on this trip.

The Oasis at Pipe Creek

Once I got to the tipoff, I waited for a hiker to come by and asked it he would mind putting my chip in his camera and then taking a picture of me by the Tonto West sign.  He agreed and so I at least have a picture of me at the conclusion of my epic journey on the Tonto Trail. Ok, I'm being a bit melodramatic, but I was happy to get the picture.

At the Tipoff.  I've now finished the Tonto Trail

Then, as planned, I continued my hike down the Kiabab and across the river to Phantom Ranch where I stopped, had lunch, refilled my water and used the first real facilities in 5 days.  (running water, flushing comodes, and electric hand dryers were very nice).  I then started back down stream on the north side of the river to the silver bridge and back up to IG.

The last time I had been from on the Bright Angel trail from Phantom Ranch to IG was in December, 1990 as part of my Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim trip with my boys and Mr. Dave.  I had forgotten what a gorgeous hike it was.  I don't remember a nice restroom facility at the place where the trail turns south to head up towards IG, nor do I remember crossing the creek several times.  Perhaps I had been to focused on just getting out of the canyon on those earlier trips.

I had a enjoyable, quiet hike back to IG and arrived there at 3 p.m.  It was nice to get my boots off and put my down slippers back on.  I bought them many years ago, but decided to take them on this hike just so I could have some warm, lightweight, comfortable things on my feet as I'm putzing around the camp.

Day 6: Indian Garden to Bright Angel Lodge Trailhead 
Jake and I were on the trail out of the canyon at precisely 8:00 a.m.  We made a couple of brief stops along the way, and a few additional stops just to catch our breath.  I picked out the location where we had the mule incident back in 1991.  I thought it was closer to the 1.5 mile rest house, but it was actually much further up the trail.  I arrived at the trailhead at 11:00, 3 hours to get from IG to the top.  The distance was 4.5 miles and 3080 feet vertical.  I felt that I made pretty good time.  Jake was just a couple of minutes behind me.

After he got to the top, we walked down to the transfer point, got on the next bus and made the 30 minute trip back to Hermit's Rest.  All of the snow on the road and in the parking lot was gone and the temps were very comfortable.  What a difference a few days make.

After getting to the truck, we weighed our packs.  Mine weighed 52 pounds. What?  I went down with the same weight as I came up with.  Not a chance!  Then I started thinking about it.  When I weighed my back on day 1, I was wearing all of my winter gear.  Today, it was all in my pack.  And, though I ate nearly all of my food, I went down with just a quart of water because I knew there was water a Santa Maria springs if I needed it.  However, in preparation for the climb out, I topped off my 3 liter camelback because in the past I have really sucked down the water.  However, due to the cool temps and the short distance, I didn't drink nearly as much of my water.  So I ended up carrying out a lot more water than I should have.

Going Home:
We stopped at the Bright Angel restaurant again for breakfast, stopped at the gift shop for some gifts and souvenirs and then headed home.  We were on the road by noon and arrived home before midnight.  It was an excellent trip and the weather home cooperated quite nicely and we were able to make much better time.