Hermit to Bright Angel – January 2008
Day 1 – Hermit Trailhead to Hermit Creek:
The addition of ice & the subtraction of tamarisk.
The Old Man, Jack, Mantis and I are descending the Hermit Trail. I was here doing the Hermit-Boucher loop only three weeks ago and there is a lot more snow and ice this time. Treacherous, slippery conditions are frequent all the way to Santa Maria Spring. Lookout Point is becoming a lunch stop tradition. Below the Cathedral Stairs, Mantis points out a herd of mule deer down on the Tonto.
At the Tonto Trail junction I chat with a college guy who’s part of a seven person work crew. They’re on a week long tamarisk removal project. Cool way to spend part of winter break. I hope The Canyon wins the battle against that loathsome invasive species. We file into Hermit Creek right at sundown, and set up Camp 1 downstream from the work crew.
The old guys go to bed early while Mantis and I stay up with hot cocktails to share a pipe. Something goes down the wrong way and Mantis has a mini-barf.
Day 2 – Hermit Creek to Monument Creek & Granite Rapids.
A Hoodoo splits the group.
Mantis wakes up early and is the only one to day-hike down to Hermit Rapids. He returns as we’re packing up and then we head east on the Tonto Trail. Below the first minor saddle east of the Tonto-Hermit junction I point out four mule deer to the Old Man. Jack and I stop at the next saddle east to have lunch and dry out our things. It seems heavy morning frost may be a problem on this trip.
From here we trek south into Monument Canyon. The Old Man is waiting at the hoodoo that is this canyon’s namesake. He & Jack will stay upstream at the campsite next to Monument Creek. I will join Mantis, who’s already down at Granite Rapids.
There is plenty of water flowing in Monument Creek just below where the trail crosses the canyon. As I walk downstream though the water disappears, only to resurface again just south of the confluence with The River. I find Mantis camped on a sand dune above Granite Rapids. The rapids themselves are impressive, though not quite as big as Hermit one side canyon down River. There are two day-hikers leaving for their camp back upstream. After that we have the whole beach to ourselves.
I start setting up camp but there’s a problem. One of those day-hiking assholes took a shit in my site. Mantis is further to the west, so I move my Camp 2 above him. We have the whole afternoon to lounge and I somewhat regret not bringing my fishing gear. As a consolation, The River conditions for angling are as bad as they were three weeks ago. The current is still very swift and more winter storms are responsible for the murky water that looks too much like the hot cocoa I had with breakfast.
At the head of Granite Rapids I lounge with my blues harp for a spell. Mantis strolls up and points out a California condor overhead. Lately it’s been a rare but most welcome opportunity for just the two of us to share a camp, and cocktail hour extends later than usual into the night.
Day 3 – Granite Rapids & Monument Creek to Salt Creek:
Of peculiar Park personnel & plummeting plunges. Oh, & uranium.
I figure our departure upstream is early enough to surprise Jack and the Old Man, but they have already left the Monument Creek campsite when we arrive. Mantis and I meet up with them out on the Tonto just west of Cedar Spring. Again we set out everything to dry and have lunch.
A Park Service helicopter flies directly over us, drops down into the Inner Gorge, hovering about a hundred feet above Granite Rapids. Attached beneath the chopper is a line with some sort of apparatus that is being dipped into the water. Then it regains altitude, shifts locations every so often, and just hovers. This process is repeated and lasts for at least twenty minutes. A total nuisance to our Canyon solitude, I hope it was for worthwhile research.
The trek continues along the Tonto and south into Salt Creek, where we set up Camp 3. This campsite only allows one small group for a good reason, there’s barely enough room for us. Four dudes and four tents, we’re morons. My tent is on a slope right next to the dry creek bed.
Mantis and I explore the Salt Creek drainage downstream. At the Tonto crossing there’s no water, but it resurfaces near the base of the Tapeats. There are some tricky down-climbs I would not try without Mantis present. I am familiar with this type of side canyon and predict we will reach an impassable waterfall. We round one final bend where the canyon really narrows and the gorge beyond drops away out of sight. Mantis, with all of his climbing experience, walks up to the ledge casually and examines the view. I crawl on my stomach and look down upon what I can only describe to him as a “shit your pants plunge.” He estimates it as a 350 foot near vertical fall, abbreviated only by a couple small ledges jutting outward from the cliff face.
The water in Horn Creek, tomorrow’s camp, is potentially contaminated by an abandoned uranium mine on the South Rim. My plan has been to load up on enough clean water here to skip Horn Creek, and refill further east at Indian Garden. My plan has one major flaw. I have forgotten that the water in Salt Creek is also potentially contaminated. Unfortunately, I remember after we’ve been drinking filtered Salt Creek water the whole afternoon. So fuck it, we’ll drink dirty water for the next two days. I tell the guys about my snafu. Jack says he’d been thinking about telling us that we’re glowing green. Then he says he’s going down to the creek to filter more water at a place that has the highest grade uranium possible.
During the night critters run around in the creek bed below me and an owl keeps us company for hours.
Day 4 – Salt Creek to Horn Creek:
Triple moons & hearts. Oh, & more uranium.
I leave last again, and as custom we stop between side canyons up on the Tonto to dry out and have lunch. Old Man and Jack are kind of loafing, so Mantis leaves and I catch up with him because he stops for twenty minutes watching something. Finally I get close enough to see he’s admiring four mule deer very close to the trail, including one four point buck. As we round south into Horn Creek, the remnants of Orphan Mine come into view, perched audaciously atop the brink of the South Rim. It’s all that’s left to thank for the uranium and alpha radiation detected in sampling of this watershed.
We make Camp 4 on the east bank of Horn Creek and seasonal water is flowing. Exploration downstream today is sans Mantis. My travels are cut even shorter than yesterday by another impassable waterfall. This time it’s only about thirty feet and there’s probably a bypass, but I don’t feel like looking for it. Instead I venture upstream near the base of the Redwall for a harp jam. Something knocks a small rock slide loose in a minor side drainage to the southeast.
I get back to camp for cocktail hour and cigars with Mantis and the Old Man. Jack is returning from a walk out on the Tonto to stretch his muscles. When he’s close enough to see, we offer him a simultaneous triple moon, a glorious sight. Jack returns the favor. It is very cold in Camp 4 as we settle in for the 2008 Inaugural Canyon Hearts Tournament. In a stunning comeback the Old Man wins … as usual. He probably cheated somehow … as usual. Now we shall have to put up with his bragging rights for awhile.
Day 5 – Horn Creek to Bright Angel Trailhead:
Back to the High Life.
I’m not much of a morning person when it’s this cold so I wake up last. As I roll out of my frosty tent the Old Man is already starting the hike out of The Canyon. I see several mule deer along the Tonto near Indian Garden. When I reach the South Rim at Bright Angel Trailhead, Jack greets me with an ice cold bottle of Miller High Life.
