Horseshoe Mesa Loop – December 2009 – Day 2
Cottonwood Creek to Hance Creek:
A big herd of bighorns.I’m up at the faintest first light around 6:30, and before Jack which is rare, then down to the creek to filter some water for the day’s hike. Back in camp Jack says he saw a skunk in the middle of the night during nature’s call.
As we begin our loop below Horseshoe Mesa along the Tonto Trail I am excited about the trail ahead. These five miles to Hance Creek are new territory for me and my last untraveled stretch below the South Rim between Boucher Creek and Palisades Creek. As we ascend through the Tapeats, Jack points out a nicer campsite downstream of the Tonto Trail junction.
It’s good to be back on the Tonto, and contouring around the west arm of Horseshoe Mesa is a breeze. We take a short break in the main drainage beneath the two arms of the mesa and I spot two mule deer on a slope to the west of us.
Continuing east we reach the crest of a low saddle near the Tonto-level foot of Hance Creek Canyon. I quickly stop and point out another herd of mule deer to Jack, but within seconds a closer inspection reveals it is a large herd of desert bighorns. Counting out eight bighorns, it is the largest herd I have seen in The Canyon. We admire them for some time before they finally spook off over a ridge in the distance.
We decide to stop for lunch here at a nearby rock outcropping. There are many bighorn tracks and sign around, indicating this place is probably frequented by the herd we just witnessed. Some of our gear is frost dampened from this morning so we lay things out to dry.
After lunch the trek continues as we swing southward along the Tonto into Hance Creek Canyon. Near the halfway point of this side canyon I spot the shortcut down into the bottom through a break in the Tapeats that I have heard about. A brief scout by Jack reveals there are some spotty cairns and faint game trails, so this route definitely goes, good to know for future exploration reference.
Eventually we make our way down to Hance Creek and find we have camp to ourselves again, so we set up downstream below a large cottonwood, still keeping in line with the necessary snoring buffer zone. There’s still time for a day-hike so we head upstream. The creek quickly vanishes into subsurface flow and in less than an hour we are at the major east/west fork of Hance Creek.
There is a large Redwall cave or cavern perhaps a half mile away in the east fork, and the west fork looks appealing for further exploration, but we are running out of daylight to return so we head back to camp.
