This weekend a group of us went hiking down the Bright Angel trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
We made it to Indian Gardens, then followed Garden Creek down through
the Tapeats Sandstone. Soon, we stopped at trailside to change into
wetsuits. We got some odd looks from passing rim-to-river hikers.
Garden Creek cuts a gorgeous slot canyon through the Vishnu Schist.
Despite its proximity to one of the most popular trails in the world,
the canyon remained largely unheralded until a few years ago, when the
book "Grand Canyoneering" was published.
Following the beta in the
book, we headed into the canyon, soon arriving to descend a massive
400-foot multi-stage waterfall rappel.
There are multiple rappels in the canyon, each of them down a
spectacular waterfall. The pink granite twists and turns, and each drop brings a new grotto and water-carved rock. Its a spectacular, first-class canyon. Kind of miraculous when you think about how many
thousands of hikers trot past the canyon with no idea of what lies
within. You can see part of the flow from Plateau point, but to really
see the canyon, you have to rig up and descend into its depths.
This is pay-to-play territory. Beside the technical requirements to
descend the canyon, you've got haul all those pounds of wetsuits and wet
rope up and down 5000 feet of elevation change. We camped at Indian
Gardens, meaning we needed to haul overnight gear as well. Despite the
difficulty, I'd do this trip again in a heartbeat. This was adventure
on a grand scale.
I'm in the middle of gearing up for another Grand Canyon technical canyoneering trip this weekend, but thought I'd take a few minutes to post up another older trip. Tonto Creek is a major drainage flowing down from the Mollogon Rim near Payson. It flows into a beautiful granite slot canyon in the Hellsgate Wilderness. Most backpackers who visit this wilderness simply hike in along the Hellsgate trail to stay at the confluence of Haigler and Tonto Creeks. However, with a bit of work, its possible to leave the backpackers behind and follow Tonto Creek into the heart of the wilderness- not on a trail, but directly down the streambed.
This is semi-technical canyoneering. Unlike a trail, where you can cruise for miles sometimes mindlessly, here you are constantly engaged, trying to figure out which rocks are most stable, where the footing is wet, where the handholds are, and whether to bushwhack and climb along the side of the creek, or wade and swim right down the middle. This is grueling work, but its also my favorite type of hike. The fun factor is way higher than a typical on-trail hike. Its basically the adult equivalent of visiting a waterpark like Sunsplash or Big Surf. But with no crowds, and a spectacular wilderness setting instead :)
There are multiple options for trips in this area. You can head down Tonto Creek from Bear Flat to Hellsgate (which we did on this trip), or you can follow Haigler down to Hellsgate as well. Its also possible to continue along the merged Tonto Creek downstream from Hellsgate. This is a minimum 3-4 day trip of constant canyon scenery. I did that hike years ago (2004/5 time frame), and in 2011 I did the Tonto - Hellsgate section as a solo overnight. This time around, I posted the trip on meetup. One person showed, which was ideal. Campsites in the canyon are small, and a group of two moves fast.
In the last year, I've moved into technical canyoneering. But this type of trip in some ways is more appealing. You get the same scenery, with less risk, allowing you to focus more on the wilderness setting without the distraction of all the tech details of anchors, rigging, rappeling, and other stuff.
More importantly, I've sometimes been stymied with how brief many of the most popular technical canyoneering trips are. I've done some incredibly scenic canyons like Salome Jug and been frustrated with how fast the trip flies by. Its like a little blip of awesomeness, then back to reality. We blasted through Sundance Canyon in less than 3 hours. For me, more time is needed in a wilderness setting to really reset. 3 hours, even in an incredibly beautiful place, is too short a window of time to shed your "civilized" thinking patterns and move into a more natural way of operating. So the prospect of an overnight or longer canyon is incredibly appealing, providing the opportunity to really immerse yourself in the setting.
This is probably also the reason canyoneering in the Grand Canyon has got its hooks in me. I relish the opportunity to travel through these kinds of settings for days at a time. So for me, Tonto Creek is one of the finest hikes in the state. Its just mile after mile of incredible beauty. Any of the spots along the creek would be worthy of an all-day hike, just to reach that one spot, as so many do with the hellsgate trail. To get to travel through it hour after hour, is a privilege.
