|
Weekend Warriors Arizona Hiking
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
How do you know if you want to tackle Thunder river and Deer Creek?
... then this may be your hike! This hike is located North of the Grand Canyon. Take HWY 67 South from Jacobs Lake, AZ. Turn west on FR 422. Eventually, FR422 turns into FR425. Take FR 425 to FS292. Take FS292 to FS292A to the start of the trailhead. The Forest Roads are are in decent shape and usually do not need 4 wheel drive to take. A high clearance vehicle would be helpful in spots. Since the opening of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is not until mid May, depending on snows, HWY 67 may not be open until June. This road closes at the first heavy snowfall (usually November). Buy a good map before trying to find this trailhead. Be Aware of: Outrageous elevation changes, extreme temperature changes. Lack of H2O in spots. Scrambling. exposure. Poorly marked trails. Need a back country permit from Grand Canyon National Park. 30 yr old Recommendation: I have to be honest. This is a Death March. Tremendous elevation gains and losses, major exposures, some poorly marked trails, even some scrambling... everything a true adventurer needs. This hike is epic. Leave the kids at home. Don't even mention this hike to Grandma... it would probably give her a heart attack just listening to the description. Elevation change: A monster 5200 ft ! Distance: From Bill Hall trailhead to Upper Tapeats (Thunder River) Campsite, 8 miles From Upper Tapeats to Colorado River, 4 miles From Colorado River to Deer Creek, 3 miles From Deer Creek back to the top, 8 miles. Time: It took us four days (three nights camping) with the fourth day really just a few hours. Time of year: May or October. (We went during the last week of May) Solitude: This is the hike for those of us looking for some privacy. This area of the Grand Canyon is not frequented by many... only the die hard hikers. Expect to meet less than 15 people over the four days of your hiking. Backcountry permits from the National Park Service must be acquired prior to this hike. See www.nps.gov for details. You can reserve up to three months in advance. This hike describes a multi-day loop hike from the top of the North Rim, all the way down to the Colorado River, and back up a different route. For an excellent detailed description of this hike, please see Ron Adkinson's book on hiking the Grand Canyon in the Suggested Reading Section. The hike begins at the Bill Hall Trailhead. Look for the Cairns marking the steep decent from Monument point. We missed these Cairns because we couldn't believe a trail descended from them... but it does. There's a fun down-climb here that you should probably shed your pack for. The Bill Hall trail meets up with the Thunder River Trail. The hike continues along the Esplanade range. There is no water on the Esplanade and this is where you will most likely want to camp on your final day so STASH AT LEAST 1 GALLON of H2O per hiker! The hike descends again into Surprise Valley. From Surprise Valley, you meet up at the trail junction between Deer Creek Trail and the Thunder River Trail. Stay left and use the Thunder River Trail to descend into Tapeats creek. As you begin your descent into Tapeats creek, you will hear Thunder River. Be sure to fill up your water at Thunder River and spend some time in the cool canyon. We camped at the Upper Tapeats Campground for the first night. The next day we hiked down the Tapeats creek to the Colorado River. This hike gains and loses significant elevation, so it's much more strenuous than the 2.5 miles to the river suggests. It's very easy to miss the trail here as well. Fill up your water at the Colorado (treat the H2O) before continuing. At the Colorado, a trail skirts downstream of the river for a bit, then turns uphill and heads away from the Colorado river and towards Deer Creek Valley. There is no shade on this route, so try hiking it early in the day or late in the evening if the temperatures are high. The trail eventually winds into Deer Creek Valley. We camped here on the second night. The following day, we hiked up to Deer Springs (the spring that feeds Deer Creek) and filled up all the H2O we could. We then continued the killer climb up to our cached water on the Esplanade. There's not much shade in Surprise Valley and the Esplanade, so if you find your hiking either in the middle of the day, find some shade and wait it out until the sun dips down and temperatures drop. We eventually found our water cache and camped here the third night. The following day was a quick ascent to the summit, parked cars, showers at the North Rim, and one amazing memory. SPECIAL STUPID HIKER WARNING: When we hiked this, we made several mistakes:
As expert hikers, we should know better. Don't make the same mistakes we did.
|
||||||||||||||||
