Springtime trip to the Grand Canyon
As noted a lot here on apAdventures, many of our best adventures evolve from an idea that gets planted during a prior adventure. This is another one of those instances. This is also one of those instances where when the opportunity presents itself, we jump on it.
While cruising down the South Kaibab trail last October, we took note of this inviting little thread of a trail headed into a massive plateau of sage bush about two thirds of the way down to the river, off to our left. The little thread was a tiny segment of the massive Tonto Trail, a 95 mile path that traverses the canyon lengthwise between the Little Colorado River in the east and somewhere waaaay downstream in the west, Garnet Canyon according to my map. While the link up possibilities of the 95 mile long Tonto are enough to plant a lifetime of future adventure ideas, the one we had that day in October was both simple and achievable, as long as we stayed fit: start/finish on the South Rim, South Kaibab trail to Tonto West to the Bright Angel Trail, around 14 miles in total and maybe 3500 feet elevation descent/gain. Tonto being notorious for no shade and no water meant we would have to get creative on when to fit this in before summertime temps started to climb, otherwise wait until next fall (because the winter bouldering season is of course off the table as an option). Well, fresh off a 14 miler last weekend that went surprisingly well, and two nights in Mather Campground on the south rim that opened up on recreation.gov meant “time to jump boys!” Bonus: it’s Mother’s Day!
posted by ARR
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