From time to time Sharon and I are faced with a philosophical dilemma. Say you’re interested in exploring a 30 mile chunk of the Grand Canyon. Does one a) carry just the basics of food and water and do it as a long day hike, or b) do you break the trip into less daunting distances by backpacking over 2 days? As you might have guessed, this is not a hypothetical exercise. For some time we’d talked about hiking the portion of the Tonto trail that lies between the Grandview and the south Kaibab trails…a distance of 29 miles from trailhead to trailhead. It would be possible to do it in one day, thus avoiding the hassle of backcountry permits and schlepping our camping gear. On the other hand, it would be a really long day. So…what to do?
Eventually we hit on a solution. We got the necessary backcountry permit to spend a night along the trail and do the hike over two days…but we decided to make this an ultra-lightweight experiment. We’ve both had been moving in that direction for some time, but we decided to see how light could we go and still be comfortable.
Since this was just going to be an overnight trip, our first big decision involved food. We opted to leave behind the stove and cooking gear. Our plan was to eat a large breakfast before hitting the trail and bring our normal trail food during the day. For supper we would dine on several pieces of Fratelli’s pizza – purchased the night before and frozen. We’ve done this a number of times before. It is not ultra-lightweight, but it is ultra-tasty and much appreciated after a long day on the trail. Breakfast on day two would be bagels slathered with high calorie goodness. Bars and sufficient trail food would get us back to the trailhead.
With food taken care of, we had to make some gear decisions. Normally we sleep under the stars when traveling in the Canyon. This time around, the chance for rain was high enough to warrant some protection – but not high enough to lead us to bag the trip. Being close to the Canyon, we have the luxury of being fair weather hikers. Solution? We brought along the rain fly from my 1980’s era REI tent and a simple plastic ground sheet. The fly works beautifully with two hiking poles. Total weight – about 1.5 lbs. With food and shelter settled, it was just a matter of taking just enough temperature appropriate clothing – but no more than necessary. We also tried very hard to follow the lightweight maxim that all gear (if possible) should serve multiple functions. By the time we hit the trailhead, we had weighed, pondered extensively discussed each piece of gear that ended up in our packs. We were quite pleased with the results. With a full load of food and water (3 liters each = 6.6 lbs), we each ended up carrying 18 lbs. Nowhere near the minimal weights that some fanatics are able to achieve, but it was hardly noticeable. We also felt quite confident that we would be comfortable whatever conditions we encountered.
With the exception of a minor off-trail detour (see picture above), the trip down the Grandview to Horseshoe Mesa went quickly. We then dropped off the west side down to the Cottonwood campsite. Given that April is prime Canyon camping time, we weren’t surprised to see quite few folks there. As soon as we continued on the Tonto trail, however, we saw only one other group until we arrived at the Kaibab trail. As always, exactly the camper/hiker density we were hoping for.
I’ve always believed that there is a direct correlation between the weight of one’s pack vs enjoyment. As pack weight increases enjoyment decreases exponentially. On the other end of the scale, we were both enjoying our light loads and were able to move quickly. We were able to top off with water at the back of Grapevine Canyon, and expected that would be enough until we reached camp at Lone Tree Canyon. Everything was going according to plan…or so we thought. If you look at the map above, you may notice a small, unnamed watershed in between Grapevine Canyon and Boulder Creek. Since the Tonto trail is so pronounced, we didn’t bother bringing a map. As we made our way around that unnamed watershed, we made the mistaken assumption that it was Boulder Creek and we marveled at what good time were making. Thus, when we (in reality) came to Boulder Creek, we made the mistaken assumption that it was Lone Tree Canyon. This was quite puzzling because all our research indicated that there was good camping and reliable water at Lone Tree…and we found neither. This also mattered because we were going to needed water.
We puzzled over this for a bit and eventually the realization hit…we were actually at Boulder Creek. Practically speaking, this really wasn’t a big deal. We had plenty of energy and daylight left to hike the additional miles to Lone Tree. Psychologically though, it was kind of crushing. We were excited about how good we felt, and we had mentally prepared ourselves to be done. Now we had to saddle up and hike several more miles. It didn’t help matters that some clouds had rolled in and a cold wind had built up. We briefly contemplated stopping short and camping at a spot overlooking the river. In the end, we pushed on and were rewarded with a lovely spot at Lone Tree.
Lone Tree was a fantastic place to camp. We had water. We had pizza. We were serenaded by love struck frogs. Even though it rained a bit, the wind died and our shelter performed flawlessly. We had covered twenty relatively painless miles, and were rewarded with yet another awe-inspiring evening in the Canyon.
Day two was much like day one, just warmer, lighter and of course…more uphill. Fortunately the pay off for a long day one was a much shorter hike on day two. As the day wore one we noticed that a large thunderstorm seemed to be following us. With our light packs, what could have been a wet, tedious hike passed rather quickly and we beat the rain to the rim. Thanks to the vehicle shuttle we had done the day before, we were back at our car in no time.
Not that we needed much selling, but Sharon and I both came pleased with our experiment and completely sold on the idea of going as light as possible. We had been able to cover a large portion of the Canyon with not much more weight than we would have carried on a long day hike…and we got to spend another wonderful evening below the rim. We also affirmed our belief that you don’t need to spend outrageous sums of money buying ultralightweight gear made of unicorn blood and baby seal tears to reduce weight. It was more a matter of knowing what conditions to expect, taking only the appropriate gear for those conditions, and being willing to leave behind unnecessary “what if” gear. If you have any specific gear questions, feel free to reach out. And as always, however you do it, we encourage you to get below the rim and Seize the Carp!
