Walking from winter to summer in six hours: Hiking the Grand Canyon in Spring

This spring break we walked from winter to summer in just less than six hours. Breakfast was in the crunch of icy snow. Supper was prepared in the give of soft sand, an 80 degree sun baking the winter freeze from my old bones.

The quickest way to summer is not to drive south but to walk down. Down into the welcoming heart of the Grand Canyon.

We’ve done it for ten springs now, a family tradition, taking different trails from the south rim down to the river. In one sense it’s a trip through deep time, walking down this layer cake of rock through ever older sediments. But in another sense it’s a fast trip from Canada to Mexico. The rim is in the Canadian zone of Ponderosa pines while the river flows through the Sonoran zone of cactus and mesquite. In six hours we walked south across the North American continent.

The ideal hike to meet the inner Grand Canyon

While there are nine trails snaking their way down the south rim, only two are maintained. They join at the river to make a loop. Here’s my prescription for the perfect spring break backpack.

Get up in the dark, dress warmly and stumble to one of several overlooks to watch dawn’s light show. Sipping hot coffee adds to the pleasure. As the sun eases up over the horizon, it highlights ridge upon ridge below you. A giant condor, recently reintroduced to the park, may heighten your wonder.

This year my son decided to reintroduce the pterodactyl. He bought one at Walmart, complete with red streamers and yards of string. Read the rest of this entry »

The Winter Pilgrimage to Sedona

I understand that in the middle ages people didn’t take vacations. They took pilgrimages. These were journeys, long or short, with a destination of spiritual import. Relic remains of holy men and women were a special draw. Central to the trek was a hope that something divine would happen to them

There was interesting company, too, and a warmer climate, some new scenery and the possibility of new cuisine but the object was a renewal of faith.

It seems that’s the reason that a lot of northern retirees head to Sedona.

People go to Moab to rebel; to Aspen for elegance and grace; to Las Vegas for the rush. People go to Sedona for something spiritual.

I love red rock country. The great walls, towering pinnacles, blue skies with hidden remnants of the ancient ones. Add some rare desert critters and the chance to get warm in winter and I’m ready to go. Fiends who head to Sedona for a warm up every winter couldn’t understand why I had never been there.

Something always kept it off my list. Too posh perhaps. (I’ve always avoided places with a Sotheby’s.) Too touristy. Too civilized. The New Age hype also dampened my desire.

But now I’ve gone, and come back. I’ve even sat in several vortexes. Now I know why people loved Sedona.
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Havasu Canyon

Havasu Canyon is a spell binding place where you would be sure to find spring buzzing and blooming around you. It’s not so much south but down, deep into a side canyon of the Grand Canyon, on the Havasupai Indian Reservation of Northern Arizona, a 943 mile drive from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Let me paint a picture of your campsite. Redwall limestone soars 600 feet to the clear blue sky in front and behind you, etched with desert varnish. The new leaves of ancient cottonwoods are vibrant in shocking spring greens. To your right a twin waterfall of sparkling white arcs 100 feet to plunge into a turquoise pool overflowing its terraces to form the stream passing your camp. This is Havasu canyon, an oasis bursting with life in the midst of the desert. Strong colors of the purest blue, green, coral and turquoise stand side by side. This is the Shangri-la of the South West.

There is no noise but the water’s voice, at once roaring, now chortling, bubbling by. Tranquility eases into your soul. Why so quiet? The only way in is to walk. Or hire a horse. Or drop in by helicopter. On the way you pass through the village of Supai, population 450, the last place in the United States where the mail is delivered by mule. Havasu Canyon is a perfect escape from Wyoming winter during Spring break.

The trailhead is at Hualapai Hilltop, at 5,200 feet altitude, the dead end of Arizona Hwy. 18, 60 miles north of Route 66, west of Seligman, AZ. Here a large dirt parking lot balances at the edge of a precipitous drop into the dry reaches of Hualapai Canyon. It will be filled with the cars and trucks of the Havasupai Indians who live in the village of Supai 8 miles below, joined by the rigs of fellow visitors. In mid-morning Havasupai wranglers arrive with a string of small horses and mules for moving the mail, groceries, some tourists and their duffles. If you’re hiking you begin by walking around the horses, watching for road apples and stepping off the rim to descend the knee-jarring switch backs to the dry stream-bed 1000 feet below.
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You Can Have the Grand Canyon All To Yourself

The crowds at the Grand Canyon can scramble a person’s brain. There you are, wanting to take in nature’s big spectacle, having driven all those miles, stuck in traffic, gasping fumes, bus loads of foreign tourists getting their pictures taken, no places to park. Your bambinos just want to get out of the car. Your wife yells watch out for that deer. This is not the vacation you had in mind.

Four million people visit the Grand Canyon every year, most of those on the South rim, most of those between June and August. That’s a lot of people. The North Rim is quieter. And off season is an improvement. But what’s a person to do if your trips are planned around the school’s calendar?

Do you have an SUV or 4-wheel drive? If so, here’s an answer. The tourist side of the Canyon runs along Arizona 64, Desert View Drive, from the Desert View watchtower, past Grand Canyon Village and on to Hermit’s Rest (via the Shuttle Bus). But that’s not even half of the South Rim. The Canyon continues to the west for miles and miles without an inch of asphalt.

So how do you get there? There is one road, Forest Service 328. It’s dirt. It’s rutted. It’s bad. And for that reason, you can have it all to yourself. If you are accustomed to 4 wheel drive roads in the Snowies, there is nothing to it.

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