March 2026 - the Tonto Trail from Grandview to Bright Angel

 

I don't have a great deal to say about the actual route.  Other people have done a more thorough job than I ever will, but I did want to post a few photographs. I had just had Eric Hendrickson CLA the two Spotmatics I have, and I wanted to take one of them as a tribute to my friend Paige Pinnell, who had owned them, but in the end, the compactness of the Olympus OM-1n won out.  It was also a factor that the never ready case for the Olympus snaps shut over the 28mm lens.  The wider angle lenses on the Pentax cameras are just too long for the case I have.  I took all of these photos on Kodacolor 200, purchased, as I often do, from the Film Photography Project's store.  I had them developed and printed at the Darkroom.  

The Tonto Trail runs, as you might assume, along the Tonto Plateau in the Grand Canyon.  You can see a bit of the Colorado River in the photo above, down in the inner gorge.  It's been a dry winter in the Southwest, and the area around the Grand Canyon has been no exception.  We were worried about water.  The section between the Grandview Trailhead and Grand Canyon Village is notoriously dry, with the spring on the east side of Grapevine Canyon sometimes being the only reliable water throughout.  We received a good water report before we set out, and we did, indeed find water throughout the canyon.

The trail crossing in Grapevine had a few slimy pools, but further up the canyon, there is a nice stream bubbling along.  If you go that way, be sure to hike up to see it.  Here I am in Grapevine:

And here's my friend Randy a little further up the stream.  (We stopped where that rock blocked the way, though it would have been easy enough to get around.)

Randy is 76.  He isn't showing many signs of slowing down, though he did say if I hear him mumbling about going to the Grand Canyon, ask him, "Have you been going to the gym regularly?"  The descent down the Grandview Trail is, I think, one of the hardest of the main trails.  The Tanner Trail, South Bass, and Hermit Trails all are easier in my memory.  I've only been up the New Hance Trail, never down.  The Bright Angel and the South Kaibab don't really count.  They are pretty much highways.

We found water in Boulder Creek, though it is often dry.  The ranger said it is usually too salty to drink, and she wouldn't bother, but I had a quart of it, and it seemed fine to me.

And there was water flowing in Lonetree:

Our trip was the week after the Extreme Heat Warning for the inner canyon, and it was still very hot, particularly for March.  We tried to move early in the day and stop by about noon, holing up in whatever shade we could find.  We camped at Cottonwood Creek, Grapevine, Boulder, Cremation, and Havasupai Gardens.  We remembered Cremation as being mercilessly exposed to the sun.  This time, we went all the way into the last branch of the canyon.  There is a spot people camp on a bench up on the western side, and just beyond the campsite, there was a nice spot shaded by a boulder that was big enough for two tired backpackers to set up in the shade and have a nice cup of tea.

I thought I would add that the Tonto Trail where it descends into that third branch is absolutely horrible.  It's pretty much a steep dirt slide.  We ran into three experienced hikers, Roger, Bill, and Cary.  Anyway, we heard them when they were descending and popped up out of the shade to watch them.  Roger fell on the way down but was unhurt.  When they came by where we were, Bill said that he seriously injured himself falling on that section one year, so be careful!

 Here are a few more shots from out on the Tonto.