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Morning at the Grand View trailhead

The day started early, with a cab ride out to the trailhead at Grandview Point, about nine miles by road along Desert View Drive from its junction with the National Park’s south Entrance Road. We were the only ones at the trailhead; no tourists were taking advantage of the early morning vistas. After looking around from the scenic overlook, we hoisted our packs and headed for the trail.

View from the Grand View trailhead

The Grandview Trail was originally constructed to haul copper ore up from Pete Berry’s Last Chance mine on Grand View Mesa. Transportation difficulties made the mine uneconomical despite its high grade ore, but Berry supplemented the copper with precious metals extracted from the pockets of tourists. However, that too failed when the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad shifted the business to Grand Canyon Village and Hermit.

Grapevine Creek drainage through a veil of precipitation

When we arrived at the trailhead, the weather was cool and the skies mostly cloudy, but the scenery was beautiful. After the obligatory tourist photos, we started down the trail at about 7:00 a.m. Shortly after, it began hailing – mostly BB sized hail, but in sufficient density that the trail was soon nearly fully covered by the little balls of ice. The hail didn’t affect footing too much, which was fortunate since the trail becomes fairly narrow, steep and precipitous almost immediately as it descends through the Kaibab limestone just below the trailhead. At one point, the trail is particularly narrow as it skirts the edge of a cliff and ducks under an overhang too low to clear with our packs.

Looking northwest past an overhang

The hail continued as we continued down through the Coconino but then changed over to light, intermittent rain which gradually stopped as we approached Horseshoe Mesa. We met few hikers on the trail: a couple ascending the steep stairs above the Coconino saddle after a night on Grand View Mesa, and another party resting at the saddle as they neared the end of a long circuit that had begun with a descent of the Tanner Trail.

Zoroaster, Brahma and Deva Temples

The scenery was spectacular during our descent, with amazing, expansive views of the Canyon from the northwest around to the east. Our view of the Canyon kept changing, not so much because we were moving, but with the the Canyon’s dramatic play of light and shadow as sodden clouds with their veils of rain and hail alternated with sun-lit blue sky.

Horseshoe Mesa and the canyon of Cottonwood Creek

As we descended through the Kaibab, Toroweap and Coconino formations, the most prominent features of the Canyon to the northwest were Zoroaster and Brahma Temples, while Vishnu Temple and the eastern reaches of the Canyon dominated the northeast. But as we began descending along the Hermit formations and the rocks of the Supai group, the view became increasingly constrained by the ridges to our right and left to Horseshoe Mesa and Cottonwood Creek’s own canyon. At the same time, the weather started to improve, although the sky remained at least partly cloudy and sometimes threatening. The air continued to be cool, but whenever a veil of precipitation seemed to hang beneath the clouds above us, whatever fell seemed to evaporate in the dry air before it reached us.

Coconino cliffs and Hermit/Supai slopes on the left frame Cottonwood Creek

The trail became less steep and the topography less precipitous as we hiked. At points the trail still retained the stone steps and timber cribbing built for the mules carrying copper ore from the mines, but in others erosion had taken its toll and the trail was rougher, rockier and narrower. However, the route was clear and the trail was never difficult, and once we were below the Coconino we were past any alarming precipices. By now, we had dropped below the Douglas fir and Gambel’s oak we had seen at higher elevations, but there was still a lot of pinyon pine and Utah juniper along the trail.

Horseshoe Mesa, the Grand View trail's destination, with Vishnu Temple beyond

Our pace was slow. This was my hiking partner’s first descent into the Canyon, and she was being understandably cautious on the more difficult parts of the trail, especially those snaking past sheer drops. And I was weighed down by my pack; as my companion has a congenitally weak back, I was the “mule, so my pack was heavier than my norm. I never weighed it (I was afraid to!) but when I was carrying a full water load, it was probably 70 pounds. Consequently, we had only reached the ruins of Peter Berry’s old cabin by lunchtime, so we took a nice long break there. Our lunches (and breakfasts, and trail snacks) were rather monotonously the same: homemade “Aunt Lee’s Granola Bars” (the recipe borrowed from a friend, and illustrated by her niece), dried fruits, and nuts. We enjoyed the granola bars throughout, but got pretty tired of the rest!

Ruins of Berry's cabin at the old copper mine

There are campsites by Horseshoe Mesa, so we wandered over to take a look. The campsites were nice, but the composting toilets certainly weren’t! Later on, at less frequented campsites, we were to see similar composting toilets, and those seemed to be working pretty well, but the ones at Horseshoe Mesa were terrible; I hope the Park Service rethinks their design.

Horseshoe Mesa, seen from the the campground's vicinity

The other disconcerting feature was a sign warning that one of the trails diverging from Horseshoe Mesa was closed because it led through a “radiation area.” Later on, we were to cross Horn Creek on the western part of the Tonto trail where hikers are warned that the water is unsafe to drink because the levels of radioactivity in the creek are too high. Horn Creek is directly below the former Lost Orphan mine, which extracted high grade uranium ore until 1972. There is currently a six month moratorium on new uranium mining claims in the Grand Canyon area, and a twenty year moratorium is being sought, but there are interests which oppose such a moratorium.

Stansbury Cliffrose (Purshia stansburiana)

We were struck by the abundance of wildflowers in the area: stansbury cliffrose, globemallow, and two different lavender flowers reminiscent of poppy were among the most prominent, and the most beautiful, but there were many other flowers and shrubs as well.

Trail descending through the Redwall

Our goal for the day was a seasonably reliable spring on Cottonwood Creek, west of Berry’s cabin but about 1,100 below it. Two different trails led there: one descending from near the north end of Horseshoe Mesa’s western arm and then circling around via the Tonto Trail, and one descending rather directly to the west. Some sources we had consulted favored the one, and some recommended the second. We never found anybody who had used the northern route but had talked to several who had hiked the western route; from what they said, it sounded rough but feasible, and it was certainly shorter although probably less scenic. Anyway, that’s the one we chose. I’m not sure it was a mistake, but it did prove difficult and its consequences affected the rest of our journey.

Switchbacks down the Redwall; note the hiker in red descending

The trail started out innocently enough, but it was faint and clearly little-used. But once it reached to edge of the Redwall limestone cliffs, it’s character changed, as it plunged down a series of steep, narrow, uneven switchbacks. Footing was precarious, as the path was covered with loose pebbles, and most of the way the path was on the edge of rather precipitous cliffs and steep slopes. Our progress was cautious, slow but steady, and as we neared the bottom of the Redwall we were overtaken by Wayne J., who we were to come to learn was a very nice, helpful, considerate, experienced and devout hiker from southern California. He was the vanguard of a small party of his relatives and friends, who also proved to be friendly and helpful when they overtook us later.

Muav limestone talus slope below Horseshoe Mesa

At the bottom of the Redwall, the trail became so faint one had to rely on their route-finding skills to proceed. Wayne had hiked the trail before and chosen the wrong route, but working together we were able to locate a better one, and re-located the trail as it started to descend the steep talus slope of Muav limestone below. Here the trail was easy to follow but the footing was terrible; the trail was steep, badly eroded, and so covered with pebbles that it was hard to avoid slipping, even with the aid of a good trekking pole. Our progress was very slow, and by the time we reached the bottom we were exhausted. Worse, my toes had compressed against the “toe box” of my boots to the point where massive blood blisters had formed beneath the nails of both big toes. The discomfort from that was to plague the rest of our Canyon trek.

Approaching the spring at Cottonwood Creek

Once we reached the bottom of the talus slope, we had only a little way to go before we reached the spring, 4 miles later and 3,500 feet below where we had started the hike. We were footsore and tired, but happy to have arrived, and feeling good about the hike.

Our southern view from the campsite

“At large” camping is permitted in this part of the Canyon, but not surprisingly there were several good camp sites near the spring. Wayne and his party had already staked out some sites close to the spring, but they alerted us to another site atop a small knoll a few yards east of the spring. The site was magnificent: secluded, but with spectacular views in all directions. Redwall cliffs of Horseshoe Mesa towered to our east; to the south we could see the Ponderosa pine fringing the South Rim far above; to the west was the long ridge separating the Cottonwood and Grapevine Creek drainages; and to the north, beautifully framed by Cottonwood canyon’s walls, loomed the 6,761 foot twin spires of Angels Gate.

Cottonwood Creek campsite

The ranger at the Park Service’s backcountry office told us that at this time of year, Cottonwood Creek should be a reliable source of water, and indeed, it was. (That ranger was very helpful, and gave us lots of good information and advice.) Just the same, I was surprised at how little water was flowing, but it was easily enough to replenish our water supply. A good water filter is a necessity in the Canyon; we used an MSR Miniworks EX filter which gave good service throughout our trek. Dinner was welcome, and good; I had Backpacker’s Pantry Katmandu Curry, and my partner had Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork. I really recommend these dehydrated dinners; they’re easy, quick and tasty; clean-up is easy, and heating the water for them takes very little fuel. But disregard the package labels’ assertion that they’re good for two; they’re not, at least not good for two who have just spent the entire day hiking in the wilderness.

The sky was too cloudy for star gazing, so there wasn’t much to do after dark except hit the sack. The night air was chilly, but with the fly in place the Crestone 2 was comfortable. So ended our first day on the trek – a good day, filled with spectacular scenery and dramatic skies, and thankfully a lot cooler than it might have been.

More photos of our hike can be found at my Grand Canyon Rim to Rim Hike page.

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