Tuesday May 30, 19.1mi/30.7km
Hance Creek (618.2/3680ft) to Cremation Creek (637.6/3640ft) (AZ) + 1.4mi GPS correction
We’ve been starting out at 6am recently because of the heat, and today was the same. It was a nice cool 60F when we began hiking, which was perfect for our big 1500ft climb up to Horseshoe Mesa.
The trail was pretty steep coming up from Hance Creek, and we decided to skip this water source since there are at least 2 others later today. The tonto shelf is usually pretty dry and we were lucky to have so many water options.
We kept climbing up and up.
Near the top there was some old mining equipment and a mine shaft.
They used to mine copper here around the horseshoe Mesa area. Ignoring claustrophobia, I took a few steps inside to investigate the site.
They were old metal equipment pieces, pipes, barrels, and other various hardware lying around. Neat! We hiked another 10 minutes to the top of horseshoe Mesa and took a break with a great view. Looking back down on what we had just climbed up:
The top of Horseshoe Mesa had several of these signs…weird.
There were some more old mining structures on the top of the mesa.
It was also a popular area for backpackers, with many official campsites scattered around. The long drop toilets were a nice feature too.
After another break in the camping area, we begin our descent down off the Mesa, and into cottonwood Creek.
The hike down Cottonwood Creek was mostly in the dry wash, and it reminded me of previous sections of the Hayduke where this was very common.
We stocked up on a couple liters of water at the creek, to make it to our next source 6 miles away.
Once we left the creekbed, we spent all day hiking on an almost perfectly level trail. The tonto trail contours along the Colorado River for miles and miles. It was really cool to look down at The Colorado River far below us.
Sometimes the trail would travel really close to the edge of the cliff, which definitely got our attention. It was still easy hiking, and I found it quite enjoyable.
We stopped at Grapevine Creek for another water refill and a lunch break. It was nice to stop in the shade, courtesy of the only tree in the area.
After spending almost an hour hanging out in the shade and eating and drinking, we hiked on into the hot afternoon, it was now 90F. These cacti seem to thrive at this elevation and climate, they were pretty big!
The views kept coming all afternoon. It was really nice being high above the river, and getting so many views up and down the canyon.
Our final water stop for the day was at Lone Tree Creek. Most years it doesn’t have water but we were lucky that it did have water this year.
We hiked another 3 miles along the Tonto plateau, to cremation Creek where we planned to camp.
There weren’t any obvious camping spots around, so we just camped in the dry wash. The setting was spectacular.
Surprisingly we hiked 21 miles today, which is pretty far by Grand Canyon standards. But the trail was nice and flat and it felt easy. Tomorrow we will hike up to the South Rim, which is only 7 miles away so it will be a short day.