Day 4

October 15, 2013

Hike to the Rim via the New Hance Trail



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Today's route stats: 

    Distance:  6.5 miles

    Elevation Gain:  4500 feet

    Elevation Loss:  100 feet

I had originally hoped to camp at the spring in Red Canyon, which is a little over a mile from the River.  But there was no way we could have made it last night.  So we had to do the entire 4500 feet of elevation gain in one day.  We still opted for a leisurely start at around 8:30. 

 

Red Canyon near Spring. New Hance Trail in Red Canyon. New Hance Trail in Red Canyon.

As we headed up Red Canyon, it was obvious that serious flash flooding had occurred since I was last here.  Nothing that slowed down our hiking, just large jumbles of rocks that were fairly new.  It took us almost an hour to reach the spring.  It was flowing, but barely.  We each picked up another quart of water.  Brianna now had two, and I had two and a half.

 
New Hance Trail. Redwall Section of New Hance Trail. Coronado Butte.

We took our time hiking out.  The trail gets a little confusing in the Coconino where we had to take off our packs to look around for the trail a couple of times.  But the day was cool, clear, and beautiful.  We reached the rim around 3:30. 

We were both tired, especially me.  As we were about to hike the half mile back to get Brianna's car, I decided to stick out my thumb as a car approached.  They stopped for us and drove us to the car.  We drove back to Lipan Point, picked up my car, and drove to Flagstaff.  We ate dinner there, then Brianna drove back to Tempe and I drove to Holbrook where I checked into a motel for the night.
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