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 Grand Canyon Turkey Trek 2004 - Part One
by Rich
The Grand Canyon is easily one of the most incredible places I have ever visited, possessing such grandeur, scale, variety, and mystery as to present the visitor a lifetime of new experiences should they so choose. This was to be a four-day backpacking trip into the region of canyon below the rim and between Grand Canyon Village and Hermit’s Rest. The trip was to include approximately 30 miles of trail hiking, a night at the river, a 4500’ climb on the final day, and a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner below the rim.
DAY ONE
Day one started at an IHOP in the Phoenix suburbs. One by one, our crew assembled - half-asleep and not-yet-caffeinated, eager to consume what the colorful breakfast menu had to offer. Next came the four-hour drive in multiple vehicles. Two hours to Flagstaff, another hour and a half to get to Grand Canyon village. We gathered at the Maswik Lodge cafeteria for lunch – the last civilized meal we were expecting for days. Some of us ate sparingly, not wanting to tempt digestive trouble on the trail. My tent-mate had the chilidog. After lunch, we changed into our hiking clothes and returned to our vehicles to gather our backpacks and make last minute gear adjustments.
Walking the half-mile from the backcountry office parking lot to the Bright Angel Trailhead, I felt as if we were as much an object of interest for the milling tourists as the missive vista before them. “Look, hikers!” one would say, the word holding some curious combination of reverence for our intrepidity, and incredulity for our stupidity. As we milled about the trailhead waiting for one of our crew to use a restroom, we pointed out Indian Gardens to one woman, who expressed her disbelief that one person could carry packs the necessary four and a half miles (downhill) to get there.
After the requisite ‘before’ photos were taken, we hit the trail. For those of you unfamiliar with the Grand Canyon, Bright Angel trail holds to a relatively steady grade, losing about a thousand feet in each of its first three miles. Rest huts and restrooms are located at 1.5 and 3.0 miles. Indian Gardens is about 4.5 miles from the trailhead. Indian Gardens is staffed year-round because it is part of the pumping system, which distributes water from Roaring Springs Cave on the North side of the river to the hotels and park facilities on the North and South Rim. After the 1.5 mile rest house, the only traffic we saw on the trail were outbound hikers, usually from Phantom Ranch at the river. Aside from a bit of mud on the trail as we passed through the Supai Group and the Redwall (distinct rock layers in the canyon), the hike to Indian Gardens was uneventful.
Once we got to the campground, we dropped our packs and started pitching our tents. Once camp was pitched, it was time to start working on dinner. My assigned dish was mashed potatoes, and I had whipped up a batch the night before, refrigerated them, and brought a pot-full down in my pack. As my companions sat down to start making their dishes, I fired up a stove and started re-heating. As I cooked, my friend James pulled out a stack of crepes and started making miniature shepherd’s pies or some such. Some spiced meat in a crepe, bunched up and held together with a chive or something. It was delicious, and there was enough for everyone to have two. John (my tent-mate) had made curried sweet potato puff pastries and brought a pile of those down. Again, delicious, and there were enough for everyone. As the trailside margaritas were passed around the table, the gravy was being warmed on one stove while stuffing cooked in another pot. Squash soup was thawing and warming in yet another pot while I stirred my pashed potatoes, bring them up to serving temperature. As mealtime approached, 5 pounds of sliced turkey were produced from another backpack, quickly covered in piping-hot gravy, cranberry sauce, and complimented by my mashed potatoes. Bean salad (home grown beans), a mixed vegetable medley, a rice dish, and stuffing now got added to the plates, and mugs were pushed forward, filled with the delicious squash soup.
As gastronomically pleasant as the meal was, especially having done a decent day’s work getting to this particular picnic table, surrounded by a Grand Canyon Sunset, things quickly got ugly. I was fortunate enough to have finished heating my mashed potatoes early, and didn’t bring an especially large portion. I was able to completely dole out my dish in about two helpings for anyone interested. As the meal went on however, it became clear that some dishes were not going to be consumed completely and therefore we going to be put back into backpacks and carried the next day. The purveyor of the bean salad started pimping his wares. A bottle of wine (transferred to nalgene bottle just before we hiked in) was passed around the table. The mixed vegetable master began to question the energy content of the bean salad, suggesting a better energy boost for the next day. Turkey is high in protein, it was pointed out. “There’s still dessert, so you fools better save room for pumpkin pie and strawberry shortcake!“ This went on for an hour as the sun set and warm clothing layers were added until dessert was served. Dessert consisted of a Sara Lee pumpkin pie with cool-whip topping, and a ‘Strawberry Shortcake’. This was created by again taking crepes and layering them with melted chocolate and a strawberry preserve for about 12 layers.
All told, I’ve had more variety and better food at a home-cooked Thanksgiving, but not by much. This was certainly the most extravagant meal I’ve EVER eaten in the great outdoors, car and canoe camping included. Long after we were gorged, we finally stopped eating and retired to our tents. Or at least I retired to my tent. As I lay drifting off to sleep, I heard a few of my well-fed compatriots still at the picnic table singing Christmas carols. That was day one.
DAY TWO
We awoke at first light on Friday and began boiling water for a quick oatmeal breakfast. The hot water was also used to clean miscellaneous dishes left to soak the night before. After some hot chocolate, we broke down our tents, loaded our packs and headed out. Bright Angel Trail and the trail to Plateau Point diverge at the Northern end of Indian Gardens. Bright Angel Trail crosses the creek and follows that drainage down through the Devil’s Corkscrew to the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch, five miles further on. Our path that day lay upon West Tonto trail, which traverses East-West on the Tonto Plateau, ~1500’ above river level. For the first half-mile, the Tonto shares its path with the Plateau Point trail, a 1.5 mile line drive heading out to a spectacular overlook of the Colorado. Plateau point is the most common destination for those tourists visiting the canyon by mule since that is where mule teams not destined for an overnight stay at Phantom Ranch stop for lunch before trekking back up to the rim. Wide and sandy, the Plateau point trail bears witness to countless hooves that have scoured it into a feature visible from both rims, many miles away. By comparison, the Tonto trail is restricted to human foot traffic, and as such is often no more than twelve inches wide, wandering amongst the low scrub that dots this high desert plateau. The ground is firm underfoot and though narrow, the trail is clearly defined as it follows the sweep if the landscape, arcing out beyond the reach of vast limestone and sandstone buttresses above us, curving back before cliffs of shale and schist below.
I had never been West of the Plateau Point trail, so every bend and vista was a new delight. We came around one great buttress and I spied a gaping hole high in the Redwall. I proceeded to spend the next mile plotting the approach to this potential cave lead, determining where the most effective rappel stations would be located, and how many hundreds of feet of rope we’d need for the assault. Cavers are freaks. That was fun.
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