A Grand and Challenging Trip in the Grand Canyon 2006

[Scott P]

Overview

The New Hance Trail (http://www.kaibab.org/bc/gc_tr_rc.htm) is highly scenic, but is considered one of the three most difficult trails in the Grand Canyon and the New Hance-Grandview Loop is considered to be the most difficult loop along the Tonto Trail (http://www.kaibab.org/bc/gc_tr_tt.htm#t1).

Kessler, my four year old son and I decided that the New Hance-Grandview Loop would make a nice Thanksgiving outing. Since Kessler is an experienced hiker and very confident in rock scrambling and since the trail is easy to get a permit for since it isn

[accadacca]

:2thumbs:

[canyonphile]

Awesome TR :2thumbs:! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you caught some flack for bringing a mere *c*h*i*l*d* on such a rough, tough and DANGEROUS backpacking trip :roll:! People love to get up in other's business, esp. when it comes to children and how to raise or handle them. People think that kids are so delicate (hence the trend of putting friggin' helmets on kids riding trikes and BigWheels on the sidewalk) and therefore must be kept away from any activity that is potentially harmful...as if that is a good thing.

Anyway, I say GOOD FOR YOU for bringing Kesser on that trip! He's a lucky kid to have you as a father to teach him the love of the backcountry and backpacking at such a young age. And, he's proof that kids can handle physically challenging things as long as they are within the boundaries of the mental and physical limitations of their age. Give him a high-five for me :five:! Sounds like he could be the next Buchart in the making :mrgreen:.

Maybe when he's 5, you can take him on the Escalante Route - that's one of my absolute favorite easy access GC backpacking trips, and unparalleled if you're a geology geek, since all of the GC Supergroup is visible, along with the Great Unconformity. He can marvel at the smooth river stones found 800' above the river from the ancestral Colorado as you overlook the Unkar delta area.

I see you experienced the butthole ravens of the Grand Canyon....:facepalm1: You have to always keep your food in your tent and fully zipped up, because as you discovered, those crafty bastards will go through your entire pack if you step away for even a moment...like, going down to the river to get water. I thought one of them had flown off with my P&S digital camera back in '03 when we were camped along the Beamer trail just east of Tanner creek. I came back to find they had pulled everything out of my pack, but my camera was gone. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I then discovered it had fallen in between the back flap and main part of my pack. It had been physically moved from the elastic side pocket. I never found them to be that bad anywhere else in the Canyon.

[FYI side note: the Tonto East trail ends at Horseshoe Mesa, where the Tonto platform and BA shale pinch out, so what you're hiking on between Hance Creek and Red Cyn isn't the Tonto]

[Scott P]

Maybe when he's 5, you can take him on the Escalante Route - that's one of my absolute favorite easy access GC backpacking trips, and unparalleled if you're a geology geek, since all of the GC Supergroup is visible, along with the Great Unconformity.


He's actually nine now, but I forgot to mention that this TR was actually from 2006. :oops: Now by age 9 he's done a lot more. We still haven't done the Escalante Route, but will some day.:2thumbs:

[canyonphile]

He's actually nine now, but I forgot to mention that this TR was actually from 2006. :oops: Now by age 9 he's done a lot more. We still haven't done the Escalante Route, but will some day.:2thumbs:
I just looked, and saw it says 2006 on the title....totally missed that! :facepalm1: Must win for the "longest time between trip and posting TR to Bogley" :lol8:

He's probably done more in the past 5 years, outdoor-wise, than most adults [non-Bogley folk that is] have done in 20 years.