Day Hiking at the Grand Canyon Feb 14-16

[spinesnaper]

I am looking for partners for day hiking at the Grand Canyon over the valentine's day weekend. I will be there February 14-16. I am interested in hiking Kaibab Tonto Bright Angel, Grandview possibly completing a Tonto trail loop. Of course at this point there is no way of knowing what the weather may be. I am only going to be doing this if the weather is nice. I might be open to going to the Colorado River and back. I am a 57 year old physician. I am in very good shape. I canyoneer but have not explored the Grand Canyon. These are 12 to 15 mile hikes with 5 to 8 thousand feet of elevation change. The first couple of thousand feet can be icy or snow covered requiring crampons. If that sounds like fun, drop me a private message.

Ken

[kiwi_outdoors]

I have used instep crampons on the trails- the snow and ice disappeared pretty fast below the south rim trailhead. South Kaibab to Bright Angel is a VERY long day trip (whicih wife and I did at age 55 +/-). BTW - It used to be that in Winter the Shuttle did not run to Grandview.

How about this for an overnight trip. Hike down to Horseshoe Mesa, stash water on the way down and carry extra water for evening and day 2 as the camp is dry. Explore nearby Cave of the Domes. Hike out the next day. Or check out the mesa fromthe rim, if you see snow then take extra fuel to melt snow into water, and avoid the extra water weight. With this trip you drive to and from the trailhead at Grandview (wife and I did this trup in Spring Break).

[spinesnaper]

The instep crampons never inspired me. I have the Kahtoola K-10. They fit on my light Merrels. I bypassed the microspikes, but I have friends who swear by them. Compared to instep crampons, I know this seems like a big weight penalty. However, I have been very happy with the security of the Kahtoolas. I wouldn't ice climb in them but they are great on an icy trail.

The purpose of day hiking is to avoid having the weight of the back packing gear. So I agree its a long day. The good news is that by mid February, the full day is only about 11 hours give or take what you can get done with a 200 lumen head light.

Ken