Blue Springs, Grand Canyon Backpack

Original Trip Description: (October 5 - October 12, 1991)
This difficult backpack begins in the expansive Little Colorado River drainage, extends along the banks of the Colorado River to Hance Rapid, and exits the Grand Canyon through Red Canyon on the Hance Trail. We've chosen autumn for this trip to increase the chances that the Little Colorado will not be in flood and the springs will not be inundated by silty, mud-laden waters. From a rim campsite on the Navajo Indian Reservation, we'll descend nearly 3000 feet vertically and camp the first night by several large clear springs.
Along the Little Colorado, we may have to float our packs through the Redwall Narrows below Blue Springs. We'll explore the Hopi Salt Trail to the canyon rim if time permits and visit the Hopi Sipapu as we bushwack down the Little Colorado drainage to the Colorado River. While camped at the confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado Rivers, we'll visit historic Beamer's Cabin.
Much of this backpack will be off-trail but the campsites along the Colorado will be spectacular and well worth the extra effort. This is a strenuous trip for experienced backpackers only. Prior experience in off-trail hiking is mandatory.
Originates @ South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, AZ.

Blue Springs Trail

Fording Little Colorado

Trip Report:

Everyone showed up at the Desert View meeting place on Saturday afternoon. A friend of ours from Phoenix had agreed to shuttle us to the trailhead with his king cab Ford truck. The roads into the Blue Springs Trailhead are rough and the last few miles definitely require four wheel drive. Since there wasn't enough room for all of us in his truck, we broke up into two groups. The first group of seven and most of the gear was taken to the trailhead immediately. While he was gone, the first group located and explored the Blue Springs Route down through the Coconino to determine whether or not we were going to need a rope. While it was exposed in places and some hand-to-hand pack lowering would be required, a rope appeared unnecessary. After much huffing and puffing the seven of us emerged from the canyon and headed for cold drinks. Bob was relieved to have found the trail so easily this time because he and Susan had spent a couple of hours the previous year searching without finding it.

Joe planned to be back around 3:00-4:00 PM but due to the nineteen mile distance and poor quality of the roads, he was unable to pick up the second group until 6:00 PM. When it became evident that Joe would be returning after dark, we began cooking the Mexican dinner. Bets were taken on when, or if, he would be returning that evening. Knowing Joe pretty well, Bob knew he would be back. When Joe hadn't returned to pick up the second group as expected, they did the rim car shuttle and found a ranger who had been to the trailhead recently. This ranger gave them a set of directions which cut seven miles off the distance and eventually got them to our Little Colorado rim campsite much more quickly the second time. Unfortunately, the Backcountry Office was still handing out a set of poorly written directions to the trailhead even though they supposedly were given a copy of these more accurate, and current, road descriptions.

Sunday morning, we left the rim, headed for Blue Springs with heavy packs. The descent was severe until we emerged from the Coconino sandstone layer. We succesfully negotiated several pack lowerings and one very exposed section with a minimum of difficulty. The weather was warm but we were in the shade for over an hour as we worked our way through the most difficult parts. In the Supai layer, a constructed trail took us quickly to the bottom. We reached the springs about noon, took a swim, and proceeded downstream to some shade for lunch. The upper portions of the Little Colorado were dry, so Blue Springs and the river below the trail were both shimmering turquoise. This water was great for swimming but turned out to be terrible for drinking. It was heavily mineralized with Calcium Carbonate and everyone agreed that drinking it was like drinking a fizzy.

The walk downstream that afternoon was difficult. Quicksand, wall to wall water, and just plain old mud made for treacherous footing. Around 5:00 PM we gave it up and set up camp on a dry sand bar. It had been a great exploratory day but everyone was tired. We had carried inner tubes to aid in crossing any deep spots where the water stretched from wall to wall but none occurred. The next day the going got easier as we continued to the confluence. We ate lunch at the Sipapu. This colorful travertine dome with its effervescent pool is supposed to be the place of emergence of the Hopi. We noticed that sticks and feathers had been placed below the rim of the pool, possibly as part of a ritual. After the Sipapu, river runner trails existed much of the way and our strong hikers reached the confluence in an hour and a half.

After leaving our campsite the next morning, we were inside Grand Canyon National Park. We followed the Beamer Trail on Tapeats ledges to a gorgeous Palisades Creek campsite. For six miles, we were exposed to full sunlight on these high shelves and isolated from the cold Colorado River by a several hundred foot fall. This was probably our hottest day and everyone consumed tremendous quantities of water. The rest of our route followed the river to Hance Rapid. One night we camped with the NPS river patrol at the large Cardenas Creek site. They were hospitable, giving us each a pop and enormous amounts of left-over Lasagne that evening. Most of their party was involved in archaeological site evaluation. Jan Balsam, the chief archaeologist, came over and gave us a spontaneous, quality presentation on the activities of pre-historic peoples within Grand Canyon National Park.

The NPS group had the new river toilet system under evaluation on this trip. Previous systems using plastic bags are going to have to be discontinued as land fills will no longer accept human refuse in a plastic bag. They are experimenting with a large liquid container system that can be dumped at RV parks or human waste disposal sites. They suggested we use their system to minimize scat holes on this busy beach. It was an aerie experience. The approximately 2 x 2 x 2 foot box has the seat placed on top of it so waste drops straight into the box. This seat is an additional two foot in the air. The position and seating height were similar to that assumed when you have your shoes shined at an airport. A truly moving experience!

On the last half of the trip, we did most of our hiking in the mornings, so we had time in the afternoons for swimming and card playing. Several great hearts games were joined by most of the trip participants at different times. By the time we left the river, we were all shaping up as Grand Canyon backpackers. The fastest in our party made the 5000 foot ascent to the rim in slightly under four hours but even the slowest was out in five and a half. All agreed that the trip was both an adventure and a challenge.