Day 2 in the Grand Canyon, March 15, 2021. Yesterday I hiked down the Tanner Trail, from Lipan Point, to Tanner Rapids. Today I hike up-river on the Beamer Trail.
Early Start to the Day
I awoke at 6:00 am as it was getting light out at Tanner Beach. Slept mostly well, just from exhaustion, I’m sure. Only heard people once or twice, but certainly nothing to keep me awake. I was very comfortable on my sleeping pad and in my sleeping bag, easily could adjust to the temperatures. It got pretty cool at night, but I was warm and comfy.
My legs were super stiff when I awoke, but some stretching and walking helped with that. I wish I had brought some easy to slip on camp shoes, but my boots are easy to slip on.
Breakfast was coffee and Cheesy Bacon Cous Cous. Mmmmmm.
I wasn’t in a huge hurry to get going, but didn’t just lay around camp either. I knew I’d have an opportunity to filter water at Palisades Beach along the Beamer, so I just did a couple liters worth and packed up camp.
Plan for the Day
Today the plan is to head up the Beamer Trail towards the Confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers. I figured I’d start hiking and see how I felt, hopefully meet someone along the route for a status report, then decide my plan from there.
My goal was to hike to Palisades Beach, rest, get some water, then see how I felt and decide whether to hike on to the Confluence or take an off day and just relax my weary muscles.
From Tanner Beach the Beamer Trail heads straight up and over, it was a little brutal, but easy to follow. There were only a few places where it was obvious you could go up or down…which way was better was less obvious, but I don’t think you could really go wrong.
I made my way over rocks and through sand, went about 3 miles in approximately 2.5 hours. Not a horrible hike by any means, and easy to follow up to this point. I was aware of some spots where it was easy to lose the trail, so I just kept an extra vigilant eye out for cairns and the worn trail.
About halfway between Tanner Beach and Palisades Beach I had run into 3 people hiking – Tom H, his wife and a friend. He immediately asks “Is your name Tom?” We had been commenting in the Grand Canyon Hiking FaceBook group about each of our upcoming trips. He has a better memory for names than me, that’s for sure. I noticed his wife in Crocs…she had hurt her ankle and this was more comfortable than boots. As I hiked the rest of my trip and took every crazy, rocky step I often thought of them. I chatted with Tom H later…she had hiked 11 miles on the Beamer and Escalante in those! It turned out to be a seam in her boot bothering her, they cut it out and she was able to continue pain free. They exited South Kaibab. Amazing trip for them, and I’m glad to have met them along the way.
Palisades Beach
I arrived at Palisades Beach and Rapids, wandered around some looking for a shady place to take a break. There was no shade near the river, so I pitched my tent using the ground sheet and rain fly, as I always wanted to try that anyway. This “fast pitch” style was super easy to setup and was very comfortable.
Later I was able to setup the rest of the tent under the already setup fast pitch. I always wanted to try that as well in case I ever needed to setup camp in the rain and wanted to keep the tent itself dry. It worked really well and pretty easy!
This was such a peaceful and comfortable campsite. I was just downriver from the rapids, and could just barely hear them, but was in a little cove, so it was like a lake with the water lapping up on shore.
I mostly just laid around in the tent, enjoying the peace and quiet and perfect weather. It was warming up nicely, but nothing extreme. You’d think “Wow, wasn’t that boring?” Strangely, no, not one bit. I really enjoyed just doing nothing…something I never do.
Lunch Time
I had pizza roll-ups for lunch today, such a simple and tasty treat!! A tortilla, pizza sauce, mini pepperoni and sharp cheddar cheese.
When I was planning my meals I had intended on dehydrating the pizza sauce, but I ran out of time. I used the FoodSaver to make small, single serve portions of the sauce. It wasn’t light, but was worth the carry….it was really tasty!
It was a nice sunny day, I just spent the time laying in the sun and shade, as the clouds and wind shifted. It was so quiet and relaxing, I didn’t see another soul.
At this point I had decided just to stay put, not hike on to the Confluence. Would I regret this decision later? Yes and no, I’m sure. I decided that I will see the Confluence some day, but it would be by raft. Reports state the Little Colorado river was flowing as light blue as ever, and I’d start to see the Colorado river take on more of that color as the water levels dropped.
Exploring the Area
I wandered around this area for a while, didn’t really go too far, just kept to the river. I got to the Palisades rapids, found a big rock, and just sat out there and watched and listened for a while. Never saw another sould until late in the afternoon, saw a river crew pass by.
The river crew ended up being a National Park Service Superintendent, some archaeologists, and a Zuni Elder. More on this below.
Dinner Time!
Dinner was Taco Bowl with Frito’s. This recipe was adapted from Andrew Skurka’s recipe, I added ground beef to mine. The wind was crazy at this point, so I had to get my stove out of the wind, thankfully this big rock on the beach made for a great work surface and windscreen.
I had dehydrated taco seasoned cooked ground beef and pinto beans at home prior to the trip. I added instant rice to this, all in a quart freezer bag. I boiled water, added it to the freezer bag, put into a cozy to rehydrate. I mushed this up often to ensure all was covered and rehydrating. I added some cheese at the end, and ultimately ate it with Fritos corn chips I had packed in for this meal.
As always with me it seems, the portion was just a little too large for my appetite. Overall it was really good, but not as good as I remembered it being on my trial runs. I’m not sure what I did differently…might just have been my taste buds that day.
It’s a good recipe that I’ll keep on hand though, keep working on it until I get it to be consistently good for my own tastes.
I topped the night off with banana pudding which was amazing!
NPS Crew
Late afternoon a rafting crew pulled up on the nearby beach, and I saw them wandering around the area. Eventually one of them came walking down the beach towards me, so I met him for a friendly elbow bump (remember, this is still the height of COVID-19 times). He told me he was a National Park Service Superintendent – which I looked up later to find his name was Ed Keable. It was great to meet you, Ed!
He was traveling with a river crew (I was envious of their setup!), archealogists who were surverying and inventoring known areas containing relics, and a Zuni Elder with his assistant. All very nice people, and I hope they had an incredible trip! I certainly appreciate the work they do.
Ed also told me more about the Disturbance Flow project going on, and how to expect the river levels to drop overnight tonight. He told me about the research regarding the simulated spring floods and the impact on the river bottom, fish, etc. Super nice guy, and the only people I’d see all day. After they finished walking around this area they floated down and setup camp across the river, about halfway between Palisades and Tanner rapids.
Evening Sets in
After dinner I just watched the sunset, and once dark just went to sleep. It was another beautiful and peaceful day.
Route Map and Retrospective
Short 4-mile day all said and done, you can see my actual day on Alltrails. The trail up to this point (from Tanner beach) wasn’t really that bad at all. Some rock, some sand, but straight-forward and easy to follow. I had a feeling it got much worse from here.
Do I regret not going all the way to the Confluence? Sorta….the one group I saw just after leaving Tanner Beach said it was as blue as can be, just as you’d expect from the photos. They did also say it was not an easy hike, but doable as a long day hike. In retrospect, my down day was much needed, but I should’ve added a day to make the trip.
I’m only 2 days in, a little sore and tired but nothing horrible. I’m loving this trip so far, and haven’t regretted my path so far, knowing that I can make another opportunity to do so in the future…hopefully by raft.
Tomorrow I’ll head back down river and onto the Escalante Route.
