This is my account of Day 1 of my solo hike in the Grand Canyon, March 14, 2021.
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Snowy Start to the Day
I started my day around 7:00 am, parking at the Grandview Point extended parking lot where I met a pre-arranged shuttle to get to Lipan Point. It’s a 20-minute drive but a necessary effort in order to hike back to my car, rather than hope to beg for a ride when I arrive back here in 6-days, tired and stinky. I prearranged the ride through the FaceBook group Grand Canyon Ride Sharing and Transportation. This was the most nerve-racking part of the trip as it was the one thing I couldn’t truly plan, and I’m a planner.
I hit the trailhead at 7:30 am, it was quite cold and snowy, with little wind. Temps were around 20 F. I was wearing all my clothes to start with – long underwear, shorts, puffy jacket, rain pants, hat and gloves. I was so happy I had those!
I sent my last texts to the family to say I was starting, started the tracking on AllTrails and on my rented Garmin InReach. I rented the device through Outdoor Equipment Rentals, excellent to work with!
You can see my planned and actual route (as recorded by AllTrails and the Garmin) on CalTopo.
Since I knew there was snow on the rim, and could be snow on the way out, I packed in my Kahtoola Microspikes and trekking poles. I could not have done this trip without them! The first 1.5 miles down was a real knee buster for sure! The trail was easy to follow since others had been through the snow before me.
The views were absolutely amazing. Every time your legs, feet or shoulders hurt you stop and look around. Nothing hurts anymore….the beauty of the Grand Canyon makes everything go away.
Down the Tanner Trail
After the first 1.5 miles down the trail levels out for about 3 miles. This was a much appreciated break for my legs. The pack felt great, zero complaints there. I was carrying 2 – 1L bottles of water, and 1 – 1L bottle of Gatorade. I’d come to be very thankful I was carrying the heavy Gatorade powder.
The wind was brutal in this area, I had to cinch my hat down tight so as not to lose it. After about 3 miles I stopped for my first long break. I found a spot under a tree, out of the wind, and enjoyed some snacks, and some ibuprofen. I knew I’d appreciate that later. This spot was also a great campsite, while dry, it’d make for a perfect spot on the way back up to split up the ascent.
I ate a protein bar and some trail mix, drank some water and Gatorade. It was just a nice place to take a break, and had it been hot, would’ve been a great place to sit in the shade and relax some.
Continued on my way, awaiting the grueling downhill to start up again. The wind continued to pound me. At one point I went up to an overlook type area, it was so windy it nearly blew me off. I couldn’t even get my camera out to take a picture of the view. I hurried down to the protection of the rocks.
The trail is very easily to follow at this point and just meanders along, mostly down, with a few short ups you come to appreciate.
My legs were spent. I was taking more short breaks, and finally started to walk down some of the parts in a sideways\backwards kind of step to give my legs a little break. This really helped, although I’m sure it looked ridiculous. I’ve not seen anyone all day.
Tanner Beach
I arrived at Tanner Beach around 2:00 pm. I dropped my pack and wandered around looking for a campsite. I knew there was one off to the side under an overhang, but I wanted some sunshine at this point.
I grabbed this site just off the trail, right near the rapids. What a great sound to sleep to. I got so accustomed to hearing the water when I slept, it felt off when I wasn’t camped along the water.
This was a great site for a small tent. I had my 2-person Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2, which fit perfectly. You could get a 3-person tent here but it’d be tight.
Downstream there were several more, larger sites for bigger groups.
It would be 6 pm before I saw any other people. A group of 5-6 came down with pack rafts! Super cool. They weren’t overly friendly, but I wouldn’t be either carrying that weight down the Tanner (they were super friendly the next day).
I think another group passed by my tent at some point, but I never saw them.
The Colorado River water level was perfect on this first day, and suprisingly clear and easy to filter. Before I went below the rim I had checked the river flow rate as this would have a significant impact on the level of effort it’d take to filter the water. I learned the river was running around 8,000 cfs (cubic feet per second), but they were also planning to do some repairs on the Glen Canyon Dam and would be altering normal water flows and would use this as an opportunity to do some river studies. In short, this meant the water would drop to 4,000 cfs for several days while I was there, then they’d open it up to over 20,000 cfs!!! I’ll bet that was crazy to see and hear!!
There’s a composting toilet at the Tanner Beach camping area, clearly marked by a sign. It has a reasonable ‘privacy’ fence around it, but, as expected, was stinky and full of trash. I know Mountain House is sh*t, but c’mon people…pack your garbage out and don’t ruin it for the rest of us.
Dinner Time
Dinner was Shepard’s Pie, a meal I made at home and dehydrated myself. It was delicious but too much food. I always seem to think I’ll be hungrier than I am, but in reality I’m never that hungry and have to force myself to eat. It was still good though.
I topped that off with a cup of what quickly became my favorite hot drink: Café Bustelo Café con Chocolate Instant Coffee This stuff is SO good! I really like coffee from Mexico and Brazil. I stumbled upon this at our local Meijer grocery store and thought it’d make a nice after dinner dessert drink. It ended up being my anytime drink!! Really glad I had it, although not super light by any means.
I was in my tent by 7:30, probably asleep 1 minute later. I was exhausted! I would randomly wake up to laughter and someone apparently had a campfire, I could smell it, but never saw it, and have no clue where it was….could’ve been up river for all I know. That’s a no-no for various reasons.
Route Map and Retrospective
Day 1 was 8 miles and I took about 6 hours to complete it. Tanner Beach was an excellent end to the day and great place to camp. I was tired and my legs a little sore, but otherwise felt great, no problems with my feet or shoulders, pack felt great, and I was excited to be here.
Overall I felt I should’ve taken a few more breaks. I really enjoyed it, never felt I was pushing too hard, but could have stopped more probably. And snacked more…I tend to drink a lot of water when I hike, so more salty snacks would’ve helped some I’m sure.
Tomorrow….head upriver on the Beamer Trail.
