Tag Archives: Backpacking

Backpacking, Hiking, Places, Trip Reports

TR-Grand Canyon Backpacking January 2011

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(There is a separate Trip Report for the car camping on that trip here.)

Gear, Lessons learned

Route

South Kaibab-Bright Angel Campground-Bright Angel Trail

  • 1/10/2011 (10:41 a.m.1) South Kaibab Trailhead->Bright Angel CG (4:15 p.m.)
  • 1/11/2021 Bright Angel CG (9:39 a.m.) to Grand Canyon Village (5:27 p.m.) via Bright Angel Trail

Locations/Elevations Mileages

South Kaibab Trail

Location2ElevationDistance
South Kaibab Trailhead7260′start
Cedar Ridge 6120′1.5 miles
Skeleton Point5220′3.0 miles
Tipoff4000′4.4 miles
Bright Angel Campground2480′7.0 miles

Bright Angel Trail

Location3ElevationDistance
Bright Angel Campground2480′start
River Resthouse2480′1.8 miles
Havasupai* Gardens3800′5.0 miles
Three-Mile Resthouse4748′6.5 miles
Mile-and-a-Half Resthouse5729′8.0 miles
Bright Angel Trailhead6860′9.5 miles
*Formerly Indian Gardens

Planning

While at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center at the end of 2007, I’d overheard a couple discussing with a NPS ranger backcountry permits for the Bright Angel site, at the bottom of the canyon near Phantom Ranch. I made a mental note to consider this in the near future. It’s a popular overnight and back hike; some folks pay $$ for the indoors at Phantom Ranch or a cabin but I was only interested in the backcountry sites. (My parents had hiked down and stayed at a cabin in 1978.) Aside from New Year’s Eve, there were almost always walkup available permits for Bright Angel this time of year. I made a mental note to come back soon for an overnight hike to the bottom and back. I returned for this trip in January of 2011.

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Admin, Backpacking, Camping, Colorado, Trip Reports

TR-Backpack-Colorado-Weminuche-September 2024

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Backpacking in Weminuche Wilderness, then AirBnB in Cortez, CO

Gear, Lessons learned

Locations/Elevations Mileages

    • Bright Angel Trailhead (6860 ft / 2093 m) to:
    • Mile-and-a-Half Resthouse (5729 ft / 1748 m) Three-Mile Resthouse (4748 ft / 144 9m) Havasupai Gardens (3800 ft / 1160m) River Resthouse (2480 ft / 756 m) Bright Angel Campground (2480 ft / 756 m) 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
    • 3.0 mi (4.8 km)
    • 4.5 mi (7.2 km)
    • 7.7 mi (12.4 km)
    • 9.5 mi (15.3 km)

Trip Report

Planning

I decided I wanted to revisit a couple of backpacking trips I’d made years ago, partly because a lot of my earlier trip had been obscured by clouds and fog, and partly just to get out to a not too crowded part of the San Juans again. I would visit an area where I’d camped and backpacked going back almost forty years, the San Juan mountains and the Weminuche Wilderness. I first visited the San Juans on a long trip in 1986, car camping at Vallecito campground on the western side of the wilderness area, based on a suggestion from my parents. I returned for a couple of backpacking trips in the 1990s, in the Williams Creek area which is about thirty miles north of Pagosa Springs on USFS roads.

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Backpacking, Camping, Guadalupe Mountains, Hiking, Places, Trip Reports

TR-GUMO Pine Springs/Guad. Peak; Dog Canyon/Marcus backpack-February 2022

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Took a trip out to Guadalupe Mountains National Park last week. I’d reserved Sunday and Monday nights at Pine Spring, Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday nights at Dog Canyon. I intended on climbing Guadalupe Peak again Monday, then I was planning on a backcountry stay on Wednesday night, possibly at Blue Ridge (as discussed here; https://bigbendchat.com/tentative-plan-for-one-night-backpack-dog-canyon-b-t18146.html).

I’d been getting in pretty good shape over the past six months, doing cardio, hiking, and most recently hiking with a pack to start conditioning myself for backpacking. But I had an unexpected trip to take my 89-year old mother to California to meet her new great-granddaughter from New Zealand who was visiting family in Berkeley…but I digress. Bottom line is I was out for a week, then home for only a couple of days before leaving on my trip.

I left Austin around 4 pm arriving Ozona around 8 pm. I began this habit of breaking up the drive to GUMO a few years ago; gives me plenty of time to pack, take care of chores, and hardly feels like any time at all for the first day. And then it’s nice to get to my campsite early enough to where I don’t have to rush to beat sundown (especially in Winter). I got to GUMO just before 1:00–oops, Noon Mountain time; went to the visitor center to make sure I didn’t have to check in or anything (got that Senior Pass heh heh, and had already booked the camping) and wanted to confirm I could get my Wednesday night backcountry permit here on Tuesday morning as I left (I could).

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Guadalupe Mountains, Trip Reports

TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP Backpack Sept 1986

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Trip report written some thirty-four years after the fact, relying on photos, map notes, and memory.

GUMO permit Sept 1986

Starting from Pine Spring Campground, I got up to the crest at the trail junction near Pine Top where I met Ranger Craig. Turns out he was doing a backcountry stint, and we hiked together for the next two days. He was quite the naturalist and helped me identify a lot of flora and fauna.

We stayed one night at Tejas backcountry site, then over to McKittrick Ridge for the next night. Somewhere along the McKittrick Trail we came across an angry rattlesnake.

Rock rattler that surprised us along the McKittrick trail
1983 Trails Illustrated map of GUMO with notes from three 1986 backpacking trips. Lower section. Note that the park HQ was still in the old shed at Frijole. There are a couple of errors in my hand-written notes there; please hold your calls. The plane site says “B-29” and not “B-24” and it’s in the wrong location.
McKittrick Canyon
Above McKittrick Canyon

In the morning, Craig left for elsewhere, and I returned back toward the Tejas trail.

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Backpacking, Camping, Guadalupe Mountains, Places, Trip Reports

TR-Backpack-GUMO Shumard 11/16/2017

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Gaiamaps link

Tracklog out to Shumard Backcountry site
Tracklog out to Shumard Backcountry site

CalTopo map

I spent most of a week in mid-November (2017) at Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO). Camped 4 days/nights; at Pine Spring CG and in the middle an out/back overnight to the Shumard Canyon backcountry site. I don’t have a *lot* of info to add; i’ve done the El Cap/Overlook trail several times over the decades so didn’t take many photos. I had never done the Shumard Canyon stretch before so this was all new to me. It turned out to be quite challenging due to the trail conditions, and I took very few pics (even though i’d intended to do some night photography). That happens. Continue reading TR-Backpack-GUMO Shumard 11/16/2017 →

Colorado, Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, Places, Trip Reports

TR-Indian Peaks 2008 Backpacking

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I’ve hiked many times in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, just south of Rocky Mountains National Park. This time was a multi-day backpacking trip. Because of the nature of the trail system and the need for permits in advance, I planned a route with a sort of curly-cue path.

IMG_0107
Parking at Hessie trailhead near Eldora

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