Grand Canyon Trip Report – Boucher Trail / Hermit's Rest Trail Loop  (May 27 - 31, 1995) by Larry Walker

Attendees: Robert and Rita Buhrman, Paul Geiger, Marty Pietz, Larry Walker

Subj: Grand Canyon Boucher Trail/Hermit Trail Trip, 27-31 May 1995 Backpacking Trip Report

General Trip Route: Hermits Rest via Hermit Trail down to Dripping Springs Trail (27 May). Dripping Springs Trail to Boucher (pr. boo' -shay) Trail (27 May). Boucher Trail to Boucher Creek and Boucher Rapids on Colorado River (27, 28 May). Boucher Creek/Rapids to Tonto West Trail (29 May). Tonto West Trail to Hermit Creek Campground and Hermit Rapids on Colorado River (29, 30 May). Hermit Creek Campground/Rapids via Hermit Trail to Hermits Rest (31 May).

Description: Here is a general overview. We drove up Friday evening, 26 May, after commencement ceremonies for Faith Christian School. Marty and I left around 21:15. We picked up Bob and Rita around 22:00. We stopped in Flagstaff to "chow down" and "gas up." We ate at Perkins, FYI. Anyhow, we arrived in Tusyan around 03:00 where we met up with Marty's cousin, Paul. He was asleep in his Ford Explorer at the McDonalds. We then grouped up and headed to our favorite Landfill dirt road spot to sleep for the night. We bedded down around 03:30-04:00 and awoke around 07:30. We had breakfast and moseyed on into GC Nat'l Park. My receipt pass worked! Anyhow, after some confusion on the rim, we arrived and left Hermits Rest around 11:00. Bob's pack weighed in at 62 #.

We headed down Hermit Trail until it branched off to go to Dripping Springs at Hermit Basin. We had perfect weather for rim hiking: it was overcast. The trail winds around several washes to the Dripping Springs branch-off then becomes Boucher Trail. The rail itself drops down the Kaibab formation to the Coconino formation at Hermit Basin and onto the Supai formation at the Dripping Springs cutoff until it reaches the vertex/crux/boxed end of Travertine Canyon. This portion of the trail, although it would be hot in the sun, is fairly easy travel. Uncertain about the terrain, weather and daylight left, we decided to bed down at the saddle on the south side of Whites Butte. At the afore mentioned crux of Travertine Canyon, the trail drops sharply in a wash to the top of the Redwall formation. This was a challenging section and might prove very dangerous in wet conditions. There were some fairly exposed bends in the trail. It took about 2 hours to get from Yuma Point to Whites Butte. After the wash drop, it was about 30 to 45 minutes to "Kansas": the light grassy area just to the south of Whites Butte. This is where we spent the first night. We arrived at Whites Butte around 18:30. That night we had cup-o-soups of Red Beans and Rice and Rice Something. Bob and Rita had potatoes, onions, cheese and garlic. We all "crashed" around dark (19:30). The weather that night was bizarre. It first looked like rain. Then, that blew over and we had clear skies. About 00:00 the wind blew something fierce. I just knew it was going to rain a deluge. Then, it cleared up again. Then, it clouded up and rained for an hour: a light rain. Then, it cleared up and it was morning. We all slept great: the sleep of the just - just plain tired. Marty snores loud, but not continuous. All the sights along the trail were spectacular. We could see Hermit Trail, Hermit Creek Camp, Hermit Creek, and occasionally Colorado River from Boucher Trail.

We awoke Sunday, 28 May, had breakfast, hiked almost to the top of Whites Butte (I did) and broke camp to leave all by 08:00. We descended the Redwall formation down a very steep wash (not as steep or with much exposure as the Travertine Canyon wash). It took about 2 hours to descend to Boucher Creek. Much to our dismay there was another party's setup at the creek already. When you get down to the Tonto Plateau, Tonto Trail West and the Boucher Trail separate, and you follow Boucher Trail down to Boucher Creek and Colorado River. Right when you come down the trail just before getting to the creek is the old Boucher place and the long forgotten peach orchards. We headed down the creek toward Colorado River a ways and stopped to pump water. Again, the weather became overcast for most of the day. While water was being gathered, I hiked down to Colorado River to scope out the possibility of camping near the river. There were no good places for a party of our size at the river. Oh, we could have made a fit, but I was out voted: we stayed just a slight ways down from the creek/trail intersection. We day-hiked down to Colorado River. It rained lightly on us off and on all day. When we got to the river, we were pleased at the size of Boucher Rapids. It's almost as big as Hermit Rapids. We goofed off there for a while. Bob and Rita decided they needed to experience the river in its most natural form, i.e., they went "skinny dipping." It was quite humorous to me, down stream quite a ways, knowing they were up cajoling when a group of river rafters (2 bologna boats) came by. They had finished their little fun before the rafters arrived. I also had no film left in my present role, so I got no pictures of anything at Boucher Rapids. We hiked back to camp, pumped lots of water, got clobbered with rain, saw a magnificent rainbow, ate our spaghetti, sausage and vanilla pudding and called it a night just at dark (19:30). Bob and Rita's diet consisted of rice, potatoes, onions, garlic, and olive for the whole trip - I think.

We awoke Monday, Memorial Day, 29 May, around light (05:30) well rested and covered with dew. WE broke camp and headed up creek around 08:00. Since we didn't know at the time where ole man Boucher's house and orchard were (because the other knuckleheads were sleeping on it), Marty, Paul, and I headed upstream Boucher Creek to have a look around. We were gone for about 1.5 hours. What a beautiful creek. We found a bighorn sheep skull. Incredible rock falls. We came back to the creek/trail intersection, pumped water and left Boucher Creek for Tonto Trail West. Boucher Creek and surroundings are beautiful. Not many people go there. One fellow showed up as we were leaving. He had been on the trial for 11 days at that point. The river was impressive as always. The creek is perennial. The water from it, even pumped, tasted like rust: it was nasty. Great place.

We left the creek around 09:50. It doesn't take long to get to the Tonto plateau. This section of the Tonto Trail West is not greatly traveled. This trail and its vistas are absolutely spectacular. You can see Boucher Rapids, Hermit Rapids, all the surrounding landscape, the top of GC, the side and bottom of GC, everything: absolutely breathtaking. One big pain in the rear about this whole section of our trip: this is the quadrant which is serviced by the plane and helicopter tours - Non-stop noise from 07:45 to 18:30 with a slight break for lunch. Everyone in the group commented about the need for mufflers, domes of silence, SAM, non-injurious machinery failure, anything to shut them up. As always, GC is full of surprises and tricked us with a couple of unseen washes/drainages which stretch the trip over to Hermit Creek out to about 4 hours. The weather was completely sunny all day, and we measured the temp to be in the 80's °F. We arrived at Hermit Creek around 14:00. Travertine Canyon is beautiful. We stopped in there to have lunch.

Hermit Creek is great. There was a nice swimming/bathing hole to cool off in. The campground here is "designated space": meaning there are sites prepared for you to stay and you cannot stay anyplace else. The latrines are still there, not blown up as we had heard. They are still as interesting as always, with a breeze of flies coming out from between you legs as you sit there. We set up camp in the sun to let everything finish drying out from the dew and rain, and then enjoyed the wonderful pool, coolness, and company. (I think Rita got giardiasis from this pool). The knuckleheads afore mentioned grabbed the only shady overhang. We had our supper of chicken a la king, talked until dark (19:30ish) and called it a night. The bats, as usual, were plentiful and wonderful - I love bats. We arose the next day a little late, 06:30, very rested. We heard/saw the knuckleheads walk out around 05:30. Then, 2 strange fellows showed up around 08:00 wanting to know "how do we get out of here?" They were headed over to Boucher Creek. We gave them simple, explicit directions. They immediately got themselves mixed up and started heading out Hermit Trail to the rim. They finally found their way with some additional direction shouting from us. Around 09:00, Marty Paul, and I headed up Hermit Creek: waterfalls and pools and formations galore. We were gone about 3 hours. We climbed all the way up to the Redwall formation. There's plenty of boulder hopping and bush whacking. Marty and Paul both took the plunge into the creek - not on purpose of course: nothing hurt but prides. Absolute beautiful canyon. The water flow experimental gauges were in place. Evidently, they are monitoring the effect of drilling for water at the rim on the water flow in GC creeks. We almost couldn't resist tampering with the results. We headed back, ate lunch, took naps and swims, pumped more water (this is a real chore pumping 5 peoples' water with Marty's low volume pump) until around 15:00 when we packed up and headed down to Colorado River. The squirrels are quite aggressive here and the "bear bars" are a must. The trip down the creek to the river is just as picturesque as upstream. The rock falls are precariously balanced and huge. Large mica deposits are seen al the way down to the river.

Colorado River at Hermit Rapids is a must see. We had the place to ourselves almost the whole afternoon/evening. We saw 2 rafts (1 bologna and 1 paddle) go through what is considered one of the most exciting rapids on the river. It didn't look that much more impressive than Boucher to me, but the rafters sure looked like they were having fun. We played around, looked around, set up camp, pumped water, took a bath up-stream, ate our turkey (chicken actually) and stuffing (a great addition to our menu) and go ready for bed. Around 17:30 or so, an older, sunburned lady walked onto the beach, took off her pack and collapsed face down in the sand for about 0.5 hours. We thought she was dead. She eventually got up and roamed the beach. Finally about 8 others arrived and joined her. All total there were 9: 2 adults and 7 teenage-looking types. We gave them some food and gas, because they were in need, and also to off-load some weight for the trip out. We bedded down on the west side of Hermit Creek, this time, up away from the river in a flattened sandy spot. It looked like a river raft camp spot, i.e., plenty of old fire remains: a definite no-no if not cleaned up. The weather was sunny all day in the 80's again. We measured the water temperature: Hermit Creek, 72 °F; Colorado River, 48 °F.

We arose Wednesday, 31 May, around 04:15. Most of us didn't rest well (nervous/anxious and excited I guess). We ate breakfast and broke camp around 05:15. We headed out: from river to rim is 8.5 miles. We stopped at the Hermit Creek/Trail split to pump more water, and departed there around 06:40. Most of this trail is difficult: it ranks with the toughest. However, it is extremely scenic and beautiful which makes up for any inconvenience. There are quite a number of fresh breakdowns along the trail since last we were here. The views are indescribable. We could see a lookout point on which we sat at the beginning of our trip over on Boucher Trail. Boucher Trail and Hermit Trail both traverse Hermit Canyon for a ways and are therefore visible to each other. We left early enough to where we walked in the shade most of the way out. This is not the trail to walk in blistering heat. Santa Maria Spring is still there and still the only water from the rim to the creek along Hermit Trail. The outhouse with a view is also still there and doing fine. The tree in the rest house is so big now it almost blocks the entire entrance to the rest house. As recalled, the last 1.5 miles from the rest house is a grunt. We came out around 13:00. We saw at least 20 people headed down to Hermit Creek while we were coming out - on a Wednesday? We practically had the whole place to ourselves while we were there.

Once on top, we did our normal post hike routine: showers, food, shop, and be disgusted at tourists and syphilization. The drive back was lively with discussion and opinions. We stopped in Flagstaff for gas and Bun Huggers as usual. We also popped in Popular for Bob to buy something else. Hey he bought me a great map. I got back to my house around 23:00.

Amazingly, I ate every ounce of food I brought on the trip with the exception of 1 package of Brown Sugar Cream-O-Wheat - perfect planning - too close. It was a fantastic trip. It was definitely too short. I cut it back because of Marty's sheepish response to his project last year on our Tanner Trail hike. We maybe more next year...