Grand Canyon Trip Report - Royal Arch / South Bass Trail  (May 10 - 15, 2003) by Larry Walker

Attendees: Robert Buhrman, Larry Walker

Brief Trail Description: This 45 mile loop trail is a rigorous backpack of four to five days for experienced Grand Canyon hikers only, tracing some very difficult terrain. Doing the loop anti-clockwise would be more difficult.

Trail Stats:

May 9, 2003 - Friday, Day One: Left Phoenix about 15:30. Got to South Bass trailhead around 23:00. Stopped in Flagstaff for ~1.5 hours. Good snow on Humphrey's. Remember, the Rim of Grand Canyon is cold. It was in the upper 20's lower 30's last night; Bob complained.

May 10, 2003 - Saturday, Day Two: Good green chile burros for breakfast. Getting started about 08:30. Expecting to make Royal Arch Creek/Wash. I always forget how big Grand Canyon is. We're pretty heavily loaded: 70# packs. Beautiful sunrise. Arrived at the trail junction where the trail starts down a wash on the south side of Montezuma's Point at about 16:30. Fairly long walk, but mostly flat. Found water in a wash past seep springs. Couldn't find seep springs - didn't look too hard and it seems to be pretty far up in the wash.

Well, we found Rex Mast. We were investigating the wash route, which leads to Royal Arch Creek. We were calling out to each other, and this guy up on the rim of the wash yells down asking if we have water. Rex had lost his pack for about 2 hours. While he was trying to get to us, he found his pack. We chose to stay there for the night and socialize with Rex. Moon ~60% so not many stars. Good day.

May 11, 2003 - Sunday, Day Three: 7:00 rise, 8:00 start. We loaded Rex up with water and said our goodbye's. Busted hump down the wash that leads to Royal Arch Creek. Rex calls intersection there the Elbow. It took about 3 hours to reach. Just past the Elbow we came to one VERY exposed ledge to cross. Rex referred to this, oddly enough, as the Ledge. It's about 10' - 15' across; your hands are in one slot and your feet in another. No reason for machismo, so Bob and I opted for the safe rope approach. Lots of boulder hopping down these drainages. Have to hand packs down 3 to 4 times. From Elbow to Arch / Plateau junction takes about another 3 hours. We got to this junction around 16:00. We dropped our packs and went on down to Royal Arch. Very nice ½ hour walk. We decide to camp up at the trail junction - much quieter. Nice campsite. No big mouth frogs. Nice bat show. Saw one small rattler on the trail in the upper wash. Bean burros for dinner - yum!

May 12, 2003 - Monday, Day Four: Pull out about 07:00, get to beach at Toltec drainage around 11:00. Plateau trail is not bad - stopped for lots of pictures. Rappel was interesting - not bad. Trail from rappel to first beach is fairly tough - very hot here. Saw about 15 rafts go by while on beach having lunch. Left for Elves about 14:00. Takes about 1 ½ hours walking when you're beat - and we were. The heat drained Bob a lot. Elves Chasm is great! Walk up until you can't go any further. It is really beautiful. You can climb up on the falls and jump in the big pool - too tired and water too cold to go for it. Bob was refreshed. Back on the beach at Toltec drainage we see lots more rafters and very few bats. Game and Fish were out catching trout to gauging species size and health. They stopped to tell us they'd be working up stream at about 21:00 - 22:00. By the way, Rex told us that a crew of Park Rangers were riding up and down the river checking permits of anyone they found on beaches. Ate a late dinner of Beef Stew and rice. Offered to baptize Bob in river, but he declined. Boy was that water cold - again. No critters to amount to anything. It was a sparse trip as far as seeing wildlife. Both of us seemed a little apprehensive about walk to Copper Canyon the next day - just sore and thinking about that long walk on the plateau.

May 13, 2003 - Tuesday, Day Five: Start around 07:00. Stop around 20:00. Whew! 2 hours from Toltec drainage to Plateau at Garnet. 2 hours back to river to get water; we misread the trail - it just didn't look the same. At lunch we took about 2 hour nap under a rock shelf - very refreshing. Buhrman began ejecting food to lighten his pack (today and yesterday). This trail is pretty tough. By the way, I actually got to fish about ½ an hour this morning - caught/hooked 2 small fries. Praise God we had we had overcast skies all day. No breeze though. Scenery is breathtaking along the Plateau. Plenty of river views. Some of the side canyons really wear on a soul - it takes about 1 ½ hours to walk around the Copper Canyon wash. Buhrman did not like this plateau trail. He had many things to say about it all beginning with the letter "F". I remember I saw a woman collapse with exhaustion and happiness on the beach at Hermit's Rest; I felt the same way at the end of this day. Training for this trail is critical - should involve lots of hours in the sun with large weights being worn - it's an endurance trip. Turkey and Stuffing for dinner - no leftovers. Both of us love this trail so much that we even slept on it. Hard part's over.

May 14, 2003 - Wednesday, Day Six: As we round the point through the saddle, east of Copper Canyon, Buhrman bids farewell to Copper Canyon - "F#@! you Copper Canyon," he bellowed. Started walking about 08:45 this morning - slept in. Arrive at 3-way trail split on plateau (northeast of Tyndall Dome and Wallace Butte) in about 2 hours, then on to Bass Trail at the main Tonto Plateau trail junction in another hour - 3 hours total. We put our stuff up on some rocks and day hiked to the Colorado River at Bass Rapids. It takes about 1 hour from upper trail junction (South Bass and Tonto). We played around on the beach, napped, watched rafts, ate, drank, then left about 16:00. Beach was bigger than last time we were here. We packed out a lot of water to use on our journey tomorrow. I came up with the idea to write Hiker's Ode to Tonto Plateau. Praise God again we had overcast skies again - still no breeze until evening. Great walking weather. Buhrman and I agree, no more Tonto Plateau trips. I need tape recorder - get tired of writing. Nice evening. Very stormy looking skies. Only small droplets of rain fall. Red Beans and Rice for supper: delicious as usual.

May 15, 2003 - Thursday, Day Seven: Head out about 06:30. Get out around 12:00. Nice walk out. Still it's a grunt up a fairly steep trail. We bumped into a couple headed down South Bass going to Boucher via the Tonto Plateau. Bob and I had pity for them. Bob and I celebrate our successful return with some Mike's Hard Lemonade - whoa! need to take care with that stuff after a long day in the sun. This trip wore us out and made us plenty sore. It's a long drive back around to the National Park - 40 miles or so - 2 hour drive.

Overall Comments: A good hike with plenty to see. But this trail is a "beater". Buhrman has vowed not to venture on a plateau trail again. You definitely do not want to do this trip in serious heat. YOU WILL DIE ON THE TONTO PLATEAU IF YOU DO THIS IN SERIOUS HEAT! If the plateau weren't so uncomfortable, it'd be a great place to take lots of pictures. We were rushed by other commitments to cut our trip a day short. If we had one more day for this loop it would have been much more relaxing.

No planes or helicopters bothered us at all: plenty of rafters on the river though. Not all bad; they are good for a beer or pop occasionally, and are fairly pleasant. Sorry about the cryptic report; not much time these days. God once again allowed us a safe trip - praise be to Him.