Grand Canyon: Monument Creek Campground

“Monument Creek is my favored place under the South Rim”, mentioned a extensive time Grand Canyon native and well-identified geologist as we hiked down the South Kaibab. This was undoubtedly plenty of to peak my curiosity. Just after just lately relocating to the South Rim we ended up anxious for the temperature to interesting off so that we could go on our exploration of the Internal Canyon in considerably much more detail. My spouse Wendy and I have been mountaineering in the Grand Canyon for almost 25 several years with practically hundreds of descents off the Rims. Now that we live a number of minutes walk from the South Rim, we resolved that a person or two backpack journeys a thirty day period was totally within just motive. Our very first desired destination was Monument Creek Campground on Monument Creek for each our friend’s recommendation.

If you have accomplished any mountaineering in the “Corridor Trails” of the Grand Canyon, (Brilliant Angel, South/North Kaibab), the hike down to Monument Creek is surely a massive phase up. The Corridor Trails are very well preserved, versus the Hermit Path – are practically groomed. To start with off, for any overnight tenting trips below the Rims you should secure a backcountry allow by calling the GCNP Backcountry Place of work at 928-638-7875. There are nominal service fees involved with the permit. Then arrange your gear and set a fresh new memory card in your digicam for a wonderful plunge into a more distant portion of the Grand Canyon.

The trip down to Monument Creek commences at the Hermit Path with a rapid 1000′ descent down to Waldron Canyon. From Waldron Canyon the trail heads owing north earlier the Dripping Springs Trail to a neat minor rock pour off. The trail up to this place is properly taken care of and gets fairly a couple working day hikers on their way to Santa Maria Springs, fewer than a third mile absent. I point out the pour off mainly because the path from here ahead turns into substantially much more complicated. There are several rock slides covering the trail with a number of spots of vertical exposure. All of this is wholly doable with a backpack, you happen to be just not going to make wonderful time.

Santa Maria Springs is an oasis adjacent to the Redwall development roughly 2.2 miles from the trailhead. This will make this spot a favored day hikers’ desired destination. There is a great little spring seeping into a cattle trough the place you can fill your h2o bottles. (Recall to always filter your h2o anyplace in the Grand Canyon.) Future to the spring is a tremendous neat rock hut with a bench and a way awesome double rocker with the words “Rest Bit” engraved into the back again relaxation. The watch west from within the rock hut is covered with hanging vines – consider me, Martha Stewart could not have built a far more at ease relaxation household.

Touring down the trail hugging the Redwall formation with many rock slides for the following hour or so will bring you to Lookout Level, an great put to choose a break and take pleasure in the see. Immediately west of Lookout Stage throughout Hermit Creek Canyon is the Boucher Trail. It is quite tough to see and is extremely rugged. This trail is named immediately after the unique hermit Louis D. Boucher. A further hour or so even now hugging the Redwall development with various rock slides and vertical publicity will deliver you to Breezy Level. Breezy Issue is 5.5 miles from the trailhead and is a good area to have lunch. The commanding views to the north present a preview beneath of the Tonto Trail managing southwest to Hermit’s Camp and to the northeast in direction of a modest saddle that potential customers to your desired destination at Monument Creek.

Winding earlier Breezy Issue and nevertheless hugging the Redwall with numerous rock slides and extra vertical exposure will convey you to the Cathedral Stairs in about a half hour. Cathedral Stairs is the crux, or the most tough portion of the hike. Trail builders have actually carved a slim path into this formation. It is steep and rocky, but small, considerably less than a 1/4 mile. After at the bottom of the Cathedral Stairs one feels to some degree released from the walls of the canyon. There is a extended traverse adjacent to Cope Butte and following numerous switchbacks you will be part of with the Tonto Path at roughly 7 miles from the first trailhead. 1 won’t be able to aid but stare back again south at Breezy Stage and the Cathedral Stairs and marvel at the ingenuity of the path builders.

The Tonto Trail heading east delivers a nice respite from the rock slides and vertical exposure just after several miles of challenging climbing along the Redwall. One can truly stride this portion of the path and allow your muscle groups to chill out. There are glimpses of the Colorado River down below as the Tower of Set dominates the northern skyline. In an hour or so you will uncover on your own approaching the Monument Creek drainage. The descent into the drainage is rugged and finding the trail can be tricky. There were hikers in front of us that descended straight down into the creek, only to bushwack again up. The path in fact hugs the rim and descends a bit, glance for rock cairns.

The Monument Creek Campground place is an oasis. You have now traveled about 9.5 miles into a very well secured drainage with plenty of mesquite trees for shade with quick accessibility to water flowing around several pour offs. There are most likely a dozen different campsites while the nightly use permits presently only allow 4 camps. So, it is quick to come across a “personal” campsite to your liking. We decide on a nicely shaded campsite amongst the mesquite trees to string up a rope to dangle our back packs, camp goods and most importantly the “rat sack”. A rat sack is a requirement for backpacking in the Grand Canyon, it is a wire mesh bag with a velcro closure that will hold critters, specially ring tails away from your food stuff. Having said that hanging it is ordinarily not more than enough during the daytime hours, the ravens will only land on the sack and peck via at your food items. So, it is most effective to deal with the rat sack with one more bag. Your backpack will work, but the ravens are also amazingly dexterous with their beaks and will shortly have all of your zippers open up as they rummage by way of the contents. I have read stories of ravens traveling absent from backpacks with money in their beaks! On this excursion we fulfilled a few mates of ours, purely by probability, and they shed a library e book deal with to a specially properly go through raven – no, it was not created by Edgar Allen Poe.

As soon as settled into Monument Creek Campground you will probable want to investigate the Monument itself. This pinnacle towers above 200′ above the campground, standing like a sentinel guardian to Monument Creek. I have browse reports of it being climbed in 4 pitches with a ranking of 5.10A – effectively earlier mentioned my fork out amount.

The Monument itself blends in with the rock close to it, but can be seen from the Monument Creek Vista on the Hermit Highway some 3500′ earlier mentioned. By significantly the finest working day hike from Monument CG is the 1.6 mile excursion down Monument Creek to Granite Rapids. The sketchy trail descending to Monument Creek starts off at the western facet of the Monument. There are quite a few steep switchbacks with unfastened rock, but within just a several minutes you are standing on the sand/rock drainage of the creek itself. There are effortless to observe cairns for the initially few hundred yards and then adhere to the purely natural drainage. It is amazingly wonderful. Monument Creek flows primarily underground, but closer to the Colorado River it is above floor and may be jumped when it has not been raining. Please take observe of the climate prior to descending into Monument Creek, it will flash flood.

From Monument CG just one can hike the Tonto Trail again to the west and invest time at Hermit’s CG and ascend the Hermit Trail or make your way east to Salt Creek CG, Horn Creek CG, Indian Gardens CG and up the Vibrant Angel Path. We regarded as Monument to be a desired destination of it is really individual and liked checking out the total area and then ascending back again up the Hermit’s Trail. A several hrs afterwards we are sitting in the “Rest Bit” at Santa Maria Springs already organizing our subsequent Grand Canyon journey.

Eric is a true estate broker in Tucson AZ and dealing with houses in Southern AZ.
Make sure you take a look at my internet site: http://www.TheTucsonHomeHunters.com