13-day Grand Canyon Traverse

[Nick Smolinske]

So a friend and I are doing a 13-day trip across the Grand Canyon in December. We're estimating 110 miles, mostly off-trail. We've been planning it for about a year. Here's the route. Starts in the upper left, ends at the south rim on the lower right. Christmas at Phantom Ranch:

And here's my gear list right now. It's . . . heavy. I have my summer base weight down to something I really like, but winter is tougher. I'm curious what input you all will have on it.

The first column after every item is the weight in grams – then I converted it to ounces on the right. The bold totals are all in pounds.

My notes:

-There are a lot of electronics. Much more than I usually carry. One of the things I want to try to do this trip is get star trails photos in some remote GC locations. Hence the 4 extra batteries and the tripod. Maybe a bit of a luxury. But not even enough batteries if I find more than a couple campsites with good star trails opportunities – I'm limiting myself to 3 or 4 star trail shots here.

-The nook is a luxury too, but one that I usually carry and generally feel is useful. In December, with long and cold nights, I tend to wake up in the middle of the night, eat a Snickers, and spend an hour or two reading before going back to bed.

-The tubular webbing is a 1/2" webbing I found that's much skinnier (and lighter) than the normal tubular. It's for use to haul packs and as a handline for my less-climbing-comfortable partner (maybe I should make him carry it? ;) ). I'm reluctant to go with anything much thinner due to the "carnivorous" nature of the redwall limestone, to borrow George Steck's term.

-I'm not sure I have enough insulation under me. The torso pad is the back pad for my MYOG Xpac pack, and I usually pair it with the thinlight, but I haven't tried that combo in the canyon in December. I'm considering something warmer – possibly a full length 3/16" plastizote pad.

-The mid is shared between us, and so is the stove. My partner usually carries the stove, so it's not on my list. A good thing too, because he's wedded to his "whisperheavy". The pot/cozy is both for keeping my dinner warm and for hot alcoholic drinks after dinner – a winter staple of ours.

-The only significant item in "clothing worn" is that I'll be carrying a pair of Locus Gear CP3 trekking poles, which are triple-duty! Tripod legs, a mid pole, and trekking poles.

-The stuff sack is both for hanging food and hanging rocks under the tripod for stability.

So what do y'all think?

[Greg Mihalik]

Water Treatment –
How will you settle and decant high sediment water? If you only have 2 20 ounce bottles total, it will be tedious. You'll only get about 16 ounces per batch, because of the sludge in the bottom.

Especially for decanting, consider making a second cap for your Dromedary to hold the "filter media" in place – something that is "just threads" with the media bonded to the edge, or beefy rubber bands to hold cut and shaped and sewn media in place. You need a "cup" in the media to accept the flow.

Take a "measure" for alum you'll need for the volume you are settling. You don't want to use to much early in the game and then run out. (Don't ask.)

So what do I think? …. I'm envious.
Have a great trip.

[Nick Smolinske]

Good point on the alum. There are actually only two times that we are expecting to get water out of the river, and one of those is optional – there's a perennial creek, but the river tastes better. Most of the water on the route is from smaller drainages fed by snowmelt, or from springs.

So that means in the worst case we're expecting to use the alum exactly once, near the end of the trip. My plan is just to raid my used ziplocks from food. Some ziplocks will get a big pinch of alum, some will get a small pinch, and that way I won't worry as much about measuring. Some should be correct. We're also leaving a food cache near the halfway point, with a lot of freeze-dried food – those will make nice big settling containers.

Another thing I need to add to this is first aid of some kind…I'll have to ponder that one.

I also realized that I forgot a couple of layer items (long underwear and under armor). And I usually don't sleep in my down jacket with this sleeping bag (I stuff it down by my feet). So I could possibly go lighter on the sleeping bag, replacing this 600-fill 15 degree with a 900-fill 20 or even 30 degree. Of course, that requires money, and I've spent plenty of that this year already. Hmm. Those Zpacks bags are tempting though.

[David Thomas]

Sounds like you've thought through the need for alum for settling sediments and that you don't expect to need to do it much. If you did need to do it a lot, I'd suggest a square yard of 4 ml poly sheeting to create a large basin in the sand in which to settle the water. BUT, if there's a big rainfall event, you could be faced with turbid water in streams you expect to be clear. Maybe 2' x 2' of 2 ml poly just in case. Or plan to use your shelter or polycro as a basin in a pinch.

[Sam Haraldson]

That is an amazing looking route. Definitely make your partner carry the tubular web!

[David Chenault]

Looks like a good route.

If I were you I'd bump up the ground insulation, those will be very long nights. At least most of the route will be southern exposure.

Unlikely to need a rain skirt, but you never know.

I wouldn't bring the alum. You'll have some big water hauls but most of your sources should be very high quality.

I would use something besides 1/2" webbing. That stuff stretches a lot which makes hauling a lot harder. Worth bumping up to 9/16" tubular, or some kind of cord. Imlay Canyon Gear sells a 100% poly 6mm static line which they market as a pull cord for canyoneering, but is an outstanding haul and hand line. No perceivable stretch at all.

[Sumi Wada]

Just got home yesterday from the GC. River looks like chocolate milk right now. FWIW, paper coffee filters work better than a bandana for that oh-so-fine Colorado silt.

How much water does that almost-9oz drom carry? I was just hiking with someone who had a 3L one and I thought it was bulky and cumbersome to use. Vastly preferred my pleated Platy's.

I wouldn't bother with a rain skirt.

Personally, I'd be much more inclined to take duct tape over hand-sanitizer. Just me.

If I were going to throw money at that gear list, I'd go for a lighter bag and a warmer pad. I can't tell how what kind of elevations you're expecting to sleep at, but a really good 20deg bag and something like a Neoair XLite will get you warmer and more comfortable and save a half-pound; even more if you go with a 20deg quilt.

[Greg Mihalik]

" Vastly preferred my pleated Platy's."

+1

I carried a 3L platy, and that put a lot of weight at one spot. I also had 1L platys, and they were a lot easier to pack in and around my other gear, outside pockets, under the lid, etc.

[Nick Smolinske]

Sumi: Nice. Where in the GC were you? I was just up on the North Rim (dropping off a food cache for this trip), and the Colorado looked very brown even from up there. Good tip on the coffee filters, maybe I'll pack a couple in a ziplock. I've never actually had to use the bandana for silt, since I've done very few hikes that required getting water from the river, and it's always been clear when I've needed it. Most of my GC water experience comes from springs and rain pools.

The dromedary bag is a 6-liter. Given that I used it for years of conservation work without issues, it's probably quite overkill for backpacking. The only thing that's ever happened to it was a slow leak, which was my own fault, caused by years of lifting the whole weight of it by the plastic handle. MSR, of course, replaced it for free. I now only use that handle to assist with filling, and lift by the edge of the bag when it's fill of water.

I've considered getting something lighter. The platypuses seem light, but I'm not sold on them yet, given that they have a small mouth and the largest size is 2 liters. I really like the convenience of the wide mouth on the drom, and of filling the whole bag and treating it all overnight with low-dose aquamira. Maybe I'm just used to them, but I find droms to be really easy to use.

But it looks like a 2-liter platypus is 1.3 oz, so I could certainly drop some weight by switching to three of them, and cheaply too. I have a friend who has used his for years, so they seem durable enough. I'll probably buy a few and if nothing else I'll use them for trips where I need less water.

As for the sleeping bag, I think I could save even more than a half pound – the zpacks 20 degree would save me a pound and a half! Although I might need a warmer hat with it. Time to start a theoretical spreadsheet for this, to see how much money could improve it. I doubt I'll buy a new sleeping bag just yet, but maybe next year.

Ironically the hand sanitizer weight includes duct tape already (wrapped around the bottle). But I recently started using one of the gossamer gear aquamira dropper bottles for the hand sanitizer, so the total weight including duct tape is 20 grams, not 40.

[Alex H]

The 2 liter platys are actually 80 oz. (2.5 qts) or 1400 ml. so hold really 2.4 liters. There isn't any other container that holds as much for so little weight. Yes it would be good if they had a bigger mouth but having used them for years they are not really too bad to fill. I also don't like having all (or a large part) of my water in one container, in case a leak happens. As was said above, the packing of the 2L or 1L platys is much easier and distributes weight better too.

[David Chenault]

I would not trust a Platy as a primary container in a place like Grand Canyon. The 2.5 liter Platys are nice as a secondary/supplemental source, but a Drom with a hose is far more reliable.

Next week we'll be down there, and I'll have a 6 liter Drom and 2.5 liter Platy.

[Alex H]

"I would not trust a Platy as a primary container in a place like Grand Canyon. The 2.5 liter Platys are nice as a secondary/supplemental source, but a Drom with a hose is far more reliable."

I don't use a hose with any container, don't like that kind of hydration, especially in the desert when I want to know exactly how much water I have. As to primary containers I have used Platys as my main water carriers for years in harsh desert conditions without any issues or leaks but then I never have them on the outside of the pack while moving, I use an aquafina or similar bottle in the outside pocket for that.

[Nick Smolinske]

I like the idea of a drom combined with a 2.5 liter platy, sounds like a good combination. I don't use the hose on my drom much anymore (I've switched to gatorade bottles on the shoulder straps after I started using a lot more liquid calories).

But there was one time that I used the hose and got burned by it – I had the drom and just one extra little bottle when I started up Nankoweap Mesa in May. I started my hike at 3:30pm and I'd drank quite a bit by the time I got up there. The next morning I ran out at breakfast and had to hike back down on just the little extra bottle I had. So having a 2.5L platy as my reserve capacity would've been far preferable. Also not stupidly drinking so much that I was pissing clear on my way up . . .

[Sumi Wada]

>> I would not trust a Platy as a primary container in a place like Grand Canyon. The 2.5 liter Platys are nice as a secondary/supplemental source, but a Drom with a hose is far more reliable.

Well, to each his/her own, obviously, but that just hasn't been my experience. Been hiking in the Canyon for a while now and I've never had an issue with the 2L Platy's (the stiffer plastic ones, not the "soft water bottles".) I have, on the other hand, hiked with someone who had a slow leak from their drom. I also think *anything* with a hose is more vulnerable.

FWIW, I carry two tall quart-sized Smartwater bottles in my outside pockets (ULA Circuit) and any extra water goes inside my pack. I like knowing *exactly* how much water I have, don't want to rely on a single container, and also like having manageable containers when my water source requires a scramble or a tough reach.

[David Chenault]

My main dislike of bottles in the desert is that they provide nice hard edges which, whether in side pockets on the main body of the pack, do an uncanny job of rubbing against rock and building holes. Obviously if you're just cruising the Tonto this is less of a concern.

Hoses are certainly vulnerable. Had a brainfart on an alpine trip last month and picked up a full 4L drom by the hose, which snapped the little plastic elbow adaptor clean in two. Rigging a way to still carry water for the next 36 hours took a little thinking, and of course I didn't have another container aside from my cook pot. Some redundancy in water containers is always a good idea, as is not doing stupid things in the woods.

[Brendan Swihart]

I've used both platys, drom, and dromlite. I have had quite a few platy holes, but they're pretty easy to fix in the field. I mostly use the dromlite these days for convenience of the wide mouth and added durability after all my platys have ended up with leaks on the side seams (just worn out from long term use).

For long trips Aquamira is tough to beat in the desert. Your water sources will probably be fine outside of monsoon season, but using a filter for that long of a trip sounds like a PITA.

[David Chenault]

Nicolas, I just got back from doing a loop through Crazy Jug and down Upper Tapeats. Amazing stuff. You'll certainly have a great time on that route.

In your shoes I'd seriously consider neoprene socks for the wading section in Tapeats. That is going to be cold as hell in mid-December. We camped at the mouth of Timp Canyon the first night, and on the second day we didn't get sun until close to 11am. You might not have any in that stretch.

I look forward to the report!

[Nick Smolinske]

Great info David, thanks! Neoprene socks are something we have been considering, but hadn't made a decision on. Unfortunately they conflict a little bit with my current footwear choice – I just climbed Isis Temple and Cheops Plateau over a 4-day trip wearing Boulder X approach shoes. I was impressed with how good my feet felt after so much off-trail hiking, so I was thinking they might be ideal for this trip. However, the Boulder X's are a little too tight for my neoprene socks to fit … hmm.

There's also a couple of contouring bypasses that will avoid the Tapeats section (which I scoped out using topo maps and google maps satellite photos), but that's no fun . . . :)

[Andrew F]

Can you take out the insoles of your Boulder-X's? That'll free up space for the neoprene socks. I do that with some of my shoes and it works fine.

[David Chenault]

It's a tough one. That wading section might be 50 minutes total if you're moving, not much in the scheme of a 13 day route, but I was impressed with how cold that water was. Mountain stream cold, even on a fairly warm October day. Boulders would certainly be a good choice otherwise.

[Nick Smolinske]

So it’s been a year, and in that time the trip has evolved from a one-off hike into a plan to do 5 more long hikes and connect the whole north side of the Grand Canyon by 2020. This year is Nankoweap to Phantom (but possibly starting farther up due to snow). I’ll post a thread for this year’s gear list, because much has changed.

As far as last year’s trip goes:

1) the insole-taking-out method was a great idea, but we ended up skipping the neoprene socks and just taking the bypass on the esplanade. I think that was a very good idea in December, especially since Saddle Canyon also would have been full of cold water at the time.
2) We used alum in platypus bottles for one night. I’ll be carrying it again. If I expected a lot of use I’d bring something other than platys, but for one night it was fine.
3) I ended up adding some weight last-minute. I took my Sierra Designs rain jacket (+6 oz), my long underwear (+7 oz) and a MYOG synthetic bomber hat.

Here’s the whole trip report for reference.

[David Thomas]

Thanks for the post.  It’s nice to hear “the rest of the story”.  How cool that you’ll section-hike so much of the Canyon over time!

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