Day 1: FridayWhen we left Mather at 5:30 am, we were tempted to slam our car doors and blow the car horn, but decided to not stoop to their level. |
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| We drove out to Grandview Point and got our packs ready, while we waited to see if the weather would break. The clouds and fog rolled in and out, giving the Canyon an eerie, but beautiful, look and feel. |  |
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| Inner canyon through the clouds from Grandview Point | ||
| At 7:10, we headed down, hoping we would hike down out of the weather. As it turned out, we did. As we descended toward Horseshoe Mesa, it became drier and warmer. At the same time, the clouds lifted and began to break up above us. | ||
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| Doug and Brian at Grandview Point trailhead | Clouds and mist from upper Grandview trail | |
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| Brian on the upper Grandview trail | Views into the inner canyon from upper Grandview trail | Grapevine Canyon | |
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| Cottonwood Canyon | Brian subdues the nasty tree root | Looking back up to Horseshoe Mesa from steep section of upper Miner's (Page) Spring spur | |
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| Doug and Brian at the mine on Miner's (Page) Spring spur | Water stop at Miner's (Page) Spring | Filling a water bottle | |
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| Vishnu Temple from the Tonto trail, west of Hance Creek | Hance Canyon, with Vishnu Temple in background | Tonto trail winding around the south end of Horseshoe Mesa | |
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| Hawkins Butte (left) and Newberry Butte (right) from Tonto trail around Horseshoe Mesa | Hillside of Prickly Pear cactus, Tonto trail around Horseshoe Mesa | Prickly Pear cactus |
It was an excellent hiking day. We spent 6 hours and 50 minutes hiking and took plenty of breaks. Our times for various checkpoints were:
| Horseshoe Mesa | 2:00 | hours |
| Page Spring | 3:00 | |
| Tonto at Hance Creek | 4:00 | |
| Campsite at Cottonwood Creek | 6:50 |
| Campsite was at 3,640 feet, which gave us a total vertical drop of 4,230 feet for the day. |  |
We enjoyed the "sit around" time we had. Time to enjoy the vistas and sounds. It was a clear night with temperatures around 47 degrees. |
| Campsite at Cottonwood Creek, below Horseshoe Mesa |
