Last month I had two great hikes back-to-back. With a permit for two nights at Cottonwood Campground and two nights in the Phantom use area, I was perfectly positioned for a dayhike loop of Old Bright Angel, followed by an overnight into Phantom Canyon via the Cattle Trail. Here's part two of my two-part trip report:
CATTLE TRAIL aka CATTLE ROUTE
On Tuesday I hiked the old cattle trail (or route) between Cottonwood Campground and Phantom Canyon. Monday's rain had cleared off overnight and the day was crisp, clear, and somewhat breezy. Just about perfect hiking conditions!
From what I'd heard and read, this would be a long and rough route, and I should expect a dry camp overnight en route. As a result I was carrying max water making my pack 42 pounds. Also there seemed no hurry to get an early start; I left Cottonwood after 10:30am. I took the opportunity to snap several photos of the work done by the great volunteer group at the GCHBA service project in October. Everything still looks great! Here are some of the work projects we completed:
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| Area cleared, sign repaired |
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| New french drain |
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| Newly constructed table |
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| New path to ranger station |
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| New fire hose station |
Using Doug Nering's excellent and detailed directions I had no difficulty locating the correct place to leave the North Kaibab Trail, cross Bright Angel Creek, and start up toward the Tapeats break. The break is easily visible from the N. Kaibab Trail if you know the general vicinity to look in. It is south of Ribbon Falls (about 20-30 minutes from the footbridge) and north of the willow springs marshy area where the new bridge was recently put in.
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| Tapeats break |
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| Slope with possibly constructed switchbacks |
As I was preparing to leave the N. Kaibab Trail I noticed a large family of deer trotting along the west bank of the creek, then up slope. It would be an exaggeration to say that I followed them, but as I proceeded up the initial ridge after crossing the creek, it was obvious I was following a well used game trail. Sure enough, as I rounded the first hilltop headed south, there they were! They took one look at me and headed off in a different direction. It's too bad, because it would be interesting to follow some actual deer one of these times when I'm hiking (as Della calls it) "deer high" across the Tonto plateau. Anyhow it was the best kind of game trail, the kind with cairns. Obviously this route gets both human and wildlife use. Eventually I made my way to the Tapeats break, which is an easy walk up with some possibly constructed switchbacks through a narrow spot.
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| Wire-wrapped boulder |
Along the way I passed a large boulder trailside wrapped by a substantial length of wire. I don't know what the wire could have been -- possibly a crude gate? -- but clearly some human activity prompted its installation in that spot. However this slope, with a foot track angling down toward this wire-clad boulder, was one of very few places on this route where anything looked like an actual trail.
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| Click for close-up to see wire. |
After gaining the Tonto plateau, it was pretty typical off-trail hiking. As usual, I angled high, cutting the corner on hills and hitting saddles where the map shows it might be advantageous.
In the Muav south of Johnson Point, I encountered a thicket of brush and grasses of the type usually found along creeks. (It very much reminded me of something Doug and I struggled through along Nankoweap once.) Foolishly, I tried to go through it, then above it, when I should have just gone lower down the slope.
I was interested in finding whether there was surface water here (I didn't find any) because Harvey had marked this spot as a spring on his map. I was stepping on crushed grass and not solid ground for a while, then suddenly the underpinning was gone and I dropped four feet without warning: I had just stepped off a thin cliff band. Oops. Luckily I landed in more brush and no serious damage was done.
I contoured around above the chocolate cliff band visible in this photo to a flat area just above the cliff, adjacent to the trees, that would have made a great campsite. The next morning I photographed this spot from the other side of the canyon.
However some footprints in a few soft spots showed I wasn't the first to go this way, so I pressed on. At the point overlooking Phantom Canyon, was another great flat potential campsite, but now there was a clear track across the slope. I boogied on, quickly finding a cairn at the top of a long steep ravine. From here I could see a series of cairns and obvious travel, all the way down to the creek three-hundred feet below.
With no time to waste, I moved as quickly as I safely could down this loose but well-marked route, setting foot on the solid ground alongside the creek just six minutes after sunset. To my delight I was just a few yards upstream from the barrier waterfall dividing upper and lower Phantom Canyon.
In the Muav south of Johnson Point, I encountered a thicket of brush and grasses of the type usually found along creeks. (It very much reminded me of something Doug and I struggled through along Nankoweap once.) Foolishly, I tried to go through it, then above it, when I should have just gone lower down the slope.
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| Unusual vegetation indicates presence of water here |
I was interested in finding whether there was surface water here (I didn't find any) because Harvey had marked this spot as a spring on his map. I was stepping on crushed grass and not solid ground for a while, then suddenly the underpinning was gone and I dropped four feet without warning: I had just stepped off a thin cliff band. Oops. Luckily I landed in more brush and no serious damage was done.
I proceeded around to the overlook of the drainage from Buddha Cloister (the area enclosed by the Johnson Point and Sturdevant Point redwall arms). I didn't have any beta on where to go, so I just headed for the first side drainage that wasn't obviously a cliff.
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| Looking toward Sturdevant Point from Johnson Point |
This worked out, as a series of low ledges led down into the bed, then across the way a series of blocky quartzite upclimbs led to just one slightly exposed spot, and before I knew it, I was back above the Tapeats contouring west.
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| Ledges leading through Tapeats and Shinumo quartzite |
Around to the southwest side of Sturdevant Point, I found myself overlooking a large and oddly-located grove of cottonwoods, very pretty yellow this time of year.
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Grove of cottonwoods |
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| Cottonwood grove seen from across Phantom Canyon |
The sun was getting low, but there was perhaps an hour of light left. With rain in the next day's forecast, I had the idea that I might get out a day early if I could camp close enough to Phantom Creek, so I pressed on. Sooner than expected, I was across the next drainage and, following Doug's most excellent advice, rounding the south end of the next ridge rather than crossing over the saddle.
It was a little sketchy crossing the slope here. Due to all the faulting there is an unexpected outcropping of Hakatai shale higher than the Shinumo quartzite, and the shale was ball-bearings in a few places.
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| Slippery red slope of Hakatai shale |
With no time to waste, I moved as quickly as I safely could down this loose but well-marked route, setting foot on the solid ground alongside the creek just six minutes after sunset. To my delight I was just a few yards upstream from the barrier waterfall dividing upper and lower Phantom Canyon.
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| Just upstream looking back towards waterfall |
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| Waterfall as it pours past the chockstone |
A couple minutes walk upstream and I reached the nice campsite at the base of the quartzite cliff. There was just enough light to set up camp before darkness fell.
My hiking time from creek to creek had been six hours, which was at least two hours faster than I had expected. I attribute that to a combination of perfect weather, motivation, and good route instructions at two key points (the beginning and the end). It was good to have reached Phantom Creek in one day, because I was able to hike out the South Kaibab Trail a day early, and it was snowing when I reached the rim.
I tracked the Cattle Route using my smartphone. Click on "Satellite", Terrain" or "MyTopo" for a better view. You can also enlarge using the scale on the left. Links at lower left will jump you to the TrimbleOutdoors web site for more detailed information, except for "Download GPX" which will download a GPS data file.
The complete photo album of both hikes:
