Blue Springs Trip Report -- Link down, this taken from Google Cache 2nd Paragraph edited to put in distances and add the Beamer trail. Summary: 6 hours to descend. 5 hours to climb back out. Our love of hiking and Our love of the Grand Canyon We met at Lipan Point on a snowy and windy morning. Introductions and greetings were brief as we piled our backpacks into the back of the pickup, took our places, and headed for the ranger station. While Ron was getting our last minute information for the hike the rest of us moseyed into the gift shoppe (shop-pee) to warm up, with two members of the group buying hats and gloves - having traveled from warmer climes they hadn't anticipated such low temperatures. This group got together for our love of hiking and for our love of the Grand Canyon. The plan for this year's hike was: • To take us from the eastern-most part of the park at Desert View and the Palisades, hiking to Comanche Point (6 miles) • Continue further east across the high plateau in the Navajo Nation and dropping down into the Little Colorado River (LCR) on the Blue Springs Trail (about 14 miles total, river bottom mostly flat. Drop from rim to bottom is about 2,100 feet down with an average grade of 56%) • We were to hike along the LCR to the confluence of the LCR and the Colorado River (About 15 more miles across the bottom of the river bed). • The two-river confluence is is the start of the Beamer trail. We would go west along the Colorado River on the Beamer trail (8 miles long, steep up and down for most of it; avg grade of 13% with 2,700 feet climbed, 3,000 feet descended for a net loss of 250 feet.) • Then finish by climbing up and out of the canyon on the Tanner Rapids Trail to Lipan Point. (6.2 miles long, 5 miles climbing with an average grade of 19%. 5,300 total feet climbed, net elevation gain of 4,600 feet). Little did we know that we wouldn't make it even half way. We arrived at the rim at the point of descent and peered over at Blue Spring 2000 feet below. The view is mind boggling. The void below caused by the river is too much to comprehend. If you ever find the need to try to understand the nature of time and the power of natural forces on the land, go to the Canyon edge and take a peek. The Little Colorado is a muddy wash above the spring but the volume of clear, aqua marine water pouring into the river from the spring quadruples its volume and the two waters -the warm, sediment laden water from upstream and the cool blue emerging from the wall - merge together to form the volume we were to deal with further down. We read over the route description, looked at the terrain below us and found it hard to believe that we could find a way through. But we tried anyway. The trail description mentioned that horses had used this trail in earlier years, we deemed this to be lie. Six hours later, after passing our packs down 8-15 foot drops, attaching a rope several times to assist our descent, and wondering if we should be continuing, all six of us arrived at the beach we had viewed from above. We set up camp, cooked some pasta, filtered some water, and crawled into the bags. The last words muttered were something like "sure glad we don't have to go back up that thing". Morning brought a glorious sunny day. We packed up all our gear in plastic bags in our packs, donned our hiking sandals, broke out the hiking poles and headed down stream. The plan called for two days to cover the 14 miles down stream to the confluence of the LCR and the Colorado River, hiking along the sand bars and along the shore, crossing the LCR when we needed to. We soon found our plan to be a bit optimistic. Within the first 1/2-mile we had crossed seven times, each time becoming more and more comfortable with the water rushing by, the slippery rocks, and the spongy river bed beneath. But river crossings take time, and practice, and lots of confidence. And confidence comes with experience and we were learning as we went along. Four hours of slow progress found us woefully short of our planned goal for the day. We came to a crossing that was going to require a swim, not just a wade, and decided that we had to retreat. Our gear was going to get wet and the risks were becoming too great. We headed back to the sand bar of the previous night, stopping to swim in the blue waters of Blue Spring on the way back up. Foremost in everyone's minds was the fact that we had to ascend the same "trail" we had dropped in on the day before. We decided to rest and begin the assault in the morning. Most of us slept fitfully with what we all characterized in the morning as the perfect case study of anxiety dreams. The hike began as a slow, moderate climb through the layers of limestone on a fairly well defined trail. We arrived at the base of the first near vertical ascent and went to work. Packs were handed up via human chain to the top, each of us encouraging and assisting the others, not a word was mentioned of the precariousness of our situation. We all focused on the task at hand. We came to the next one and with the same deliberate methods we gained the next step. And so on. We affixed the rope at places where the drop below us made comfortable passage impossible. We stopped frequently to rest in the shade and eat and to drink some of the 6 quarts of water we were each hauling. We were carrying enough water to last until the following day, the next known pothole was 8 miles from the rim. Five hours after leaving the beach on the riverbank we found ourselves once again on the canyon rim surrounded by the sagebrush and long vistas across the plateau. The feeling of accomplishment was huge. We had, as a team, managed to ascend one of the toughest trails any of us had ever encountered. The mental challenge had been met head on. The rest of the trip was a slow meander back toward Desert View over the next two days, arriving back at the cars sunburned and ready for the hot tub at the motel. Susann and Stephen Paige Subaru Traveling Trainers - East Team Leave No Trace, Inc. PO Box 997 Boulder CO. 80306 303-442-8222 http://www.LNT.org/