All Hikers - Day 5

ALL HIKERS

DAY 5: BASE OF REDWALL TO TRAILHEAD

We are up at 5:00, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and pack our gear. Our goal is to leave just after sunrise. We actually depart about 6:30. Like yesterday afternoon, Marsha quickly leaves us behind. The morning view looking down Red Canyon is almost as good as last night.


	Sunrise below the redwall 4-23-2005 @ 6:19

Art and I reach the redwall in a few minutes. The trip up it is easy when you are fresh and the wind is not blowing. We begin the loop section around to the high promenade. We can see Marsha ahead of us on the loop. We expected to see the couple from the creek camped at the promenade, but instead some guy is camped there who is headed to Escalante Creek to meet some friends. He seemed to know nothing about the difficulties of the high route at Papago Creek. I can't imagine doing a hike of this difficulty without having read all the trip reports about it I could. The morning sun makes for some great views looking down Red Canyon.


View down Red Canyon 4-23-2005 @ 7:17	View down Red Canyon 4-23-2005 @ 8:38

We begin the next loop section up to the lower green area. When we reach the green area, we meet up with Marsha. I would like to claim it was our superior conditioning that helped us catch her, but she inadvertently got off the correct trail for a while. Once again she leaves us far behind. When we get farther up the green area, we meet the couple we saw at the creek yesterday. They are not sure if they are hiking out or spending one more night. Art and I press on. We are encouraged as our sight picture of Coronado Butte indicates we are nearing the rim.


Coronado Butte 4-23-2005 @ 11:43	Coronado Butte 4-23-2005 @ 12:03

Art and I were originally hoping to reach the rim by noon, but are now shooting for 1:30. This climb out is really tough and would not be any fun later in the day, but fortunately the temperatures have been moderate. We take one final rest break at a ledge overhang area and then make the final push to the top. We reach the New Hance Trail sign a little after 1:00 and begin the quarter mile walk to the highway. We arrive at the highway and official trailhead just before 1:15.


Art at the trailhead 4-23-2005 @ 1:14	Richard at the trailhead 4-23-2005 @ 1:16

I am displaying only a few battle wounds from the hike. We hope Marsha used her distressed waive skills we practiced at the beach and hitched a ride to the Lipan Point parking lot to pick up her car. Sure enough, in about ten minutes, she drives up to the trailhead. Art goes with her to get his truck, comes back for me, and we all meet at Desert View for some food.

MAIN INDEX | HIKING INDEX | BACK TO DAY 4 | FORWARD TO POSTSCRIPT