The Planned Hike
Being forced to take some vacation before Christmas 2002, Mike and I quickly decided we
should do a hike in the Grand Canyon. I have a lot of hiking experience, but had never
done the Canyon. Mike had already done several canyon hikes.
After talking with several people and reading a few trip reports off the net, we
decided to hike down Tanner, across the Escalante Route, and come out Grandview.
Our first thought was to come out New Hance trail, but the descriptions all said it
could be hard to follow, especially if the forecast for snow proved correct. Also,
the sights around Horseshoe Mesa seemed worth the extra distance to see.
Getting the Permits
Getting the permits was much harder than it should have been. Mike put the wrong dates on the first
application (fortunately it got rejected because they were not accepting applications
for April yet). The second got rejected because by that time it was too close to the
hike date (it was inside of 2 weeks). So, we would have to drive up and get the permits
the day of the hike. Mike called and made sure there would be permits available.
The bad thing about this is that we 1) had to drive to the Backcountry Information Center,
instead of going straight to Lipan Point. and 2) Had to wait for it to open, instead
of starting our hike at 7:00am as originally planned. However, the BIC staff was very helpful,
and the additional information we picked up (including a printed description of the Escalante
Route) made it worth the time. (although I think they'd have mailed us this info)
After we got the permits, we headed for Lipan Point. On the way we stopped at Moran Point
so I could snap a couple of pictures, but mostly because it was the only place Mike could get
any signal for his cell phone. (although it proved too weak to actually make a call)
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