South Bass/Tonto/Hermit Loop - Water 101
Water - it’s the single most important issue when planning a hike in the Grand Canyon.
A trail may have a name, it may be a line on the official USGS Quad, the distances may sound doable, the trailhead accessible and lots of people may have done it before. But you still may not be able to get there from here.
And finally, just getting a permit doesn’t mean you should attempt the hike.
Time and again the success or failure of a hike in the Grand Canyon hinges on JUST one thing - WATER. When it gets right down to it - hiking the Grand Canyon would be a walk in the park - IF only the National Park Sevice would install water fountains along the way.
There are four possible sources of water in the Grand Canyon - potholes, springs, streams and the Colorado River. Plan on treating ALL water to avoid illness.
Potholes are temporary pools of water that form after a rain. Expert Grand Canyon hikers with considerable experience and reports of current conditions have used potholes as a source of water. For the rest of us, if you are using or depending on potholes as a source of water — you have made a SERIOUS mistake in planning.
Occasionally springs have considerable flow - but the ones I’ve seen in the Grand Canyon could more adequately be described as “seeps”. Perennial springs on established trails usually have some means of collecting and retaining even the smallest trickle into a pool. A spring on a map is no guarantee that it exists, that it is flowing, or (especially) that you can find it. Historical springs have been known to dry up permanently after earthquakes or for no apparent reason.
Streams can be a good source of water and a few on the South Rim are perennial. Even perennial streams can disappear below the surface during times of low flow. In this case you may have to search up or down the streambed to find water. Some streams may have contaminants that can’t be filtered out - an example is Horn Creek where radioactive minerals have been found dissolved in the water.
Finally there’s the ever present Colorado river. But it is certainly a classic case of “…you can’t get there from here…”. Hikes in the Grand Canyon don’t go along the Colorado river. There are occasional stretches where you can travel along the river’s banks - but these stretches come up short when shear walls of the inner gorge disappear into the river - leaving no place to walk. One additional problem, water from the Colorado can be filled with silt - which requires an extra step when treating.
To date, my findings about water on the South Bass are bleak.
The only source for water on the South Bass is the Colorado River. There is the possibility of pot holes on the Esplanade (roughly half-way down) - if it’s been raining.
Water on the Tonto is limited too. Perennial water sources are reported at Slate, Boucher, and Hermit. Then there’s the Colorado - you can hike down Serpentine, the first canyon east of Serpentine, and Ruby.
Hiking out on the Hermit, water is not a problem. You can tank up at Hermit Creek and then at Santa Maria Spring on the way up Hermit trail.
The stretch between South Bass (at the river) and Slate Canyon is worrisome - that’s a long distance where the only perennial source is the Colorado.
Hiking down a side canyon to access the Colorado may seem simple enough - but…it’s not. The route is never certain and the change in elevation is about 1,200 feet.
An example of the difficulties you might encounter is right at the end of the South Bass trail. The trail just ends at a shear drop off above the Colorado. Hikers have been known to panic at this point and climb out - never reaching the Colorado. You have to look for a cairn to find your way down to the river.
That’s it for Water 101 - I’m not finished planning the water part of this hike - but I’ve got some ideas. I’ll be consulting some people that have done the hike for advice.
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