In April of 2009, my friend Mike came to visit the Grand Canyon between his seasons working at Yellowstone. At that time of a year, choices for a last-minute backcountry permit were slim pickings! All of our desired hikes were booked. There was only one somewhat enticing option available – two consecutive nights in the Grapevine use area. With a little research, I was suddenly drowning in possibilities: exploring Cottonwood Creek, exploring Grapevine Creek, a Redwall route and Redwall Rim routes, and something called the Old Grandview Trail. In the end we only had the time and inclination to explore Grapevine Creek, but this was yet another excellent Grand Canyon hike.
looking west near the top of the Grandview Trail
Mike approaches Horseshoe Mesa.
Rather than take the trail directly west to Cottonwood Creek, we chose to continue north and take the route off of the west arm of Horseshoe Mesa through the Redwall. From there we would briefly check out the unnamed drainage directly north of the mesa – the drainage in the above photo. The trail in the photo below is the way through the Redwall.
Three of the most prominent eastern Grand Canyon landmarks – Angels Gate, Wotan’s Throne, and Vishnu Temple were clearly visible for most of this hike.
exploring the unnamed drainage
Back up on the Tonto, we headed west.
Cottonwood Creek had these cool “albino” leaves.
the west side of Cottonwood Creek
This is one of my favorite photos from the entire trip – Wotans Throne.
Don’t miss the next page (This day continued)
