jgaz
Adventurer
I just got back from a four day backpacking trip with my sister and her 10 year old grandson. We hiked to the river and back on the Bright Angel Trail. I did this in order to keep the daily mileage around 4.5 to 5 miles.
I shouldn’t have been concerned. The kid did great! He carried about a 15 lb pack, give or take and I couldn’t catch him going up hill.
The main reason I posted this thread is to remind everyone hiking the canyon to be aware of seasonal and/or unexpected water outages. It’s always best to check with back country office for water availability.
On my most recent hike I found that the water had been turned off at Indian Garden, but not at the 1.5 and 3 mile rest houses. In my experience this is very rare. I was told it had been off for about 15? hours and they didn’t know when it would be turned back on. There was nothing posted at the trailhead.
The three of us in my party were each carrying almost two liters, plenty to get to Indian Garden, especially with the rest houses having water.
In order to dry camp at the garden if the water wasn’t turned back on, my sister and I each carried a 1qt collapsable canteen and I added a 1 gallon MSR water bag when we were saddling up.
I planned to fill everything at the 3 mile house if necessary.
We also were carrying 16 chlorine dioxide tablets if purifying was necessary.
Thankfully topping off wasn’t necessary when I confirmed the water was back on by asking a ranger we met on the trail. The reports from hikers varied. I was told by the ranger that he’d never seen it off that long in 15 years. I can’t cinfirm this, just repeating it.
My point in all this is that we need to be prepared to take care of ourselves. I wasn’t carrying a filter on this trip but still had a plan if there were water problems. I admit we were trying to keep the weight down by hiking this route but we were really planning to have water at our camps.
I shouldn’t have been concerned. The kid did great! He carried about a 15 lb pack, give or take and I couldn’t catch him going up hill.
The main reason I posted this thread is to remind everyone hiking the canyon to be aware of seasonal and/or unexpected water outages. It’s always best to check with back country office for water availability.
On my most recent hike I found that the water had been turned off at Indian Garden, but not at the 1.5 and 3 mile rest houses. In my experience this is very rare. I was told it had been off for about 15? hours and they didn’t know when it would be turned back on. There was nothing posted at the trailhead.
The three of us in my party were each carrying almost two liters, plenty to get to Indian Garden, especially with the rest houses having water.
In order to dry camp at the garden if the water wasn’t turned back on, my sister and I each carried a 1qt collapsable canteen and I added a 1 gallon MSR water bag when we were saddling up.
I planned to fill everything at the 3 mile house if necessary.
We also were carrying 16 chlorine dioxide tablets if purifying was necessary.
Thankfully topping off wasn’t necessary when I confirmed the water was back on by asking a ranger we met on the trail. The reports from hikers varied. I was told by the ranger that he’d never seen it off that long in 15 years. I can’t cinfirm this, just repeating it.
My point in all this is that we need to be prepared to take care of ourselves. I wasn’t carrying a filter on this trip but still had a plan if there were water problems. I admit we were trying to keep the weight down by hiking this route but we were really planning to have water at our camps.