Rock Garden
 

Red Canyon — The second route built by John Hance. The trail through the Kaibab and Coconino levels is broken up and steep with frequent two-foot drops. The drainage east of Coronado Butte is pleasant and sparsely forested, but this makes the trail a little more difficult to follow. The route follows the top of the Redwall east past three ravines to where it descends through the limestone. The trail from here to the streambed is in excellent condition.

The streambed is rock-lined where the trail enters the bed and a rock platform by a large boulder I call "Bigrock" makes a good campsite with water often available. Once this route was hard to follow, but increased use has made the trail clear. The canyon up from where the trail meets the bed looks interesting. In other rock-lined sections of the streambed water may or may not be found.

The trail follows the gravel bed to Hance Rapid except for a diversion to the east slope bypassing a major jumble of house-size boulders.

Trails — The trail to the river is named the Hance Trail and often referred to as the New Hance Trail. I like to call it Red Canyon Trail and this more specific descriptive name is found in the Santa Fe tourism guide Titan of Chasms (1904).

Routes — A possible route along the base of the Redwall to the east of the trail is too loose; however, there is a break in the Shinumo rim through from the east fork of Red Canyon, and it appears to be possible to follow the Bright Angel above the cliffs eastward and into upper Papago or Seventyfive Mile canyon.

1971 August - To the River and back with Deborah; her first hike! Trail poor to nonexistent. Found a nice little shower spot in the stream at Bigrock. Got rather dehydrated on the way out and had to lick rocks.

1979 September - First return trip since 1971, with Deborah, Hal and Leigh. Camped at Bigrock; water available. On the way to Grandview.

1985 May - Stayed fourth night of Escalante Route up in the streambed with Dad and Hal. Next day on the way out we assisted a hiker who had suffered heat stroke, his companions had left him alone; we did our best to signal the NPS helicopter that he was OK. Little water. Very demanding hike out.

1990 November - End of 5 day Escalante with Danny.

1993 October - CABA Escalante group hike, again with Dad and the same plan.

2003 April - Hiking in with Alessio starting my first Grand Canyon trip in more than 2 years and a major test: Can I really carry a big pack here again?

2019 October - 4th Escalante Route and Red Canyon Spring.

2021 February - Exploring Red Canyon Spring with possible game track to Mineral Canyon.

 

Catalog of Places - Trips - Routes - Notes