In November 2025, I did a six-day solo backpack on the Tanner and Beamer Trails in the Grand Canyon. The highlight was a day hike to the confluence of the Little Colorado River, with its stunning milky-blue water.

11/3/2025 – Tanner Trail from Lipan Point to Tanner Beach: In order to get an early start, I spent the night before my backpack in my truck at the dispersed camping area just off Desert View Road. On my drive to the trailhead in the morning, I got treated to an amazing sunrise, courtesy of some residual smoke in the air from recent prescribed burns. The Tanner Trail is 7.8 miles long and drops 4,700 feet — my plan was to do the descent all in one day, but break up the ascent into two days, by spending a night at a dry camp on top of the Redwall Limestone . So I needed to carry water down to cache at that camp for my return. That meant I was carrying 11 liters of water when I started, as well as all of my food for 6 day and 5 nights, so my pack was about as heavy as I’ve ever carried. And to top it off, the first 1.6 miles of the trail is super steep and quite loose, so the start of my hike was decidedly unpleasant, as I slowly picked my way down the trail. After reaching the 75 Mile Canyon Saddle, the travel levels out and I enjoyed the traverse of Escalante and Cardenas Buttes before arriving at the top of the Redwall. The upside of carrying water to cache is that your pack feels really light once you cache it. After a nice lunch break, I had to do another steep descent though the Redwall, but it felt much easier and I cruised the rest of the hike, arriving at Tanner Beach about 2 PM. I was excited to see that the river was green, as that meant I wouldn’t have to worry about settling sediment before filtering my water. I found a nice little spot to camp, nestled in the tamarisk with a view of the river, and settled in for a relaxing afternoon.

11/4/2025 – Beamer Trail from Tanner Beach to Palisades Creek: My second day was a short one, just 3 miles up the Beamer Trail along the Colorado River to a campsite just below Palisades Creek. My permit gave me two nights at this location, so that on my third day I could do a day hike up the Beamer to the confluence of the Little Colorado River. Since I didn’t have very far to go, I enjoyed a leisurely morning and was treated to lovely morning light as the sun hit the clouds that were hanging out over the rims. The first part of the hike up the Beamer traverses the Dox Sandstone just north of Tanner Beach and the views down on the river are phenomenal. I got to see one river trip packing up their camp, while another cruised down the river just as I dropped off the Dox. The rest of the hike was pretty mellow, along the river but a bit above the shoreline to avoid the densest vegetation. When I arrived at Palisades Creek, it took me a little while to find a campsite. I knew there were beach campsites, but it turns out they were well before Palisades Creek, so I had walked right by them without realizing it. It was a bit breezy, so I decided to set up my tent, and then I spent the rest of the day filtering lots of water and trying to stay cool. It was only in the low 80s, but there was no shade, so it still felt pretty hot just baking in the sun by the river.

11/5/2025 – Beamer Trail to Little Colorado Confluence and Back: A day hike to the confluence of the Little Colorado River was the main motivating factor for my backpacking trip. On our rafting trip in 2018, the Little Colorado flashed the day before we got to the confluence, so it was brown and muddy when we got to it and it turned the Colorado brown for the rest of our trip. When I saw that the Colorado was green at Tanner Beach, I was pretty optimistic that I’d get to see the famed milky-blue water of the Little Colorado, so that made the prospect of a 12-mile hike much more appealing. And now that I’ve done it, I have to say that this is my favorite hike so far in the Grand Canyon. Just upriver of Palisades Creek, the Beamer Trail ascends about 500 feet to the top of the Tapeats Sandstone and then stays at this level all the way to the confluence. The trail contours in and out of nearly twenty small, steep gullies that drain the Palisades of the Desert, which makes for some fun minor route finding challenges. But what I loved most about the hike was being in the middle of the canyon. There’s no better way to experience the immensity of the canyon than with the sheer walls of the Palisades towering 3,000 feet above you and the river framed by the Tapeats flowing 500 below you. And the confluence did not disappoint either — it was magical to see the milky-blue water of the LCR flowing into the main river. I brought my chair with me on the hike, so I found a nice rock above the confluence and just sat and watched the river go by for almost an hour.

11/6/2025 – Beamer Trail from Palisades Creek to Tanner Beach: The last three days of my backpack were about reversing what I had previously done. After my long day hike to the LCR, I was happy to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely morning before I packed up and headed back to Tanner Beach. I even did a short walk up Palisades Creek a little ways, just to wake my legs up. The hike back was mostly in the sun, so I was glad to get it done by noon and get my camp set up under a lovely shaded overhang. I even got to see two river trips run Tanner Rapids that afternoon. And after not seeing any other hikers for over two days, it was nice to chat with a few people at Tanner Beach.

11/7/2025 – Tanner Trail from Tanner Beach to Top of Redwall: Even though I only had a little under four miles to cover to get to my campsite on top of the Redwall, I opted for an early start to get done before it got too hot. The sun hit the trail about 9:15, but fortunately I was able to find a couple of shady spots for my snack breaks. When I got to the base of the Muav limestone, my destination looked so close, but getting through the Redwall is never easy and I had to cover about 1,200 feet in three quarters of a mile. When I arrived at the top, I was happy to find my cached water still there and I spent the afternoon hanging out in the shade of a nice juniper tree and enjoying the view. My biggest concern about camping of the top of the Redwall is that it can be quite windy up there, so I was a bit concerned when the wind picked up in the afternoon and even relocated my campsite to a spot that offered a bit more shelter. But thankfully the wind died down around 10 PM and I was able to get a good night’s sleep.

11/8/2025 – Tanner Trail from Top of Redwall to Lipan Point: My goal was to be back at the rim before noon, so I got up before 6 to get packed up and on my way early. The beautiful morning light was rather distracting, but I managed to be on my way before 7:30. I was in the sun as I traversed Cardenas Butte, but then back in the shade for the traverse of Escalante Butte. I had a nice snack break at the 75 Mile Canyon saddle, to fuel up for the final push — 1,800 feet in 1.2 miles. I expected to be back in the sun part way up, but the trail stayed in the shade until I had turned the final switchback and I made great time, getting to the top at 10:30. After seeing a total of twenty people on the trails over six days, it was a bit of a shock to return to a parking lot and overlook full of people, but at least I had someone to take my victory photo!