Water cacheing in the Grand Canyon

Hello there! This post shares how we handled water carrying & cacheing while backpacking the Thunder River—Deer Creek Loop in the Grand Canyon.

Here’s my full trip report from May 2021.

We completed the Thunder River — Deer Creek loop over 5 days at the end of May. This trail is a lollipop loop that begins by descending from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and features abundant creeks and waterfalls—plus of course the Colorado River—at the bottom of the canyon.

There is no water on the main ascent / descent section of the trail, though, so the Park Rangers (and pretty much all of the trip reports) recommend starting with enough water for the first 1–2 days, and cacheing enough water for final ascent.

Most backpackers cache on the Esplanade, which is about 2,000 feet below the rim, and is usually the campsite of choice for the last night on the trail.

The Esplanade at sunset

After much math and deliberation we ended up cacheing a total of 6 liters to cover our last 24 hours on the trail, and carried another 6 to cover our first day and a half, after which we expected to reach a reliable water source.

I used the following bladders for cacheing and carrying:

For cacheing:

• Cnoc Vecto 3L bag: this is a great bag, and compatible with a Sawyer mini water filter. I find the 3L size hard to pack, though, I so left it on the Esplanade.
• 1L Platypus. This is probably the last time I’ll use Platypuses on the trail. One of them sprung a leak at the trailhead, and the whole time we were in the canyon I had minor anxiety about discovering my water cache had all drained into the Esplanade.
• 2L Platypus

For carrying:

• 2.5L Osprey bladder
• 2L Cnoc Vecto (this was an excellent dirty bag once we got for the river, paired with my Saywer mini), and the 2L size is much easier to pack than the 3L.
• 1 SmartWater bottle (backup dirty bottle)
• 1 16 oz repurposed wide-mouth plastic juice bottle, for electrolytes

Filling up our bladders at the Bill Hall trailhead.

Neither of us could fit all that extra water in our packs (plus my beloved REI Flash is only rated for 30lbs) so we front-packed the water cache.

I used a Cotopaxi day pack that was gifted to me by Ragnar Relay.

It made for a heavy, but completely doable, start to the trip.

About to drop that cache 🙌

We dropped the first two liters on the Esplanade at the Bill Hall — Indian Hollow Trail junction, and another four liters about a mile later.

There’s a rock overhang near this trail junction where you can easily hide your water cache.

We ended up not needing all that water, but we also lucked into some cooler temperatures (high of 87). If I were to do this trip again, I don’t know that I’d reduce my water cache at all. I’d always much rather err on the side of too much water when desert backpacking.

What I would do differently is scout a campsite and cache water near there to avoid the extra schlepping.

Lessons learned from this water cacheing experience:

• Go conservative on water estimates; it’s easier to carry heavier and dump extra than to go thirsty!
• Front packing worked really well for a short stretch. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but it was much easier and much less stressful than trying to cram more into my main pack.
• Carry at least two vessels that work with your water filter. I didn’t need my backup, but it was an easy way to reduce background stress.

More on backpacking the Grand Canyon:

• The training plan that carried me into and out of the canyon with ease, despite living in a basically flat part of the country (still high on this success!)
• Day-by-day trip report for the Thunder River — Deer Creek loop in late May.
• How we handled food storage
• Why I went stoveless, and my five-day menu that I didn’t hate and sometimes even loved
• Here’s my LighterPack list. (Green stars: MVPs of this trip. Yellow stars: brought too much. Red stars: should have left at home.)