It's a straight shot down to Tanner Rapids, and once you get there, make sure and filter some water because it's going to be another 10 miles or so before you get to some reliable water. Once you've filled up, head west past the sandy campground and continue on the trail. Depending on the water level and sand that year, this can be a difficult section to locate the trail. Specifically, there's a large sandy bar that you encounter about 60 seconds after the campground and it took Steve and I a try or two before we actually found the correct entry point. 

Pictured right is the Colorado River very shortly after the campground. 

There is a wonderful, very brief, side-quest to the Unkar Ruins (pictured left). This is an Ancient Puebloan site. Take a short walk over to the top of the Mesa and check out these relatively intact ruins. Don't touch or mess around with the ruins of course, just appreciate from a distance. If you want the details on where to turnoff to get to the ruins, take a look at my GPS route, zoom into the Unkar Rapids, and you'll see the obvious line that extends out to the Mesa an ruins.

This was the highlight of the day for me. Especially after you've been doing rollers for the last ten or so miles, this canyon is a lot of fun. When you approach the canyon you initially are right on the edge of it as you are looking right. The trail goes towards the back of the canyon, which is where you descend into it via this grippy wall (pictured left). As you can see, it doesn't require ropes, and if you have good shoes you need not bother using hands either. 

Below you can check out some of the photos taken in this canyon. This canyon is not technical, and quite wide, just soak up the shade while you can!

After you get out of the canyon you hang a left prior to getting to the rapids there. It's a quick jaunt (less than a mile) over to you next obstacle, the Papago Slide. In the image to the left you can make out a few river rafts. Steve and I spotted probably two dozen rafts throughout the day, must have been primo rafting I can imagine.

I hate to say this, but I was so zonked by the time we arrived at Hance Rapids, I didn't even think to take any more photos, especially because I was already so tired, in addition to having to climb out of New Hance Trail (very steep). 

Some notes about the trail. As always, fill up at the Colorado River when you get to Hance Rapids, you're gonna want it for later! Go straight back into Red Canyon and this is technically where New Hance Trail starts. However, the trail basically is nonexistent while you head up the wash. Steve and I did catch a little bit of water flow a ways up, but it's irrelevant, as we just filled up at the river. 

The most important part of this trail is the point which you actually start climbing out of the wash. You really need to pay attention and not just mindlessly go up the canyon - people have done this before and they got horribly lost by the time it's night. That being said, from the point which you start the canyon (at Hance Rapids) to the point where you take a left up out of the wash, is about 1.5 miles. Keep a sharp out for it!

Once you get to the trail out of the wash, you've got it made. Just a mere 4 miles and nearly 5,000 ft. of elevation gain. This is (in my opinion) what makes this trail so difficult. It's incredibly steep for 4 miles straight, and it really doesn't let up. However, if you just keep you head down and grind it out, eventually, you will get to this wonderful sign (pictured). 

At the reaching of the road (which is just about 1/4 mile away from the sign) we looked at our watches and realized it was exactly at a Marathon distance! This makes for a fun challenge, if you've already done a marathon and you want to step it up a notch!

Pictured right is Steve as we take the short walk back to the car we parked at the pulloff. Keep in mind - you cannot park right at the road where the New Hance trail access is. A hint for knowing where this parking is, there are three signs on the road, all of which say "no parking". There is nothing here that indicates this is where you go into the woods to get to the New Hance Trail, but this is indeed where the trail to get to the trail begins. 

Anywho, once Steve and I got to the car, we drove back to Lipan point where the other car was parked. There are so many good single-day activities one can do while in GCNP, but I believe this is one of the best single days you can spend in the canyon!

All told, this was 26.2 miles, 8,025 ft. of elevation gain, and total elapsed time of 9 hours, 7 minutes. 

Feel free and drop a question on my Strava activity (below) and I'll do my best to answer it!