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The path of my second
section hike from Lees Ferry to Phantom Ranch.
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This report describes a 156 mile solo
backpacking trip I made in the spring of 2018 through the eastern
portion of the Grand Canyon National Park. The hike started
at Lees Ferry at river mile (RM) 0 on March 24th and ended at the
South Kaibab Trailhead on April 8th. The hike was sixteen days in
duration. The first 149 miles hiked to Phantom Ranch were part of my
traverse route through the Grand Canyon.
I took a two year hiatus from the
Canyon traverse after my first hike in 2016. I had left the traverse
disappointed but not surprised that my knee could not put up with the
abuse of cross country travel with a heavy pack. The inspiration came
upon me in early 2018 to get back to the traverse. The plan was to do
a shorter duration hike and see if my knees could take it.
Day 0. Looking NE
toward the Lees Ferry launch ramp where I will depart the following
morning.
La Sportiva Ultra
Raptor Mountain Running shoe was the hiking shoe of choice. I started
with a brand new pair then I switched to another brand new pair
starting on Day 8. The second pair was cached at the top of the
Redwall in 36.7 Mile Canyon.
March 24
Day 1: Lees Ferry RM 0 to Sevenmile
Draw RM 6 (8.7 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 1 Map
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Lees Ferry launch ramp
The first day of the hike. Stacy took a
photo of me when I was ready to “launch off” from the Lees Ferry
launch ramp. My pack was pretty full with seven days worth of food.
It was about 8:30am. We said our last goodbyes and I left the launch
ramp by walking along the road to avoid the river camp just down
stream and also knowing that, if I wanted to keep my shoes dry, I
needed to cross the Paria River using the bridge along the road.
Along the way, I walked past two fishermen getting ready to fish.
They had their waiters on and were gathering gear from their truck.
One paused to say good morning and asked me where I was going. I told
him Phantom Ranch. That caused the second fisherman to stop what he
was doing and join the conversation. They both seemed surprised and
one expressed that it was a long distance away. After our
conversation, I continued along the road a short distance longer to
reach the final parking lot at roads end. As I walked, I wondered how
my knees were going to fare this trip. Could they handle the abuse
needed to get to Phantom or will my plans be dashed again as I escape
out some side canyon. I had been a little pessimistic about them
given how bad my right knee became after 21 days of hiking in the
west end of the Canyon two years prior. The good news was, this trip
was only planned to be 17 days and the daily mileage was less than what
I was doing on that trip.
Grand Canyon National
Park boundary about a mile down river from the launch ramp.
Beyond the pit toilet, in this last
parking lot, a fisherman's trail was apparent that paralleled the
river. A few hundred feet along this trail brought me to the national
park boundary sign. The trail continued up to a bench, crossed it,
and then descended back down to river level. Once at the river, my
travel was slowed by brush and reeds until I got to where the Kaibab
cliff was close to the river bank. I generally tended to walk close to
the base of the cliff to avoid the vegetation right along the river.
There are flat sections of the Kaibab I walked on which made it for
easy travel. This paradigm continued all the way to Cathedral Wash.
When I was getting closer to Cathedral Wash the brush thickened. Down
river from Cathedral Wash I was walking on a rock ledge about twenty
feet above the river that began to pinch off. The cliff ledge, in one
ten foot section, was less than a foot wide. At that point I began
using hand holds along the less-than-vertical cliff face just in case
my footing gave way. Once I passed the pinch point travel was easier
once again.
About 2 river miles
from the launch ramp looking downriver.
As the Navajo Bridges came into view I
arrived at the “North Rim Gate”. This was the technical crux for
the day. The North Gate is a rock cliff that extends into the water
and forces hikers to climb up, around, and down that cliff to
continue downriver. The rock formation is not sheer and has many
features for hand and footholds. I climbed onto a ledge that was
about five feet above me, then walked up this ledge which ramped up
steeply as I walked downriver. In about 20 feet I then descended
directly down the cliff face 10-15 feet. I traversed and descended
back down to the level I was contouring along the river before the
gate. I did not remove my pack but I did face the rock to down climb
the vertical section and some of the descending traverse. It is 4th
or easy 5th class climbing, however the rock quality is
not the best. I made sure that I was using good holds and that I was
distributing my weight as equally as I could among all my points of
contact. There were loose holds that I avoided.
The "North Rim
Gate" in the foreground requires some technical climbing to get
past. Navajo Bridges coming into view.
Continuing downriver toward the
bridges, I stayed high to avoid the brush along the river and I knew
that a cliff of Coconino sandstone would eventually force me up from
the river before I crossed under the bridges. I crossed under the
Navajo Bridges on the slope above the Coconino cliff. It was a steep
slope that I was side hilling with a lot of rock hopping but the rock
and dirt were fairly stable. I did have a river raft trip passing
below me, so I was careful not to dislodge rocks that could tumble
down the slope, off the cliff, and into the water or on top of them.
As I expected, there was a lot of trash under the bridges from people
tossing items off. Is it our innate curiosity that drives us to do
this? There were some old tin beer cans and other antique garbage
mixed in with modern garbage. I hurried through this throw zone
because I did not want to become a target or just be in the wrong
place at the wrong time. I had to continue side hilling until the
river bends right and the bridges were no longer in sight. Around
this bend was a rock slide from the Kaibab Formation above that
covered the Coconino cliff below a provided a way back down to near
river level. There were some big boulders to deal with on the way
down.
Looking back at the
Navajo Bridges and the steep slope I've been traversing.
I continued downriver up against the
base of the Coconino cliff. There was a pretty good sheep trail that
I followed all the way into Sevenmile Draw which was my planned camp
for the first night. It took me about seven hours to hike from Lees
Ferry at a comfortable pace. It was about 3:20pm when I arrived.
The miles displayed on my inReach track
were inflated as I expected. The inReach said I traveled 12.5 miles.
The canyon walls obscure the GPS satellites and worse, reflect GPS
signals off of the cliffs causing large position errors. I smooth the
data by hand after the trip to get a better estimate of distance
traveled. For example the raw track shows me crossing the river and
hiking on the opposite side. Obviously, I did not do that so I
deleted errors like that or drug the track points more in line with
what I actually did. The hand-smoothed track is about 8.7 miles which
is much closer to the truth.
After observing these obvious GPS
errors in the Canyon I realized that GPS tracks from other hikers
can't always be relied upon for accurate position data. For example,
I now don't take for granted that GPS data will show exactly where
someone went through a cliff band.
I walked up Sevenmile Draw a little
ways to see if I could find some clear water. There were puddles of
water but it was pretty muddy from the rains earlier in the week. The
Colorado River was slightly silty. Enough so that I settled water
overnight with some alum in it and filtered it the following morning.
Color matched!
While relaxing in camp, I had curious visitors arrive. A group of bighorn sheep approached and noticed me. They were curious and came a little closer. One laid down on a rock and occasionally looked at me. A young one “woofed” at me a few times. They were grazing on the plants near camp and eventually moved on. It was fun to watch them bound around in the boulders. They are amazingly agile and well adapted to the canyon terrain.
My dinner at Sevenmile
Draw. Beans, rice, broccoli, and cashews makes a tasty 1000 calorie
dinner. That is 1000 calories out of 5500 calories/day. The homemade
cozy kept the meal hot. The spoon was my only kitchen item that ever
had to be cleaned.
While it was mostly overcast all day
the clouds cleared after I was in camp. The temperature probably only
reached the low 70's during the day. Lows were forecast to be in the
40's F.
Curious visitors at
dinner time.
The low temperatures and new liner
socks in my shoes resulted in no blisters today.
March 25
Day 2: Sevenmile Draw RM 6 to Soap
Creek Canyon RM 11 (8.4 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 2 Map
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I woke up to a cloudy sky but it cleared up early in the morning and it was sunny most of the day. The forecasted high was supposed to be 76 F. Good weather conditions for hiking. Had it been 30 degrees warmer, it would have been a quite a different experience.
Morning sunlight on the
rocks.
I left camp around 7:30 am. Just shortly
after leaving Sevenmile Draw, I ran into a boulder field I had to
find my way across. Once past the boulder field I followed big horn
sheep trails near the water, when I could, which made for easy travel
at times. Of course, it is off trail hiking so you literally have to
watch your step. That is, watch every step you take. But as far as
off trail hiking, it was generally easy going.
Looking back upriver
toward Badger Rapid.
Upon leaving Badger Canyon, I ran into
another boulder field to traverse. The Kaibab cliff formation above
had broken down and created the debris/boulder field before me.
Similar to leaving Sevenmile Draw, once I was through the boulder
field I could get close to the water and follow big horn sheep trails
here and there for easier off-trail hiking.
Ten Mile Rock
I arrived at Soap Creek Rapid by 2 pm.
This was my designated camp. I felt guilty for being a slouch and
calling it for the day but I was not sure where I would find a flat
spot downriver that I could camp at within a few hours from this
canyon. Shorter hiking days also means I am burning less calories.
However, I still want to eat all 5500 calories allotted for the day.
Otherwise, I will be carrying it in my pack until I reach my cache at
36.7 Mile Canyon. I fell short of my goal and only managed to eat
4500 calories. In part, it was because I was finding it a challenge
again to eat my salty snacks without a lot of time and water to chew
and swallow them. The salty snacks make up 1000 calories of a each
days chow. A number I will no doubt change for my next hike.
I spent time at Soap Creek Rapid
watching the water flow patterns through the rapid. Just as rock
climbing changes how you perceive vertical rock surfaces, river
rafting changes how you perceive water in motion. While I was there,
I saw a raft trip approach so I filmed them as they went through the
rapid. The lead rower was very animated and psyched to be on the
river. The rowers to follow were more cautious and looked to still be
finding their flow or maybe their beer.
Rafter navigating Soap
Creek Rapid.
I found a pool of river water near the
rapid that was still enough that the silt had settled out of it. I
took my water from it and filtered it for next day. It was nice not
having to wait for it to settle.
At about 5 pm I watched another raft
trip approach. This trip was pulling it to camp at Soap Creek. I
thought that I would have the area to myself because I would have
expected raft trips to make camp earlier. I greeted two men who were
establishing their campsites a 100 feet from me. As it turns out,
they were late because they flipped a raft in Badger Rapid. In fact,
the two gentlemen I talked to were in the raft that flipped. They
were busy laying and hanging all of their wet clothes and gear around
their campsites to dry it out. Back home we call that a yard sale.
The man who was rowing had a lot of
wilderness experience in mountaineering, rock climbing, and search
and rescue but this was his first day on the oars. A tough day on the
job but he has time to hone his skills before Hance Rapid which will
be a significant step up in difficulty. His passenger, a new
acquaintance, just experienced his first day of rafting. What a day
it was. Earlier, at about 3 pm, I saw what looked to be a blue water
bottle floating right down the tongue of Soap Creek Rapid. It turned
out to be one of the passenger's beers that got away in Badger Rapid.
My first and only river beer sighting for the trip and it was well
out of my reach. I talked briefly to some of the other rafters and
then let them get to their business as they were hustling to get camp
established before dark.
I returned to my gear and cooked and
ate my dinner as darkness fell over camp. The sound of Soap Creek
Rapid masked any sounds the raft trip group may have made. It was a
peaceful night for me at Soap Creek.
March 26
Day 3: Soap Creek Canyon RM 11 to
Rider Canyon RM 17 (10.1 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 3 Map
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I woke up and quietly packed up my gear
on the slight chance that I might wake up the rafters nearby. I was
on my way around 6:20 am. By then, several of the rafting folks were
milling about.
Morning sunlight
I walked downstream a short distance
before I ran into the Supai ledges. I don't know the name of the
formation within the Supai Group, but they are some of the harder
rock in the group. There were red rocks from the Supai formation
above the ledges but they were more broken down. I walked on the
ledges when it was easy to do so. There was some exposure in places
along them. I tried to stay on the top level of ledges but I would
drop down a level depending on which one looked easiest at the time.
There was no obvious ledge system to be on all the time.
12.4 Mile Camp. What's
wrong with this picture?
I passed 12.4 Mile Camp and I saw the
party that I had filmed going through Soap Creek Rapid had made camp
there. The timing of the tides at this river mile are not the best.
The morning was low tide and several of their rafts were not in
contact with water. At least there were no rocks, only sand to push
the rafts over to get them back in. Just a month later, I found
myself tying a raft off on the same beach for the night. I made sure
I had enough line out to keep the raft floating.
View downstream of the
route.
I spied a water pocket
in Tanner Wash across the river.
Another view of my
route downstream. A river trip floats downriver in the distance.
Most of the hiking for the day was
spent walking on top of the Supai ledges. The ledges pushed me up
away from the river and I was 300-400 ft above the river by the time
I reached Rider Canyon. I had a good view of House Rock Rapid off of
the upriver point of Rider Canyon. The raft trip that camped at Soap
Creek was scouting the rapid as I approached the point. By the time
I reached the point at 1:20 pm, the first three rafts had already
gone through the rapid. I waited and watched all but the last raft go
through. Most of the people rowing depended on the lateral above the
hole to push them out of the way. None of the last rafts turned
perpendicular to the current and pulled right to avoid the hole.
A view down on House
Rock Rapid from the upriver point of Ryder Canyon.
I traversed on the ledges into Rider
Canyon. As I did so, I had a good view down into Rider Canyon and I
could see a number of pools of water in the creek bed. Tom Martin
told me of a 3-4 ft high cairn that marks an early descent into Rider
through the Supai cliff bands. Given there were loose rocks all over
the place, I wasn't real confident I would find that cairn. I walked
on the highest ledge level not knowing what level the cairn would be
but I thought it would be easier to spot below me than above me. I
was resigned to having to find my own route through the Supai cliffs,
so I looked for weaknesses and rock slides that might allow access to
the creek bed. I knew I would eventually be able to get into the bed
if I kept traversing into the canyon. About ¾ mile up Rider Canyon
from the point, I saw a section of Supai cliffs that were broken down
and the talus slope seemed to cover some of the lower cliffs. As I
walked toward this weakness, I saw the cairn! I set a waypoint for
the cairn before descending (12S 432615 mE, 4058978 mN). There is a
crack/drainage in the ledge near the cairn that you can walk and
climb down into. It ends in a small off-width crack. This off-width
crack descends about 8 feet to the talus below it. I removed my pack
and lowered it so that I could reach holds in the crack if I needed
them. That was the only time on the hike that I removed my pack to
climb or down climb anything. It was fairly easy to down climb and
reach the talus slope mostly on holds outside the crack. Once down
through that section I descended the talus following two more cairns
to the next cliff band. I thought the cairns were leading me to
another down climb but I did not see anything that was easy to
descend right away. Instead, I traversed up creek about 200 ft where
it was easier to scramble down into the creekbed.
Looking down into Ryder
Canyon.
As I made my way down the creekbed, I
had to make my way around several pools and pour offs. The first pour
off I came to, I down climbed just right of the middle of the bed to
the edge of a pool of water. The pool was bordered by mud so I
switched from shoes to sandals and walked the mud and edge of the
pool to get to dry rock again. I then changed back into running shoes
to have better traction for the larger bypasses around the pour offs
further down the creekbed. The next bypass was on creek left and the
one after that was on creek right. There were a couple more that were
easy to bypass. I noticed some cairns or old mud tracks that clued me
in on which way to go at times.
The bed of Ryder
Canyon.
Potable water?
At the mouth of Rider Canyon there is a
lagoon formed by the river. I expected that I would have to wade
through that in the afternoon because the tide would be higher.
Instead I found that I could traverse along the slickrock on creek
right to a point where I could then down climb to the sand next to
the lagoon. I did that and walked out to the beach.
I was at my planned camp. It was about
3:40 pm when I got to the beach. I had spent about 2 ½ hours getting
from the upriver point above Rider Canyon to the beach. That seems
like a long time but I was taking my time keeping my shoes dry.
The river gods did not
gift me a beer in the eddy of House Rock Rapid.
I walked along the eddy to see if any
beer was captured. The only thing floating in the eddy was the blade
of an oar. Someone probably stuck their downstream oar in to deep,
got stuck, then the raft floated over it and sheared it off. At least
they were trying to control the raft position and move away from the
hole.
The weather was sunny and mild for the
day. The forecast high was 72 F and a cool breeze blew at times
making for very comfortable hiking temps.
Beautiful evening at
House Rock Camp.
March 27
Day 4: Rider Canyon RM 17 to 22 Mile
Camp RM 22.1 (7.7 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 4 Map
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I started hiking around 7:30 am, after
filtering the water I settled overnight. There was a boulder field
around Boulder Narrows with huge boulders that I worked my way
through fairly quickly. I just looked for the smaller boulders and
climbed amongst them, which made for easier sections to traverse.
After breakfast on Day
4. The route ahead.
Boulder Narrows.
My plan was to follow the beta I got
out of George Steck's Hiking Grand Canyon Loops and hike on top
of the upper Supai ledge system from Boulder Narrows into North
Canyon. I was not paying attention to those cliffs until I got past
the boulders and I realized that it was too late to gain access to
the highest level ledge system. So I climbed to the second highest
ledge and followed it. However, it eventually pinched off to nothing
so I had to turn around and walk back upriver a ways to find a way
down towards the river. As I walked closer to the river, a talus
slope came into view that would give me access to any level of
ledges. So it was too soon in the hike to worry about which ledge I
needed to be on. Rather than continuing to guess which ledge Steck
was talking about I decided to follow Tom Martin's beta which was to
walk near river level until it pinches off. At that point he
suggested it is possible to wade past the pinch if the water level
was low and the water was clear. Otherwise turn around and go back
upriver a short distance where there will be cairns that lead the way
back up to a ledge system to take you back into North Canyon. The
water was neither low nor clear so I walked to the pinch then backed
up and found the cairns. I followed the cairns up to a ledge and then
I walked on the ledge system into North Canyon. I only contoured up
North Canyon 0.2 miles before there was a talus slope that I could
descend to the creek bed. I knew where the river rafter's trail goes
up North Canyon since I was on it the year prior, so I located it and
made my way out of the canyon on creek left.
I walked out to the beach. It was 11:30
am. I did my third breakfast for the day there. It was my planned
camp but I decided to push on to make some of my future days easier.
I spent about an hour there. I washed some of my hiking socks and
talked to a river rafter whose group was eating lunch at Upper North
Canyon Camp just upriver. I had first seen him walking by my pack as I was
returning from the river with my socks. When he spotted the pack out
of the corner of his eye he halted and quickly stepped back and
looked at it. He did not expect to see evidence of other people
around.
I pushed on down river. Along the way
there were a couple of places where the Redwall Formation emerged
only to disappear again. From North Canyon looking downriver you can
see some of the formation. I actually hiked on that section that
ramped up but it pinched out on me. So I backtracked enough to see
that the path near the water was also pinched off. So I had to find
and climb a break in the Supai above me to get on top of a ledge
system to continue down river. I hiked at that level until I reached
a talus slope that allowed me to descend to near the river again.
Looking back upstream
at North Canyon on river right. Another raft trip floats by. Two to
three raft trips pass by each day.
At about river mile 21.7 there was a
boulder field I had to cross. Steck mentions it in his book. I used
the same strategy as before. Look for the smaller boulders and climb
amongst them to make way down river. It was 2:15 pm when I reached
the beach and called it for the day. Yet another day where quitting
time was early afternoon without having to hike fast to make it so.
22 Mile Camp all to
myself. The rainfly is on the tent to help keep the sand from blowing
into the tent.
As of the end of Day 4 my cumulative
food consumption was 1500 calories short of what I planned on. So
that is extra food and weight I am now carrying in the pack. It is
only about a pound of food though so it is not back breaking.
March 28
Day 5: 22 Mile Camp RM 22.1 to 27
Mile Camp RM 26.9 (7.6 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 5 Map
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I left camp at about 6:30 am walking
downriver, boulder hopping as I went. There has not been a lot of
bushwhacking this trip thus far. I had yet to see a single Mesquite
tree. My first breakfast stop was at Indian Dick Rapid. I saw the
first of two survey points on the slickrock near the waters edge
right where I was eating. As I continued, the Redwall emerged and I
walked on top if it downstream.
I was eating breakfast
on a slickrock bench next to the river and looked down. I'm at the X
but the treasure is gone! Okay, someone must have been surveying
right here.
Approaching 23 Mile
Rapid in the early morning light.
The beautiful ambiance
of Marble Canyon.
The travel on top of the Redwall
consisted of a lot of side hilling on a rock and dirt slope which
led to some sliding steps here and there. The drainages in the
River Mile 24 to 25 regions were a bit of work to cross. The
dirt/rock combination at the heads of the drainages were steep and
hard to negotiate. I had to pick my way carefully through there. I
did climb down broken Redwall in places and then climb back on the
opposite side of the drainages to gain access to the top of the
Redwall again.
The appearance of the
Redwall Formation is making me leave the water level and walk on top
of the Redwall. The Redwall cliff is less weathered across the river
at this point.
As I passed by Cave Spring Rapid along
the top of the Redwall, I got to watch a river trip run it. The beach
at Cave Spring Rapid was my original destination for the day but I
wanted to get to Twenty Seven Mile Rapid beach to shorten the next
day's travel to South Canyon. I expected the following day to be a
long day because of what Steck reported in his book.
My hike was a little
early in the season for flowers. This Graham's Fishhook Cactus had
fruit though
As I approached 27 Mile Rapid I could
see a nice little beach beside it. And although the Redwall was a
cliff below me, I could see a steep talus slope just downriver of the
beach that I could descend down to get to the beach. I descended the
talus and arrived on the beach at 1:10 pm. I decided to camp here
because I thought my next opportunity to camp and access the river
would be at Fence Fault another 4 river miles further. That would
make for a late afternoon arrival. Besides, my destination the
following day was South Canyon and I couldn't push on further from
there because I was planning on rendezvousing with a friend who was
on a raft trip and might stop that night at South Canyon. Another
relaxing afternoon at camp with a good view of the top of the rapid.
There was a nice pool next to camp. I was able to get in the water
and clean off a bit limited only by the temperature of the Colorado
River. I also rinsed off my hiking clothes and hung them up to dry.
The silt in the river was settling a
little more each day. Today I was able to take water from the current
and filter it without settling it first.
March 29
Day 6: 27 Mile Camp RM 26.9 to South
Canyon RM 31.9 (7.7 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 6 Map
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A view back upstream.
The Redwall continues to increase in height forcing me further from
the river.
I started hiking at about 6:10 am. I
ascended the steep talus/wash from the beach to regain the top of the
Redwall and then proceeded downstream on top of the Redwall. Walking
on the Redwall required some rock hopping but no bushwhacking. The
biggest challenges were heading the ravines. I was typically
descending broken-down sections of Redwall in the ravines before the
ravine turned into the steep rock/dirt conglomerate. It was just
easier to cross the ravines early than deal with the steep
conglomerate. The ravine that took the most effort to cross for me
was the one at Fence Fault.
While crossing one of the ravines I saw
couple of water pockets along the ravine that were reachable without
technical gear. A waypoint for this ravine is: 12 S 425496 mE 4043375
mN.
A view downriver
towards Vasey's Paradise.
Another relaxed afternoon in camp. I
walked the shoreline along the beach, gathered water, hung out in the
shade, read my book, and munched on my snacks. Three river trips
passed by without stopping and I don't think anyone knew I was there.
Also, Vasey's Paradise looked to be dry. I was surprised at that
since I had never seen it that dry before. I stopped at Vasey's a
month later on a river trip and saw that it was still running but
very low.
As of today I am behind in eating my
food by 2500 calories. What I don't finish, I will leave at the cache
tomorrow night at 36.7 Mile Canyon.
March 30
Day 7: South Canyon RM 31.9 to 36.7
Mile Canyon RM 37 (9.6 mi)
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Hike 2, Day 7 Map
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I left a little earlier this morning.
It was 5:40 am as I walked up the beach toward the route out. It was
so early that I needed my headlamp until I reached the top of the
Redwall. The tide was up which made me step around the lagoon behind
the beach more carefully to keep my feet dry. The way out starts near
the upriver edge of the beach.
I climbed out of the Redwall along the
cairned route. Then I proceeded along the route as it contoured into
South Canyon. I ended up going along that trail for about 0.75 miles
before I climbed down into the bed of the canyon. No longer on a
route, I found my own way through the rocks and brush and back on top
of the Redwall on the other side of the canyon.
While I was contouring into South
Canyon, I could see several pockets of water that looked easy to get
to. I considered camping in the creekbed last night expecting there
would be water but decided to stay at the beach on the chance that I
would run into my friend.
Travel was slow, side hilling along on
the Redwall out of South Canyon. There were some bushes and Supai
rocks/boulders to negotiate. It took less than 2 hours to get from
the beach to the downstream point of South Canyon.
A panorama view across
the river from the top of the Redwall from roughly above Vasey's
Paradise.
I continued contouring down the Redwall
and got a good view of Redwall Cavern on the opposite side of the
river. I also ran across some antique garbage left over from the
Marble Canyon Dam surveyors.
The huge Redwall Cavern
looks small from atop the Redwall Formation.
The travel on the top of the Redwall
seemed slower today due to the rocks and frequent ravines. I followed
the same strategy to cross the ravines. Rather than contour to the
steep dirt/rock conglomerate, I would look for a weakness in the
Redwall and scramble down it, cross the ravine, and scramble out. No
difficult climbing required. There were two major ravines I crossed
that were multi-headed at my level and took longer than the others. I
arrived at my camp at 1:40 pm at the top of the Redwall in the bed of
36.7 mile Canyon. It was about eight hours of travel including all
the eating breaks. Just a steady, normal pace. No rush...
I ate some snacks in the shade, then I
went to the rock where my cache was and brought it to camp so I could
pack my pack with the food for the remainder of the hike. I also had
clean pants, a shirt, and some brand new trail running shoes. I
traded out the shoes but kept my dirty shirt and pants because they
were not tattered and torn too much and I preferred their pockets. It
turns out the shoes are holding together much better than a similar
pair did on the west end of the Canyon. The terrain is not as hard on
the shoes and the days are shorter in miles as well. The new pair
should have no problem making it 10 days. I have hiked 9 days off
trail this trip (2 cache trips) and I have no blisters so I am happy
about that.
I did not look for water in the
potholes in the bed of 36.7 Mile Canyon above the first pour off. I
had looked about 2 weeks prior when I put the cache in and didn't see
any water. It had hardly rained since I placed the cache so I didn't
bother to look again. However, by chance, I found an old water cache
under a large boulder near the bed, on creek left, that had what
looked to be about 2 gallons of water total in two jugs. If you are
coming from upriver and you are on the top of the Redwall, you will
walk right by it on your way to crossing the creekbed. I don't know
how long it has been there and I don't know what the etiquette should
be on what to do with the cache. The folks that left it did not date
it and I suspect they did not want to drive to the rim, hike down and
take the jugs out. They should have. Are they still expecting it to
be there some year when they next hike in the area? I did not touch
them in case someone was still depending on them but I was very
tempted to remove them.
Speaking of water, I did consume 5
quarts of water on this day. So I will carry 7 quarts the next day to
maintain the 5 quarts per day allocation.
It was a challenge to pack the 10 days
of food in the pack with the gear and water. I actually carried three
days worth of food in a daypack that was piggybacked onto the
backpack.
The only equipment malfunction I have
had on the trip thus far is the zipper on the tent. It is starting to
fail.
Camp at 36.7 Mile
Canyon.
March 31
Day 8: 36.7 Mile Canyon RM 37 to Buck
Farm Canyon RM 41.2 (7 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 8 Map
|
I left my campsite at about 6 am this morning. It was just light enough to see without the headlamp. I expected it to be a slow day but, as it turned out, there were several things that made it shorter and easier. First, 36.7 Mile Canyon is not that deep so it is a shorter distance back toward the river than South Canyon. Also, the top of the Redwall forms more of a plateau now and less of a slope to side hill along. There were still drainages and Supai boulders to negotiate but it was more straightforward most of the time than on prior days. The big obstacle for the day was trying to avoid the cryptobiotic soil. It became quite an exercise in tip-toeing and zigging and zagging about.
Morning, Day 8
I saw some more cables and wood
(antique garbage) from the Marble Canyon Dam survey after I crossed a
drainage. I walked over to check it out and noticed several pockets
with water down in the drainage. They looked like they could easily
be reached by walking down the drainage from above. The location of
the drainage is: 12 S 421648.15, 4031004.6.
I continued out to the downriver point
of the drainage where the cable went. There were large bolts on the
flat rock on the ground where there was some structure in the past.
There were partial spools of cable and rope. There was still cable
going off the rim and down the Redwall. How far it went I didn't
know. I took the opportunity to take in the view as I ate my third
breakfast.
Some antique garbage at
the rim of the Redwall near the Marble Canyon Dam Site. The big slab
of rock between the spools was used as an anchor. The cable that is
attached can be seen below it.
Fortunately, no dam was
built and this canyon remains.
It was another 1.5 miles of hiking on
the Redwall to reach the upriver point of Buck Farm Canyon. The view
from there was very impressive. I think Buck Farm is my favorite
canyon in Marble Canyon because it is so narrow, tall, and sheer.
A look into Buck Farm
Canyon from the top of the Redwall.
Buck Farm is a longer canyon the 36.7
Mile. I hiked about 1 mile to head what I call the left arm of Buck
Farm (on creek left). Within the left arm were water pockets but I
suspect they were not reachable given that they were along the
canyoneering route and probably after the first rappel.
When I first arrived at the creek bed
of the right arm of Buck Farm, I put my pack down in the shade of a
large rock right in the creek bed. The boulder was the biggest one
around and could have been about 15 feet high. As I contoured into
the wash it was right in front of me. I arrived at about 12:15 pm.
All of these early arrivals are giving me a lot of rest time in the
afternoons and exercising my patience. I retrieved my 2 gallons of
water from my cache location and brought it back to the shade of the
boulder.
The third container was washed down a
few feet, flipped upside down, and buried in sand. It looked like an
animal chewed into it for the water. Again, someone else was too lazy
to hike in and clean up after themselves. A water source in an
emergency perhaps.
Water pockets within
Buck Farm Canyon.
My own water usage was on track. That
is, I drank the 5 quarts allotted for the day. I worked on repacking my pack to
include the 2 gallons of water from my cache. I would have 10 quarts
for two days travel. If I found more before Saddle I would filter and
drink some more just because I can. When the creekbed was in the
shade, I set up camp on a flat gravel section and made dinner.
Technology to save my
butt if I can't save myself. Of course, self rescue is always my
preferred and planned method.
Today, for the first time this trip I
had a small blister that formed on my outside right heel. I changed
two things: a heavy pack full of food and new shoes. The new shoes
are maybe one quarter size smaller than my prior pair (10.5 vs.
10.5+). I never did resolve whether 10.5+ was actually larger but I
could not get that size at REI when I bought my new pair. I covered
the blister with Lueko tape and forgot it. It was never big enough to
cause pain when I walked around.
April 1
Day 9: Buck Farm Canyon RM 41.2 to
Saddle Canyon RM 47.6 (8.6 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 9 Map
|
I left Buck Farm just before 6 am. It
was fairly easy going but my pack was at its heaviest because I was
carrying about 20 lbs of water and about 26 lbs of food. It took
around a half hour to get out back to the top of the Redwall along
the river. I then hiked downstream and contoured around the next
drainage. Rich Rudow mentioned to me that are water pockets in that
canyon. From my perspective, all I could see was gravel in the bed of
the canyon. Since I already had 20 lbs of water on my back I didn't
bother to look for them. At the down river point of this side canyon,
I sat and had a breakfast with a view.
A look back at
Hansbrough Saddle after I crossed it. Climbing the Supai up an over
this saddle cut almost 3 river miles off the day.
A very interesting rock
I passed today. What geologic process created these patterns.
Contouring toward
Triple Alcoves.
I contoured along the top of the
Redwall to the drainage above the middle alcove of the Triple
Alcoves. I hiked down to the big pour off in that drainage. It went
right into the main canyon. I remembered some great photos from this
spot when I was planning my through hike a couple of years prior. To
get to the final pour off, I actually had to leave the canyon on creek
right to bypass a couple of smaller pour offs and then I scrambled
down a weakness back down to the bed of the drainage. It was a
awesome view and I took some photos before returning to my pack. In
the top of that drainage was a pothole with water. I filtered 2
liters of water there and added a flavored electrolyte tablet to the
water. It was a treat to just drink a bunch of water there and then
along my way to camp. I spent about an hour there with the photos,
filtering, drinking and snacking. I finished those 2 liters just
after I got to camp.
A panorama view from a
Redwall drainage above the Triple Alcoves.
Looking down into
Saddle Canyon.
I made it to camp at about 2:15 pm. It
took a little over 8 hours to get here from Buck Farm Canyon but I
burned an hour and a half between the alcove and the upriver point at
Saddle Canyon. It was cloudy while I hiked but it cleared up as the
afternoon progressed. The agave are becoming more common now. I
didn't see any of them in upper Marble Canyon. I noticed a couple of
large pine cones in the wash of Saddle too. I am getting closer to
the Kaibab Plateau.
April 2
Day 10: Saddle Canyon RM 47.6 to
Nankoweap Beach RM 53 (10.9 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 10 Map
|
Looking up Saddle
Canyon
I left Saddle Canyon camp at 6:05 am.
Saddle Canyon is like Buck Farm in that it is fairly long. I hiked
one mile to get out to the downriver point of the canyon. It was
similar terrain to the day before with a number of small ravines to
contour and cross low. I did not head any ravines that required
negotiating that rock/dirt conglomerate. I was always able to cross
them early before getting too far back into the ravine. There were
two major drainages to cross at river mile 49.7 and 50 that I had to
contour and cross. Again, I crossed them low and early.
A view back up canyon.
As I was contouring around 50 Mile
Canyon I could see the river runner's trail coming from it and I met
up with it and followed it downriver in the Supai Layer, not right on
the top of the Redwall. The trail was easy to follow for awhile but
it faded or I strayed from it at some point. I continued contouring
toward the upriver point of Little Nankoweap Canyon. I had waypoints
that I made looking at satellite photos on Google Earth for the
Little Nankoweap route. The route was visible in the photos as it
started to drop into the Redwall.
A panorama view from
the top of the Redwall on the upriver point of Little Nankoweap
Canyon.
I continued down the route through the
Redwall in Little Nankoweap Canyon. The route is well marked with
cairns. There were two short sections that I faced the rock and down
climbed, with the pack on, with little exposure, and on good quality
rock. Otherwise, it was just a hike down to the creek bed. I thought
that it was straightforward and assumed that was it. Silly me, there
were 4 or 5 pour offs to negotiate before I got out of the canyon. I
just followed the cairns to find the bypass routes.
Once out of the canyon I walked down
the drainage looking for a cairn I was assuming would be there to
mark the trail back to the river camps. Sure enough, I found a cairn
and trail that took me to Nankoweap Creek and then on to the beach.
En route I passed by many mesquite trees and they were the first
mesquite trees I noticed on the hike thus far. While at Nankoweap
Creek, I filled a gallon container of water and carried it with me to
the beach. I camped upriver of Upper Nankoweap Camp.
I reach my campsite at about 2:15 pm.
April 3
Day 11: Nankoweap Beach RM 53 to
Malgosa Canyon RM 58 (13.3 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 11 Map
|
To get to the Horsethief Route from
Nankoweap Beach, I planned to hike along the river to Kwagunt Canyon,
then up Kwagunt to the Butte Fault and join the Horsethief route
there. I have hiked the Butte Fault from the bed of Nankoweap up to
the saddle between Nankoweap and Kwagunt Canyons twice before so the
river hike would be new terrain for me. When I investigated the river
route on Google Earth, I noticed there was a faint game/river rafter
trail away from the brush lining the river, so I thought it would be
minimal bushwhacking to Kwagunt Canyon.
Hiking downriver from
Nankoweap Beach toward Kwagunt Canyon.
I arrived at Kwagunt Creek around 9:30
am and ate my second breakfast. The creek was flowing but it was
small. As an example of flow, the creek was 2 feet wide in one spot
and about an inch deep.
Kwagunt Creek was small
but flowing.
I followed the creek up Kwagunt Canyon.
The canyon was wide and close to level. There were no pour offs to
negotiate but I did a lot of stepping over the creek as I made my way
up it to avoid brush, rocks, bends, and water-cliff pinch points.
There were some pleasant pools being fed by small waterfalls along
the way. Before leaving the shade of the canyon I had my final
breakfast. When I was close to where I was going to start hiking
along the Butte Fault, I collected and filtered some water. I was
originally planning on camping here but it was only 12:30 pm. I had
planned a longer day tomorrow so I decided to cover some more ground
today before camping to make tomorrow's hike easier. My new goal for
the day was Malgosa Canyon. It would be a dry camp so I brought all
the water I needed to reach the river at either Carbon Canyon Beach
or Lava Canyon Beach the following afternoon. I did come across some
pottery shards and I thought of spending some time searching for more
but I opted to leave Kwagunt Canyon.
Pottery shard in
Kwagunt Canyon.
I had options on how to proceed along the fault to the saddle between Kwagunt and Malgosa Canyons. I had a dirt and brush ridge I could hike up, I could follow the wash next to the spine of the fault, or I could hike the spine of the fault itself. I decided to hike the spine because I thought it would be the most interesting way to go. It was interesting, but I also think it was the harder of the three options. I ended up doing a lot of rock hopping to stay near the top of the spine but the tilted rock of the spine was cool to hike along. If there was antique garbage from the cowboys using the Horsethief Route or Indian artifacts (ancient garbage?), I would not find them on that spine.
Standing near the crest
of the Butte Fault, looking back toward Kwagunt Canyon. In the
distance the fault continues between Nankoweap Butte on the left and
Nankoweap Mesa on the Right.
The topography was a little confusing as I hiked to the saddle. I think it was the large watershed of Kwagunt that was confusing. Once I reached the saddle and could see Malgosa Canyon, my disorientation evaporated. The saddle elevation is around 4600 feet so it was about 1000 feet above the creek bed in Kwagunt.
Looking at the Butte
Fault beyond Malgosa Canyon. Kwagunt Butte on the left of image.
I made it to Malgosa at about 3 pm.
Malgosa Canyon was quite a contrast to Nankoweap Beach. I really felt
like I was in the middle of nowhere. No one around, no flowing water.
It was quiet. There was a lot of brush in the wash. It is more
vegetated than other dry drainages and there were juniper trees
around. The elevation at camp was around 4300 feet. It was also the
coldest night of the trip due to the elevation.
The dry canyons always seem to have
more flying insects/flies then the wet canyons. Maybe it seemed that
way only because I was the only water source for the flying insects
in the dry canyons. Anyhow, the small flies became such a nuisance
that I had to retreat to the tent to eat my dinner in peace. Once
dusk arrived the insects retired for the day and it was pleasant
outside.
I left Kwagunt creek with 6 liters of
water. My water use plan was to leave Malgosa Canyon with 3-4 liters
which should give me enough water to make it to the river at Carbon
or Lava Canyons.
April 4
Day 12: Malgosa Canyon RM 58 to Lava
Canyon RM 66 (9.7 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 12 Map
|
I left camp at 6 am. It was time to
hike up to the next saddle along the Butte Fault. Yesterday, I
bypassed the saddle between Nankoweap Canyon and Kwagunt Canyon by
hiking along the river to Kwagunt. I then hiked up the spine of Butte
Fault and crossed the saddle from Kwagunt Canyon into Malgosa Canyon.
So two saddles down but three to go today. On this ascent, I had the
option of walking up a brush and dirt slope or walk up the wash. I
decided to walk up the slope and avoid the potential bushwhacking and
rock hopping in the wash. While the hike was easy on the ridge, it
was not as direct a line as walking up the wash and probably took
longer. As I strayed from the wash, I noticed a cairn made of large
rocks out away from the wash. I walked to it and continued up the
slope where I found another cairn with large rocks about a half mile
further. There were not many rocks around so the cairns really stood
out. The terrain was not difficult and not rugged. I wondered if this
was where the Horsethief Trail goes. It would make sense to bring
horses this way as opposed to up the wash. The cairns were leading me
farther from the saddle I wanted to cross however. As I got higher
towards the saddle I angled back over to it and crossed the ridge
west of it at and arrived at the saddle at 7:10 am. I stopped in the
shade and had my first breakfast.
Looking back along the
Butte Fault at Malgosa Canyon.
Okay, I decided for the rest of the day
to stick to the washes and take the more direct route across the
canyons. The washes were not too vegetated and rocky so traveling the
washes was the best route for hiking. Not so much for horses.
Some easy terrain ahead
along Butte Fault.
The nature of the terrain is really
different in these parts. It has more of a rolling hills feel
compared to the sharply eroded ravines on rocky slopes of prior days
on the Redwall. From the saddle I was looking down into Awatubi
Canyon and over to the next saddle to surmount west of Awatubi Crest.
It took about 90 minutes to eat breakfast, hike down to the bed of
Awatubi, and hike back up to the next saddle.
Looking at the saddle
beyond Awatubi Canyon.
Standing in Awatubi
Saddle looking back along Butte Fault to the first saddle I crossed
today. Awatubi Canyon in foreground.
I hiked down to the bed of Sixtymile
Canyon and ate my second breakfast. I then ascended to the third and
final saddle of the day west of Chuar Butte. It is positioned between
Sixtymile Canyon and the east fork of Carbon Creek Canyon. The meal
and traverse took closer to 2 hours this time.
There were interesting sedimentary rock
beds that were tilted from level along the wash. I found a shady spot
for my final breakfast. It was still early so I decided go to Lava
Canyon Beach rather than stop Carbon Canyon Beach. It was an easy 4
mile stretch from the top of the east fork of Carbon Creek to Lava
Canyon Beach. I arrived at the beach at 1:45 pm.
Tilted sedimentary rock
layers along the Butte Fault. Part of the Grand Canyon Supergroup.
While I hiked down beside Lava Canyon
Creek, I noticed that it looked like it had some “funk” going on.
I remembered that from doing the Carbon-Lava loop hike from the river
in 2014. The creek water looked like it had a lot of ions in it. The
banks had a build up of salt or calcium carbonate. Some rocks the
water flowed over had yellow stains, others had red stains. Maybe it
was potable but I opted for river water instead.
April 5
Day 13: Lava Canyon RM 66 to Unkar
Canyon RM 73 (12.3 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 13 Map
|
I left Lava Canyon Camp right around 6 am and proceeded back up the creek bed retracing 1 mile of ground until I reached the river rafters trail that comes from Carbon Canyon. From then on it was new terrain. I continued up along the creek bed another third of a mile to a wash coming in from creek right. My plan was to follow this wash up to a saddle on the ridge that separates Lava and Basalt Canyons. Tom Martin mentioned to me this approach to getting to Basalt Canyon and I read Nick Smolinske's blog where he and his friend Craig followed this route as well.
Looking back as I climb
out of Lava Canyon. The large ridge of ancient black lava adjacent to
Lava Canyon stands out against the surrounding rock.
It was almost a 2000 foot high ascent to the
saddle. The route goes up through the Tapeats formation. A curious
formation of tilted rock was in the wash for about a third of a mile
where I walked on a slickrock ramp with little in the way of dirt and
rocks. Beyond that, I continued up the wash until there were a lot of
boulders in the wash and then climbed out wash left and proceeded by
climbing a ridge next to the wash to avoid the boulder hopping. There
were no technical sections to get past to gain the saddle. I was at
the saddle before 8:30 am. I had a breakfast in the saddle and took
in the view. I started my descent toward Basalt Canyon by 9 am.
The route out of Lava
Canyon had a steep long slickrock section in the bottom of the wash.
No rock hopping or bushwhacking for a third of a mile.
There were a lot of Tapeats boulders
that I had to get through as I made my way. There were rocks and
pour offs in the drainage that required bypassing. Getting past one
pour off, I got bogged down big time. I spend an hour and a half
getting by it. I came to the pour off that was near the base of a
dark purple cliff forming member of the Grand Canyon Super Group. I
did what I always do for pour offs. Look for an easy bypass close to
the pour off. If it doesn't go, go further upstream and repeat. I
started with trying on creek right. There was a ravine that joined the creekbed and was
shallow but then became steep within that purple cliff forming member. I thought I would only have to climb a steep six foot section of this
rock and then it would start to roll over into a more shallow slope
that would be easier to climb. I traversed into the ravine from the
left. When I reached the middle of the ravine, I was three feet up on
the steep section. I came to the realization that the rock was so
friable that all the holds I was in contact with could break at any
moment and the holds above were no better. I decided this was not
going to go. I began to rotate my hips to face left and traverse back
out of the drainage. Before I could make my first move, my right toe
hold snapped off and the rest followed suit. I slid down the face on
my hands and feet. I had a little cheese grater action on the heel of
my left hand. Nice try but no dice.
I got back in the wash and headed up
the wash and found the next exit on creek left. I could climb on
boulders and rocks up past the purple cliff member which put me on a
mustard & gray hard dirt member with a badlands topography to it.
That is, steep mounds with lots of small erosion crevices on the
surface of the mounds and ravines between the mounds. The dirt was
steepest when it reached the purple friable cliff member. So a slip
on the dirt would give me a ride down the mustard dirt surface with
a 20 foot flight off the purple cliff. Needless to stay, I contoured
that member very carefully to the left. I expected that the purple
cliff member would eventually erode away to a slope or be covered from a dirt and rock slide from above. Then, I could descend through
it back down to the creek bed. As I contoured I became less
enthusiastic to turn around and cover that tenuous ground again so I
kept moving along expecting to find a way down the purple rock formation. It
didn't happen. I had to finally give up this adventure and contour
back across the mustard & gray formation to the creekbed. I was happy to get back
the creekbed. I walked up the wash and looked for some route up
through and then back down through the purple cliff outside the wash.
I saw a ridge leaving the wash on creek
right that climbed up 200 feet or so but led toward another wash
that the purple cliff member was not present. It was a long excursion
but I did see a pair of foot prints in that wash so I was not the
only one solving the bypass problem this way. I descended in this
wash and contoured back into the original wash beneath the pour off. The third time was the charm.
My track on the map shows my efforts to get past this pour off.
There were more obstacles in the wash
but it soon became shallow and mostly clear of rocks. The walking
became easy and I followed all the way down to Basalt Beach. I
arrived at about 1:10 pm. This was my planned campsite but knew I had
a long day coming up, so I decided to pay it forward again. I
gathered some water, had a snack, wet my shirt and hat down and
rolled on out of there.
Looking back at Basalt
Beach. It was an easy place to get to and tank up on water.
I hiked back up the bed before I
started contouring downriver. I wanted to be well away from the
forbidden zone of Furnace Flats. The map I had didn't show the
boundary so I just contoured high. It took me three hours to traverse
from Basalt creekbed to Unkar creekbed. The terrain was not too
difficult but it did have sections of hard dirt slopes that could be
slippery with pebbles on top of the hard dirt. Those sections were
more difficult to traverse and I ended up on my butt a few times.
Another formation of the Grand Canyon Super Group that is not hiker
friendly.
Day 13 Camp up Unkar
Canyon.
The creek ran by the edge of the
slickrock with a 10” waterfall. The flow rate was similar to a
bathtub facet but it was plenty to refill my water bottles and was
pleasant to listen too. I was also in the company of frogs that
vocalized into the night.
April 6
Day 14: Unkar Canyon RM 73 to Below
Hawkins Butte RM 83 (13.9 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 14 Map
|
I left my slickrock camp and frog
friends at 6:14 am. I walked up the wash toward and then past the
wash coming in from creek right that I was supposed to hike up to get
to the saddle between Vishnu Temple and Freya Castle. The fork was more
like exiting on an off ramp from a freeway. It was so gradual I guess
I just thought the creek bed was braided. I hiked up far enough that
it was obvious that I missed my turn and I climbed out of the wash
and headed diagonally toward the branch. I saw other foot prints
here. These hikers may have come from Cape Final-Juno saddle. Once
I was convinced I was in the correct wash I stopped and ate my first
breakfast.
Working my way up the
drainage with the Redwall break to gain the saddle between Vishnu
Temple and Freya Castle.
As I continued up the wash I came upon
half a dozen deer on the grassy platform on both sides of the creek
bed just below the Tapeats cliff/pour off. As I approached, the deer
scattered in several directions disappearing into the brush. On creek
right I walked away from the creek looking for a way around the
cliff. The cliff broke down and there was a drainage I scrambled up
past the cliff. Once above the cliff I climbed up a ridge for awhile
before I hiked on diagonal back into the creek bed.
A small amount of easy
5th class climbing near the top of the Redwall.
The views were incredible from the
saddle in both directions. It was 9:45 am. I ate my second breakfast
while I took in the view looking into Vishnu Canyon and beyond toward
the South Rim. After breakfast I took some photos looking both
directions off the saddle. In one area right at the top of the saddle
I noticed half a dozen scat droppings of differing ages. I assumed
that coyotes passed through here often but the scat did not look like
the coyote scat back home. Maybe it was a bobcat instead. I packed my
pack and proceeded down the steep slope towards the wash that lead to
Vishnu Creek. There were a couple of footprints from others that have
hiked here and a faint braided trail heading down.
The view looking
northeast from Vishnu-Freya Saddle. Unkar Canyon is in the center of
the image.
The view looking
southwest from Vishnu-Freya Saddle down into Vishnu Canyon and the
route ahead.
I followed the faint trail that led
down into the wash. I hiked down the wash around boulders making my
way through the Redwall. I knew there would be a large pour off in
the Redwall eventually that I would have to bypass on wash right. As
the Redwall was becoming more of a slot I noticed two cairns on creek
right that led out of the wash. I expected the pour off to be ahead
so I followed the cairns out of the wash and onto a bench of Redwall.
I contoured on the bench to the right. I could see the talus slope
below reaching up to about the last 15 feet of the cliff. I figured
that was the descent so I worked my way over to it. I had to scramble
down and do a short down climb to reach the talus below the cliff
face. I continued down that talus and back into the wash having
successfully navigated the Redwall breaks on both sides of the
saddle. The travel became easier down the wash with smaller river
rock and gravel to walk on or avoid.
Vishnu Creek
I had multiple routing options for the
following day. My original plan was to contour on the Tonto to a
specific spot where I would descend a ridge into Clear Creek Canyon.
That ridge would lead me all the way down to just above the
“sideways” waterfall in Clear Creek. There was a similar ridge on
the other side of the creek that would allow me to climb back up to
the base of the Tapeats where I could contour into Zoroaster Canyon
and eventually reach the Clear Creek Trail on the Tonto. However,
while camped at the rim between cache hikes I came across a NPS flyer
on Clear Creek I had put on my Kindle long ago. I was reading the
flyer and discovered that the park service did not allow camping that
low in Clear Creek Canyon. Not knowing if that restriction was still
in place, I had to assume it was.
Another routing option was to climb to
the top of the Redwall near Vishnu and contour it to the saddle near
Angel's Gate and descend down into the east arm of Clear Creek. I had
very little in the way of beta for that route but it would cut off
several miles of contouring on the Tonto platform.
The final routing option was to contour
on the Tonto to an approximate waypoint on my map for a way into
Clear Creek Canyon. This point was short of contouring all the way to
the east arm of Clear Creek. I got the approximate waypoint from Nick
Smolinske's blog where he found a weakness into the canyon. If I
couldn't find that weakness I could continue to contour into the east
arm of Clear Creek Canyon.
Given it was early afternoon and I
wanted to make some more progress, I decided on contouring on the
Tonto toward Nick's waypoint. That way, I would not get benighted
somewhere on top of the Redwall, without a flat spot, while hiking
toward Angels Gate. My chances of finding flat ground to sleep on
seemed a lot more likely on the Tonto Platform.
I climbed out of Vishnu Canyon using
the ravine mentioned above and began contouring. I wanted to keep my
travel distance down so I traversed high around the points but
sometimes too high. On steeper terrain, I ran across sections of what
I believe to be Bright Angel Shale. The shale forms steep slopes that
are hard under the surface and yet have a broken down surface
material. That is, there are little volumes of the rock loose on the
surface. They are more like rectangular volumes than spherical ones
but none the less it was easy to skate on them. When I ran across
this type of formation, I would descend to flatter ground away from
it. In the last two days, I ended up sliding and falling on my butt
three times. The only times it happened this trip and they all
happened on steep hard pack slopes with loose surface material. The
first two falls were in members of the Grand Canyon Supergroup.
View from the Tonto
Platform after leaving Vishnu Canyon. Horseshoe Mesa in left center
of image.
I found a flat spot in a wash below
Hawkins Butte at 5 pm so I called it a day. I did not have the sound
of frogs on this night as I was nowhere near water. I did have an owl
hooting though.
April 7
Day 15: Below Hawkins Butte RM 83 to
Clear Creek Canyon RM 84.5 (6.9 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 15 Map
|
Early morning, looking
west downriver from the Tonto Platform.
I left camp at 6:05 am. I continued my
traverse around Hawkins Butte and into the next side canyon which was
83 Mile Canyon. The strategy while contouring was to stay off of the
Bright Angel Shale slopes because that was slippery terrain. As I
contoured into 83 Mile Canyon, it looked like it was going to be
difficult to cross the canyon as I did not see an obvious break in
the Tapeats when I looked way up canyon as I hiked. Fortunately there
was a break that I reached by 7 am that was closer than I was looking
in the distance. I noticed a cairn as I was traversing that indicated
the route across the canyon. I climbed down into 83 Mile Canyon 15
feet before it occurred to me to set a waypoint for the crossing
point. The waypoint is 12S 409473 mE, 3994138 mN. The route descends
to the canyon floor through some brown rock. I walked up the creek
bed a couple hundred feet and ascended the opposite side through the
same brown rock. Some scrambling/climbing was required on both sides
of the canyon but not so much as to require that I take my pack off.
As I climbed out on the opposite side I saw another cairn indicating
the route for hikers coming from the opposite direction.
Morning light on the
South Rim.
I continued my contouring out of 83
Mile Canyon and on into Clear Creek Canyon. I had a waypoint on my
map that indicated a way down through the Tapeats and into Clear
Creek Canyon. It was an approximate waypoint I got off a map from
Nick Smolinske's blog. As mentioned previously, my intended route was
different so I did not make any notes about this descent. As it turns
out, as I approached the approximate descent point, I began looking and identified a weakness in the Tapeats that I could descend. I
noticed a partially detached fat pillar of Tapeats sandstone between
two drainages into Clear Creek Canyon. I reached this point at 8:40
am. It was possible to descend into the gap between the pillar and
the main cliff. From the bottom of the gap I descended a talus slope
to get through the remaining Tapeats formation. The waypoint for
entry into Clear Creek is 12S 408317 mE, 3995313 mN. With Tapeats now
above me, I needed to get through the schist cliff to access the
creekbed. I had two options, that is, descend one of two drainages,
one up creek from my position and one down creek from my position. I
chose the up creek drainage since I will be hiking up creek anyway. I
don't know if the down creek drainage is better or worse but the up
creek drainage was a little sporty to climb down to the creekbed.
Approaching Clear Creek
Canyon from the east with Zoroaster and Brahma Temples prominent
beyond Clear Creek Canyon.
I followed the drainage and there were
several small pour offs that I needed to get by but I was hoping that
there would be no stopper pour off. Well, the last pour off was
undercut and a 50+ ft drop straight down to Clear Creek. At first it
looked impossible to continue. However, I climbed to wash right in
the drainage and found a series of decent looking hand and footholds
away from the undercut to climb down the cliff face to a ledge that I
could then traverse and downclimb from on easier terrain. By decent
holds, I mean that the rock was not the usual chossy schist that I am
familiar with. The holds were flat edges that I could get my whole
hands on and the rock was solid. Still, the climbing was vertical and
exposed and thus what I would call “sporty” without a rope. I
climbed carefully down 15 feet or so to the ledge and then the rest
of the way to the creek after the traverse. It took about a half hour
to go from the top of the Tapeats to creek level.
After returning home, I read Nick's
blog again and he and Craig descended a steep talus further to the
right of the pour off which may be safer. Who knows, maybe the down
creek drainage has no major pour offs in it at all.
Now it was simply a matter of walking
up along the creek until I reached the Clear Creek campsites near the
terminus of the Clear Creek Trail. It was easy to keep the shoes dry
while hiking up creek but it was necessary to hop across the creek
multiple times on the hike up. I arrived at the campsites by 10:30 am
and located the Clear Creek Trail. The route finding is over for the
hike, the remaining 16 miles are on well-defined trails.
Since I arrived at camp at 10:30 am and
only put in 7 miles, it felt like a rest day. I soaked in the creek
and tanked up on water. Expecting a windy day, per a forecast I had,
I decided to eat my dinner for lunch. Almost on cue, as I finished my
meal the wind began to howl. I had to make sure that my clothes and
gear were contained or else they would be carried away up canyon by
the winds. I spent the afternoon reading and dozing in camp as the
winds buffeted my tent.
Evening view from camp
in Clear Creek Canyon.
April 8
Day 16: Clear Creek Canyon RM 84.5
to Phantom Ranch RM 88.4 and to South Rim (15.6 mi)
 |
Hike 2, Day 16 Map
|
A view of Zoroaster
Temple from the Clear Creek Trail.
I was a little slow getting out of camp
because my destination was less than 7 miles away with no route
finding required. I went ahead and had my first breakfast there
rather than hike first. I left camp around 7 am. My permit had me
camping at Sumner Wash just within the same backcountry area as Clear
Creek. I did not have a permit for Bright Angel Campground so I
planned on getting as close as I could to Phantom Ranch for the
following days hike out. I was planning on meeting Stacy at Indian
Gardens and we would hike out together from there. She was going to
day hike down to Indian Gardens before I arrived.
Since Sumner Wash is a dry camp, I
carried enough water for the rest of the day and enough for the
morning to make it to Phantom Ranch where I would eat my first
breakfast. Hiking on the trail was quite a change. It reminded me of
how I feel after driving on rough dirt roads for hours and then
getting back on an asphalt road. Hiking on a trail is so much easier
on the body. It was a pleasant hike. I came across a herd of about 10
deer near Sumner Wash. They gathered around a small butte sticking up
on the Tonto and watched me at a distance as I approached and then
receded away from them. I arrived at the campsite at 9:40 am. I sat
down and ate my second breakfast.
The hike was so easy and the prospect
of spending the rest of my day laying in the shade behind rocks got
me thinking. What if I spent the day at Phantom Ranch and then hiked
back up to Sumner Wash to camp? That would be a more enjoyable day
then hanging out where I am at. Maybe, just maybe, there would be an
available campsite at Bright Angel Campground and I would not have to
hike back up. I could ask a ranger there. If not, no worries, I will
just return here. I dumped 2 liters of water on a yucca and headed
down the trail to Phantom Ranch.
A view of Black Bridge
and the South Kaibab Trail from the Clear Creek Trail.
As I walked Stacy texted me and said
she was getting gas in Williams and should be at the Canyon in an
hour. Another option came to mind. I could camp with her tonight at
Mather Campground and do the day hike or whatever else she wants to
do the following day. I asked what she would prefer and she was
psyched for me to join her at Mather Campground.
I was at the Phantom Ranch Canteen by
11 am. I ate my second breakfast and picked up some more water. After
spending 20 minutes there, I packed up and headed for the South
Kaibab Trail. As I passed Bright Angel Campground I noticed how many
open campsites there were. But as I hiked up the South Kaibab, I saw
many backpackers heading down. It looked like the campground would be
full.
Shortly after crossing the Black
Bridge, a woman stopped me and asked how close the nearest drinking
water was. I told her there is water at Phantom Ranch. She had heard
there was water closer and asked where that was. I directed her to
the spigots by Boat Beach. I guess her water consumption estimates
did not match reality. At least she wasn't out of water, in a
sundress, wearing high heels, and on the trail in the heat of the
summer. That happened on another one of my hikes on the South Kaibab
Trail.
I kept a steady pace up the trail,
taking in the scent of mule dung and urine. Smells that I associated
with the Canyon since they were imprinted on me at 10 years old
during my first hike into the Canyon. I noted that this was the first
day of my hike that these odors were present. My lasting childhood
impression of the Canyon is simply a misrepresentation of the
majority of the Canyon. That's unfortunate.
I passed so many people near the top who
were venturing down into the Canyon, likely for the first time. The
enthusiasm of first timers is contagious. They need to be cautious
however, because the lure of the Canyon is hard to shake and they
could end up frequent visitors. I have the Canyon virus fairly bad,
but I have seen many folks much more infected than myself.
I reached the trailhead at 2:45 pm and
caught the bus back to the Visitor Center where I rendezvoused with
Stacy. We returned to Mather Campground where I showered. The rest of
the day and the following we spent at viewpoints and other points of
interest on the South Rim.
The business wasn't finished. I spent
one more day pulling my cache out of 36.7 Mile Canyon. Fortunately, I
carried my empty water jugs from Buck Farm with me on the hike and
did not have to return there. The last night of the trip was spent at
Lees Ferry where it all began.
And so it goes. A somewhat casual hike
compared to my Pigeon Wash to Kanab Point hike. Things go better with
more water available, mild weather, and conservative daily
objectives.
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