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| | | Thunder River & Deer Creek Loop, AZ | | | |
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Thunder River & Deer Creek Loop, AZ
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| Backpack | 39.81 Miles |
12,760 AEG |
| | Backpack | 39.81 Miles | 5 Days 4 Hrs 25 Mns | | |
| 12,760 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I had been angling for a permit to hike the Royal Arch route, but with the access issues, I decided to put in for a return trip to Thunder River and Deer Creek. We did this loop with a few of our younger kids several years ago, but this time, I added two more days to the schedule, for a more relaxed pace, and an opportunity to hike the off-trail route to Tapeats Spring.
I invited my oldest daughter--now a mom of three herself, to join me for a father-daughter adventure. She has often complained that she missed out on the really cool family hikes we've done because she left home before the younger kids were old enough for us to take on many ambitious adventures. So, it was something of a "make-up" trip. I also invited a good friend and GC hiking companion, whose youngest daughter also joined. Then, somewhat last minute, my wife came down with a case of FOMO and decided she wanted in after all. Luckily, getting an extra spot on the permit was as easy as a call to the BCO (which also adjusted our itinerary to get us what I considered the ideal camping spots  ).
Day 0--Drive to the TH and Camp on the Rim: Four of us drove up to Jacob Lake, where we rendezvoused with my daughter, who drove down from Utah. We parked her car at the Kaiabab Lodge (with the owner's permission) and headed off towards the Bill Hall TH.
The temperatures had been relatively warm and many of the aspens were still looking green and leafy. On our return a week later, not so much ...
The drive out to Crazy Jug Point was uneventful, and the roads were in good condition. At the four-way intersection just before Crazy Jug Point, we turned right to find the sweet camp spot right on the edge of the rim. Unfortunately, it was already taken, so we continued on towards the TH, where there are two other nice pull outs for camping (but with the views of the canyon more obstructed by trees). We set up camp in one of these, then drove back to Crazy Jug Point and hiked down a bit to enjoy a beautiful sunset. Once there, we wished we had set up camp at the nice camping spot next to the parking area for CJ Point. Oh well.
We enjoyed a cool night, but with a blazing campfire for company!
Day 1 Bill Hall TH to Upper Tapeats: Woke early and drove the 1/2 mile or so to the TH. Several cars in the parking area. Off we went, starting with the counterintuitive uphill climb to the drop in spot at Monument Point. The initial descent was as steep and rocky as I remember. With a little more familiarity with the landscape, I looked down on the Tapeats Amphitheater, eyeing what would be the off-trail destination for Day 2--Tapeats Spring.
Rounding the corner below Monument Point offers the equivalent of the South Kaibab "Ooh Ah" Point, where the Esplanade comes into view, along with miles and miles of zig-zagging Canyon, heading off towards Havasupai and beyond, with Mt. Trumbull providing some contour to the north rim landscape.
The "tricky" downclimb at about 1.5 miles was fine, generally requiring handing down packs. That was followed by another steep drop via dozens of short switchbacks, which we dubbed "squiggle-backs," until reaching the junction with the Thunder River trail at the edge of the Esplanade.
As we crossed the Esplanade, we cached water for our night 5 camp and continued on. the Esplanade is a very cool, Sedona-like area, and I was excited to return and enjoy the Esplanade a little more fully than can be taken in during a crossing on the way to somewhere else.
At the south edge of the Esplanade, we stopped for lunch and looked down on the most desolate area of the trip--Surprise Valley. We wondered where the name came from and speculated that, with all of the amazing surrounding territory, the desolation of the valley was "surprising." Turns out that the name was actually tied to John Wesley Powell's second expedition, when the crew's photographer, E. O. Beaman, "accidentally" stumbled upon the Deer Creek valley. Per some authorities, and for unknown reasons, the U. S. Geological Survey moved the map location around 1960 to its current inaccurate location between Deer Creek and Thunder River. http://www.allhikers.com/Other/Grand-Ca ... ames.htm#S.
Anywhoo, we descended the rocky route down into the Valley and hung a left at the trail junction. At this point, I began thinking of the NAU student, Bryce Gillies, who died near here in July 2009 after erroneously following the route down the Bonita Creek drainage and getting cliffed out, instead of continuing over to the Thunder River drainage. I remember reading about this tragedy and wondering how he could have made that mistake. But after hiking it this time, I can definitely see why--first, the trail across Surprise Valley to Thunder River requires going both UPHILL and AWAY from the Colorado River--both of which would seem very counterintuitive, if one didn't know better.
Luckily, we knew better and headed away and uphill, eventually coming into earshot and then seeing Thunder River pouring out of the side of the canyon wall like a giant faucet, several hundred feet below. It is truly an amazing sight.
We hung out at the falls/spring for awhile and then finished our descent into the Upper Tapeats campground, securing the large camping spot. Surprisingly, we had no company in the campground and only passed one other set of hikers the entire day. We would stay here for two nights.
No marauding mice, but I did make the mistake of putting a fresh apple at the bottom of my ratsack, and a ringtail spent a good chunk of time overnight nibbling tiny very tiny bites out of it through the small metal mesh. :-/
Day 2--Rest Day OR Tapeats Spring: On day 2, my buddy and I had our eyes on making our way up to Tapeats Spring. Our two daughters were up for some exploration up Tapeats Creek, but turned around after about a mile up canyon. My wife was content to take the day off and relax and read around camp. After turning up the Tapeats drainage at about 1.5 miles from camp, the going gets rough--and sketchy (which is saying something on this hike, where the trail portions can get pretty sketchy).
After a lot of hard work and a lot more up and down than I was anticipating (crossing boulder slides and side drainages), we made it to the spring. Very cool area, where once again the creek literally emerges from the rock. It's not as spectacular an exit as Thunder Spring, but still worth a visit.
It took us about 4 hours to cover the 3.2 miles from camp. The return trip was not as long or strenuous, but honestly, going down was more nerve-wracking than going up. Thankfully, we navigated it all well and arrived back at camp by late afternoon.
Another pleasant night on in the campground.
Day 3--Upper Tapeats to 135 mi. Rapid: Day three was a short jaunt down to a camp on the River at 135 mile rapids. We played in the creek and hung out at the confluence of Tapeats Creek and the Colorado, watching rafters and kayakers run the rapids. Several NPS rafts were tied up at the confluence, and a team had headed up creek to scope out a replacement for the bathroom facilities at Upper Tapeats. The remaining crew were relaxing at the river. I chatted with them and they graciously filled our water bladders for our dry camp that night (the River was silty).
As planned, we camped at 135 mile rapid. It was more rocky than last time and we wished we had set up camp at a nice, but small beach a little further up river.
Day 4--River to Deer Creek: I got up early on Day 4 and wandered down towards Granite Narrows to watch the sun rise. It was a beautiful morning. After breakfast, we packed up and headed over to Deer Creek. There is some solid uphill climbing to get to the saddle before descending back to the Deer Creek drainage.
Given the short distance, we arrived fairly early and headed up to snag the large campsite on Deer Creek. After setting up camp and eating lunch, we headed back downstream to the Patio, Narrows, and Deer Creek Falls. All were a major highlight of the trip, though the Patio was swarming with rafters on our way down--probably about 25-30 people lounging in the area.
When we got to the falls, there were about 15 rafts or dories tied up. Luckily, while the rafters were at the Patio, we enjoyed the falls in relative solitude. Then, when we headed back to camp, the rafters had all retreated and we had the patio to ourselves in the late afternoon.
That night, after we hit the hay, it started raining--and it continued raining all night long, literally 6-7 hours non-stop. Thankfully, the storm tuckered out by the time we got up in the morning, and we didn't have to hike in the rain or set up/take down camp in the rain. We did note by looking across the canyon at the south rim that there was snow at the higher elevations.
Day 5--Deer Creek to Esplanade: We shared the Deer Creek camping area with two other groups. In the morning, we packed up and headed out for our biggest climbing day--first up to Surprise Valley and then up to the Esplanade. Along the way, we stopped at the now-dry Deer Spring, and hung out and relaxed in the "Throne Room," which has around a dozen or so "thrones."
We arrived at our camping spot on the Esplanade by mid-late afternoon. It was chilly, with a stiff breeze whipping up the wind-chill factor. We adjusted our camping location to take advantage of some natural wind breaks. The wind mostly died down around sunset, which was spectacular, with the clouds providing an amazing backdrop, and the water-filled potholes on the Esplanade reflecting all of the light.
Before bed, the breeze kicked in a bit and wafted down some brief snow flakes (but nothing that stuck). We went to bed at 7 and stayed in the tents for a good 12 hours. :-) My daughter (and mom to 3 boys--5, 3, and 2) said she got more sleep on our backpacking trip than she's had in years!
Day 6--Esplanade Out: Our last day was a relatively short (but steep) hike out to the TH. We passed a couple of groups and asked about road conditions. Apparently, the rain from the prior night dropped 4-5 inches of snow on the rim, but all reports were that he roads were okay. Once at the TH, we found snow on the car and icicles hanging from the bumper. The drive out was fine, but there were more ruts and an occasional slight fishtail here and there.
Once back on the main road to Jacob Lake, we found the aspens to have quickly shed their leaves and winter had set in. We had hoped to catch a shower at the Kaibab Camper Village, only to find that they had closed for the season one week earlier. :-( We stopped at Jacob Lake for a hot meal, and then headed to public showers near the Marble Canyon Lodge. I give them a one-star rating--one was too hot; another too cold; and a couple that just ate quarters without any shower at all. Despite that, we managed to get relatively clean and had an uneventful return to civilization--and an inbox with about 700 emails in it. Welcome back to reality! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Thunder River Falls is like a magical fairyland if fairies were into death metal. There are beautiful moss-covered pockets and crystal clear water and it is LOUD. It was a fun relaxing place to spend the day. We all made some food & filled up with cold water and headed on up to Surprise Valley with the sun blocked the whole way up. Surprise Valley was lovely in this light and seemed more lovely and interesting on this side compared with the Deer Creek side. We powered up the Redwall (which surprisingly felt much better going up vs going down - probably because of the lack of direct sun) and made it to the top and to the Esplanade just as it got dark (around 7:10 pm). The rest of our group got to the top and we found our water cache in the rock pockets where we had left it. At that point, it was 8:30 pm & dark dark. Hiking the Esplanade in the dark was too difficult so we decided to sleep on the rocks (not disturbing the cryptobiotic soil) and hike out in the morning. It was a crazy windy night but we were happy to have one big "up" behind us and a great view of the stars above.
Awesome trip with friends over Veteran's Day weekend. We had a permit for Upper Tapeats on Saturday and Esplanade on Sunday.
