thunder river/tapeats backpack
Posted: Oct 21 2002 2:03 pm
Just got in late last night (early this a.m. actually) from a fantastic hike to Tapeats Creek with Zenphx and GTG. The trip stretched from 10/15 (leave Phx and bunk at the N. Rim) to 10/21 (hike out from the Esplanade, shower and gorge ourselves on Grand Bull burgers at Jacob Lake, and get back to Phx). This was a beautiful experience in a remote and very rugged place. GTG and Zenphx are great hiking partners with wonderful experiences, stories, jokes, and knowledge to share. I recommend hiking with them at any opportunity.
Our route followed the Bill Hall trail to Thunder River trail to Tapeats Creek (10.5 miles). We made camp at upper Tapeats and explored from there. Zenphx spent most of his time fly fishing and hiking around to different spots to do same. GTG and I made 2 side trips. First, down Tapeats creek to the Colorado and back slowly to sightsee and take photos, I believe it was about 6 miles round trip. If not GTG can correct me on this. This hike was reasonbly easy but did include several water crossings in fairly fast water (I was thankful for the use of one of GTG's trekking poles for the fords) as well as some high exposure on narrow trails. The exposure was a little nerve wracking in places but we managed. Our second trip was a loop down Tapeats, down the Colorado to Deer Creek, down/up the narrows of Deer creek, up Deer creek to the spring, up the canyon to Suprise Valley, across the valley to Thunder River, and back down Thunder river/Tapeats canyon to camp. Wow, I'm tired just typing it out. This trip was very rugged and very exposed and very beautiful. While I can't imagine it carrying a full pack (we just had daypacks) I'm already contemplating it and scheming the particulars. Our calculations for this hike was about 10 1/2 miles, but we now think it was somewhat longer. It is more of a route than a trail along the river and we spent a lot of time routefinding and experienced added distance crossing drainages.
Because I'm technologically challenged it may take me awhile to get all the photos edited and posted. I will put a few of the better ones in directly and a I'm sure the other guys will get their stuff in pretty quickly.
Our route followed the Bill Hall trail to Thunder River trail to Tapeats Creek (10.5 miles). We made camp at upper Tapeats and explored from there. Zenphx spent most of his time fly fishing and hiking around to different spots to do same. GTG and I made 2 side trips. First, down Tapeats creek to the Colorado and back slowly to sightsee and take photos, I believe it was about 6 miles round trip. If not GTG can correct me on this. This hike was reasonbly easy but did include several water crossings in fairly fast water (I was thankful for the use of one of GTG's trekking poles for the fords) as well as some high exposure on narrow trails. The exposure was a little nerve wracking in places but we managed. Our second trip was a loop down Tapeats, down the Colorado to Deer Creek, down/up the narrows of Deer creek, up Deer creek to the spring, up the canyon to Suprise Valley, across the valley to Thunder River, and back down Thunder river/Tapeats canyon to camp. Wow, I'm tired just typing it out. This trip was very rugged and very exposed and very beautiful. While I can't imagine it carrying a full pack (we just had daypacks) I'm already contemplating it and scheming the particulars. Our calculations for this hike was about 10 1/2 miles, but we now think it was somewhat longer. It is more of a route than a trail along the river and we spent a lot of time routefinding and experienced added distance crossing drainages.
Because I'm technologically challenged it may take me awhile to get all the photos edited and posted. I will put a few of the better ones in directly and a I'm sure the other guys will get their stuff in pretty quickly.
