| |
|
| | |
|
| Backpack | 18.50 Miles |
1,200 AEG |
| | Backpack | 18.50 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 1,200 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | When I was but a wee undergrad at the UofA, I took a survey Archaeology class because I was pretty sure I wanted to be Indiana Jones when I grew up. Of course, the first class was all about how archaeologists aren't Indiana Jones, and how if they caught him doing his grab-and-go technique of artifact collection on their sites they'd shove that bullwhip in a cavity not likely to be excavated for a very long time. It was good - I was saved from a potentially professional-success-killing degree program, and the UofA Anthropology department was saved from yet another disillusioned sophomore dream.
Of course, I went on to get my undergraduate degree in Creative Writing, so obviously financial instability and burger flipping were an unavoidable fate for me. What I did gain, however, was an even greater amazement in the complexity of early American civilizations, particularly those in what is now the American Southwest. In particular I was enchanted by tales of Betatakin and Keet Seel, of tree-ring dating and fighting off pot hunters. The thought of that incredibly long and difficult hike made Keet Seel seem to be just down the street from Everest or Kilimanjaro. This was the time of my life when a day hike from the Rim of the GC to Indian Gardens crippled me for nearly a month. Keet Seel, it seemed, would be a legend to be enjoyed only by those non-Indiana-Jones-type archaeologists and natives on horseback.
I'm waxing overly poetic about this one, I must admit. It really was a "childhood" dream, however, and achieving it put into perspective just how far I've come in my life from the 18 year old girl who thought that a mile was a long hike and that most of the world was utterly and unchangeably inaccessible.
I was just recovering from our trip through Grand Gulch when it dawned on me that what I'd just done was considerably harder than the Keet Seel trip would be. Well, then, I thought - what's stopping me? At first, the season was what. Reservations and tours of Keet Seel are only available in the hottest time of year - from mid-May through Labor Day. Somehow, my calculations came out that mid-August was a good compromise. It was gonna be hot no matter what, but in August we stood the best chance of a cooling afternoon storm.
I posted the trip with the ABC, signed Angela up for a spot without her express permission (hee hee), and within hours all of the permit spots were snapped up. Angela quickly forgave me for roping her into hosting the trip with me, though I think she remained anxious about the hike until we had gotten back to the trailhead.
There are many descriptions of this hike here and on other hiking sites, and it's difficult to judge what kind of experience you're in for based upon the widely differing opinions. Most trip reports seem to dwell upon how dull the hike is along the canyon bottom, how hot and dusty it is, and how miserable the hike back up to the canyon rim can be. I found none of these to be true on our hike. The canyon is pretty, and at some moments even spectacular. There is little shade to be found (bring an umbrella - trust me), but if you leave early enough in the morning and make good time, you can be at the campground by the time the real heat sets in. We left the cars at the trailhead at 7am, and after taking about a million photos between the 8 hikers, 3 snack breaks and time to play in the quicksand, we made it to the campground by noon (this is all Arizona time - that would kick us in the butt later).
The campground was another pleasant surprise. I found it to be shady, cool and rather pretty. The actual campsites are arranged along the outside of a dense oak grove, and all have some view of the ruins on the opposite side of the canyon. Because our group was the only one in the campground that evening, we were able to spread out and move to follow the shade when that was required. This is a WONDERFUL place to hammock, by the way! So wonderful that we all forgot about the time difference amid lunching, napping, and drying out our wet feet. Suddenly we put it together that it wasn't really 2pm - it was 3pm! The last tour was given at 3! Ak!
Those of us who actually had shoes on ran down to the ranger's dwelling on the far bank of the creek and negotiated time for the rest of us to get our pumpkins together. Mike ferried Tiffani's dry sandaled feet (still attached to the rest of her) across the creek, and we just squeaked in to the final tour time. Our tour guide, Patrick, was talking about how staffing cuts at the park meant that he was spending 3 weeks in the canyon, rather than just one. I think that was probably why he was so uninterested in our tour. He was friendly enough, but he spoke very little, and seemed to know the answers to very few of our questions about the site. I was all itching to get into that preservation debate that I mentioned in my triplog for Casa Malpais, but once again I was denied. Sigh. I suppose I'd have to be content with just getting to check out this incredible ruin site. Poor me!
I have to confess - the site seems almost too perfect to be real. Patrick identified the areas where stabilization had been performed by the CCC in the 30's, and where modern efforts are monitoring parts of the structure to determine if additional stabilization is needed. It was hard to get my mind to realize that those efforts were really pretty minor compared to the amount of original, intact architecture and artifacts. I SO wanted to go beyond the small barriers and explore more of the site on my own - but I was a good girl. We walked back to our camp with an invitation from Patrick to come back under the moonlight and take advantage of his coffee and night vision goggles.
Back at camp, I rallied a couple of the guys to hike out and find a fresh spring. I could TOTALLY understand why we had been instructed not to drink the creek water. It was pretty well fouled not only by cattle but also laden with lots of sediment. However, with all the rains they'd been getting (the rangers said it was the wettest month they'd ever seen), there were sure to be springs running in the sidecanyons. Sure enough, we found one less than a mile up from the campground - we could actually see the tiny jets of water emerging from the soft sand at the base of the cliff. We dug out a hole to harvest from and pumped as a team enough water for cocktail hour and the hot hike out. Up this side canyon was another alcove that looked promising for ruins, so I went up with Mike to check it out. Of course, this involved scrambling up an insanely steep sand cliff more than 50', then weaving through an absolute jungle of beebalm weeds taller than I am, before negotiating a rockslide. Of course, there wasn't anything in the bottom of the alcove but the former top of the alcove. But the little adventure drove home how different the side canyons are from the main channel in terms of vegetation, stream character and water clarity.
By the time we got back to camp, made dinner and watched the moon rise we just weren't up for hiking back across the stream (wet feet again?) to the ruins. Instead, we went to bed early, vowing to be up before dawn to get our butts out of the canyon before the heat set in.
Well, about 7am we rolled out once again. I know, not exactly the crack of dawn - but not bad for a group of 7 tired hikers. Our hike back was blessed, however, but a glorious cloud cover the entire way. Clyde and I took the high route from the campground just to see if it was different than the hike along the creek. Initially the route was difficult to follow, as many of the incoming drainages had badly washed out and all signs of the trail were probably miles downstream. However, once we got past the first mile or so it got easier and we cranked along.
Back on the creek, the group made good time to the bottom of the hill. Now, I know I haven't mentioned much about how Angela was doing on all of this - but that's because she was doing so incredibly well. She needs to give herself full credit for being a strong hiker! Well, once we hit that hill she remained true to that model, and with almost no complaint she hiked right up that thing. True, it's uphill, and much of it is sand dunes or large steps, but as hikes out of canyons go, it's not that bad. The views are fantastic, and with the cloud cover it really was quite pleasant. We were at the cars by noon, and with a little lift still left in our steps! 
To make this VERY LONG trip report short (too late, I know), we hit the road out to Cameron where we got Navajo Tacos (or at least a few of us did) and split back up into our separate travel groups to return to the valley. I pulled into home at about 9pm - tired, sunkissed and feeling like a million bucks. Check one more big box on that bucket list. Maybe the rest of the world isn't as out of reach as I thought.
But wait! I didn't even get into quicksand dancing, curious cattle, radioactive waterfalls, random rule changes or how brave Anne was on the big ladder! And don't you want to hear about the big orange spiders in the out house? Wait! Come back!!!!  |
|
Wildflowers Observation Substantial
|
|
| _____________________
-----------------------------------
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.- Barack Obama |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
