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| Hiking | 21.00 Miles |
7,621 AEG |
| | Hiking | 21.00 Miles | | | |
| 7,621 ft AEG | | | | |
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[ show ]
| no partners | | This was my second attempt at climbing up to Cheops Plateau......and I failed again. The last section is just too exposed for my comfort. The climbing itself isn't bad, just too scary.
I started out from the S. Kaibab TH at about 4:40am and was at the Black Bridge by 6:20. This was my fastest time down without running. Only passed one other hiker heading down. It was dark and I used my headlamp until about 3/4 of the way down. The Kaibab is in excellent shape right now and there is almost no mule excrement. I don't think I saw any until I got to the bridge. I believe they stopped allowing passenger mules on the Kaibab but the mules still use the Black Bridge to cross the river. Most of them refuse to cross the Silver Bridge because they can see through the floor and down to the river below.
From Bright Angel campsite #1, I went up the steep scree slope towards Piano Alley and Utah Flats. Once across Utah Flats a faint trail starts to develop across the Tonto Platform. There are lots of hedgehog and prickly pear cactus in this area and travel is slow and difficult if you do not locate the trail. After a while the trail becomes more distinct.
After about a mile or so the North/West corner of Cheops becomes visible. This is where I left the now well defined trail and began heading up the rocky slope towards the bottom of the redwall around Cheops. Once at the redwall base I followed this to the NW corner and the spine that I will need to climb to get up on the plateau. I got up to about 3/4 of the way up the spine where the climbing was just too exposed for me. I turned around in shame. Oh well, at least the views of Isis and the Isis/Cheops saddle are excellent from up here.
Headed back the same way: down the slope from Cheops, across the Tonto, across Utah Flats, down Piano Alley, and down the slippery slope leading back to Phantom Ranch. Refilled 1 liter of chlorine(with just a hint of water)at Phantom Ranch. Crossed the Black Bridge at about 11:35 and topped out at the SK TH at 1:45. Saw many people hiking up and down the Kaibab on the way out. The weather was nice, about 85 degrees when I left PR and sunny all day. There was some but not much shade along the Kaibab this time of day/year. I would estimate that I had about 2 to 3 miles of shade total. |
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