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| Backpack | 29.50 Miles |
4,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 29.50 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 4,000 ft AEG | | 35 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | I led a group of 8 backpackers into Grand Gulch. We did this trip in the reverse direction - which is what most of the trail descriptions recommend. The mileage I listed is probably not exactly accurate as there were times were we dropped our packs and continued up to the ruins without the GPS.
We started April 2 at the Kane Gulch Ranger station where we met and watched the required 10 minute video. We also set up our car shuttle. Then we hiked down Kane Gulch to Grand Gulch. The trail was well defined and easy to follow. During the first part of the trail we ran into an old stand of aspens that are clones of trees that have been growing in Kane Gulch for 11,000 years.
At the junction of Kane and Grand, we stopped for a break and checked out Junction Ruin. After that we visited Turkey Pen Ruin. Both of these ruins were impressive. The midden had tons of pottery shards and corn cobs in it. The structures were in very good shape considering their age. We then continued down Grand Gulch and saw Stimpler Arch and another set of ruins. The trail continued to be easy to follow.
We stopped at the junction with Todie Canyon and set up camp. We were able to find water in Todie Canyon just about a quarter mile from the junction. While filtering water, we looked up and saw that there was set of ruins right across the canyon from us. It was up high enough to be inaccessible. After we had set up camp and filtered water, I decided I had not had enough and I continued up Todie canyon for a ways while most of the group took naps. I saw another set of ruins further up canyon. They were really far up the canyon wall which made me not even attempt to try to access them. I turned around at a spot in the canyon where there had been a rock slide and huge boulders had rerouted the trail up and over them. The trail for most of Todie canyon is not as easy to follow as that in Kane and Grand Gulches.
That night we could tell the weather was going to turn on us as the winds were really blowing. We found a dry slick rock drainage that was sheltered by juniper and other trees to use for cooking and eating. We sat up chatting for a while before we went to bed.
In the morning, we packed up and continued on down Grand Gulch. Today, was our big day for seeing multiple ruins. We saw at least 11 different sets of ruins. The first set was just minutes from camp and had some great pottery shards. We also saw Split Level and several unnamed ruins.
We reached one of the pour offs indicated on the map and it still had a nice sized pool under it. It looked like an awesome place to jump in - however, the rangers had said "no bathing" which is understandable - who wants to drink sunblock  The water in the canyon becomes very concentrated in tinajas (where the water is held like it's in a jar) like the pour off pool so any chemicals we add to the water do not come out until the next big rain.
In the canyon, we saw evidence of flash floods. It's amazing what the force of water can do. We saw debris over 5 feet high in some of the trees. In some spots erosion had made the creek bed 6 feet higher than the surrounding ground, which made creek crossings interesting. At least the water level was very low at this time of the year. There were also several places where the brush had overgrown the trail. Lucky for us, someone had done some trail maintenance so it wasn't too hard to push through the brush.
Along our trek we saw a lot of interesting rock formations. One that stands out in my mind is the Thumb. It really does look like a thumb. There is a pour off right at the Thumb which would make for some awesome photos if the weather was good. For us however, we were experiencing some light rain for a few hours that day.
I was feeling a bit let down on the amount of rock art compared to the amount of structures that I had seen. I felt like I needed some more! Therefore, we did a short adventure off the main trail up Sheik's Canyon. Sheik's Canyon had a great collection of rock art, including the Green Mask. That is not to be missed!
We made camp at the junction of Grand Gulch and Bullet Canyon. We found an excellent spot where giant cottonwoods were growing. Above our camp was some slickrock and yet another ruin which looked like two granaries but was pretty high up. It was fun to wander around on the slickrock and try to imagine what it was like for the makers of the ruins. Where did they grow their corn and other crops? Where did they sleep?
The water around the junction of Bullet Canyon had a "wonderful" smell and in places it looked quite oily. We looked for a spot that had been "filtered" by leaves and had some flow. We were able to filter our water but our ceramic filter had to be cleaned a couple times. Two of the people in our group was using a gravity filter and they told us that they still could detect the smell.
A couple of us wanted to see if we could find more ruins down Grand Gulch so we took off before dinner. We didn't have our headlamps so we had a set time in which we had to turn around. While we didn't have a chance to find another set of ruins we did have a good time exploring the canyon. We also noticed that further downstream the water looked a bit clearer.
When we returned to camp the wind was really picking up. It must have been blowing the chances of rain away! It was windy well into the night. We didn't spend a lot of time out after dinner.
In the morning, we awoke to calmness and cold! It was just below freezing. We packed up camp and headed our way up Bullet Canyon. I ended up towards the end of the group and managed to spot a ruin after everyone else had past the route to the ruin. I yelled up ahead and everyone turned back - can't miss even one ruin We saw one more ruin before we got to Jailhouse Ruin. We knew we were there once we spotted the large rock art above the majority of the structures - three large circles. We found the window in which cause the ruin to be called Jailhouse.
In the next alcove we found Perfect Kiva. It was, well, er, a PERFECT way to end our "Ruined Adventure"! We were able to go down into the Kiva using the wooden ladder that was there. I wouldn't be surprised if the Kiva is closed soon as we were warned to only have one person on the roof at a time because the roof was not as stable as it used to be. Going down into the Kiva was an experience like no other. The air down in the Kiva was thick. When we took pictures we could see the debris/dust that hung in the air. On the back wall of the Kiva I noticed a material that looked like a varnish. It was amber in color. I didn't figure out what it was until I was back up on top and was able to read the documentation that was left in the ammo can. It was petrified rat pee!!!! At least I didn't lick it like I was dared to do!!!  There was also a habitation building that we could enter. It had been fixed up some which made it nice because I could tell about how tall the inhabitants had been.
After Perfect Kiva, we started our ascent to Cedar Mesa. There were a couple spots in which it made us wonder if we were going the right way (there were cairns but it just seemed a bit strange). In a few places, we decided the cairns were probably only to be followed in periods of high water so we ignored them and went a more logical way. There were two spots in which some of our hikers removed their packs in order to navigate the scrambling in a safer manner. One of those spots still had a nice ice water fall to make matters a bit more difficult. Nonetheless we made it back to the top where our car was awaiting. We completed the shuttle and then started the long drive back to Tucson.
It is really hard to describe everything we saw and all the feelings we felt. This was an amazing trip - definitely one that I would recommend to everyone who doesn't mind long days and likes to do a small amount of rock scrambling. Backpackers are truly fortunate as we can see far more of Grand Gulch than the regular day-hiker. |
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