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2,750 AEG |
| | Hiking | | 2 Days | | |
| 2,750 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | With a little help from my friends I managed to make this dream destination a reality. The water was more turquoise blue than the water in Cancun, Hawaii or Havasupai.
This trip started as a seed that was planted in my brain from the cover of a Backpacker magazine during the summer of 2004. After lots of help and research from others I finally had a plan. My first trip was nearly a year later in May 2005. It was a scouting trip that was attempted as a day hike -- not the best plan. I made it 3/4 of the way down the canyon and sadly had to abort for a variety of reasons. Heartbroken, I headed out knowing that I would return with a new plan at another time. I had a taste of what the route was like, the intense heat, the lack of shade and a distant glimpse at the beauty of the turquoise waters.
My new plan would be to travel in an ultra-light fashion, camp at the trailhead, hike down the canyon at the crack of dawn, play in the water, explore a bit, sleep one night on the beach, carry minimal food, and climb out at the crack of dawn. The only flaw in this plan was the NEED for more time at the water.
A recent issue of an Arizona Highways threw some more pictures at me of the Little Colorado River with a short trail report about the Salt Canyon. My desire to see this place began to grow more intense with each day. Eventually, I found a few brave souls that would agree to make this trek with me sooner than later. I knew with their support, strength, skill and a better plan I would make it all the way this time and could hardly sleep as the days got closer.
This was the most incredibly brutal, breathtaking, exciting and rewarding hiking trip I have ever experienced.  The mileage through the canyon is not long (either 4.5 or 6.5 miles--I've read different numbers plus our GPS wouldn't get a signal) and very slow going. It took us 6 hours to reach the water with a very early morning start to catch most of the canyon in the shade. The trail is more of a route than an actual trail with significant climbing at the start making it difficult to maneuver with a pack on. Going up and down Flatiron a few times with a pack might be the best practice for this part of the trail. This first part of the trail had all of our legs, including those of a seasoned climber, quivering. The route continues with boulder hopping followed by lots and lots of scree sliding, followed by a bit of cliff exposure. This is where I quickly learned what ‘under climbing' means. Each time someone fell or injured themselves we stopped for a break....making for about 4 or 5 breaks on the way down. Thankfully no major injuries. The last two hours of the hike were the ones that I was blabbering non-stop on while jumping up and down. It does complicate managing the scree-filled trail while jumping up and down with excitement but I couldn't help myself....we were going to make it! "My 5 minute break" was triggered by a spontaneous nosebleed. I'm thinking it was caused by the intense pain in my big toes. I haven't had the pleasure of a bloody nose since I was 2 years old so I decided it was worthy of a group break. I tried not to bleed on the trail.
Although I wasn't the first to reach the water I was the first in and the last out of the water! Oh my heck it was amazingly beautiful in every direction. The trick to this hike is carefully planning it when the water is BLUE and not a muddy gray mess. Mixing in air temps and water temps makes for a limited window of prime opportunity with this destination. Plan carefully.
I changed into dry clothes and walked around barefoot the rest of the night because I could. The sand was rock free. I was anxious to taste the water. I had read and had been warned about the nasty, gagging taste of water due to the minerals in it. We were prepared to scoop it up into a bucket, let it settle and then filter it. It wasn't bad! Flavored or unflavored I didn't mind it....just wish it had been a little colder. I think I probably drank 100oz of it that night. Thankfully, none of us experienced any adverse effects from it....wooohooo!
I spent my night on the beach without the luxury of a tent or a thermarest mostly because I knew I couldn't handle this trail with that large of a pack but also because I didn't want my view of the canyon walls, the water or the sky to be blocked by the walls of a tent. I slept pretty peacefully under the stars and clouds for most of the night considering it was my first time without a tent. We did get some rain and intense wind during the night. I have had some bad experiences with wind while camping in the past so I found myself waking-up periodically to check my whereabouts and the location of the others. Eventually, we relocated under the low branches of some bushes and stayed pretty dry there. The wind picked up significantly around 2am. I remember slipping deeper into my bag after experiencing 3 or 4 sand-swirlies.
Our low temp for the night was 65 degrees not including the wind chill factor. This was about 15 degrees warmer than I had expected...I still don't know how that happened.
We did see some animal prints by the water and the only other sign of wildlife was a frog or two, a few flies that came around dinner time and promptly left when we applied deet. We also noticed what appeared to be a few fish jumping out of the water to snag their dinner. These were probably the alleged endangered fish (humpback chubb) that the Game and Fish Department is monitoring. There was no plant life in the river. The river has a white muddy substance on the top that has the texture and feel of cold cream. Below that layer is feet of smooth, fluffy mud. The combination of these two things make walking through the water super slow going, it's easier to float or swim. The bank of the river had a combination of mud and quicksand so traveling along the side was also slow going.
We packed up and headed out at 7:15am, all wishing we had planned for more time in this paradise. I cried when we left and then again later on during the climb out when I turned to take one last look back over my shoulder. It was more beautiful than I had imagined possible to find on this earth. I can't wait to return!
Amazingly we ran into 5 or 6 guys coming in as we were headed out. They had on monster packs that I would have estimated to be around 80 pounds based on the size but they said 60-65 pounds. These guys had plans to stay for several days, showed us the water toys they had strapped on, (which beat the heck out of my inner tube) and knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing. A few were on their 5th annual trek and the others were on their first trip. We swapped stories for about 20 minutes on how we found the "right" roads to the trailhead (an adventure in itself), what we saw at the water's edge, and other trip info. I'm thinking I'd like to travel in with this group in the future....keeping my fingers crossed for an invitation.
We had strategically placed 100oz water every 90 minutes so we only needed to climb out with 25oz of water each. This really lightened our load from the 200oz we each carried in. Somehow we got out in less time than it took us to go down. We must have just zipped passed the last 100oz of water or been on a different route. (of course it was MY bladder that was never recovered, please let me know if you find it)
I felt like I was in fairly good shape leading into this trip. I'd been packing on the miles, hiking in the heat, doing lots of uphill and managing my hydration issues better. My quads have never felt what they felt on this hike.........for days afterwards they were screaming at me and my big toes might feel better if they were amputated (did I mention that this trip has some seriously steep sections?) I felt like I was climbing out slower than a turtle without legs but I made it, and in less time......go figure.
I'm hoping that it doesn't take much longer for my big toenails to fall off so I can put my boots on and do this trip again!
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