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| Backpack | 35.00 Miles |
9,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 35.00 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 9,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I snagged a last-minute permit to camp on the beaches near Tanner and took the opportunity to attempt the Cardenas route (~ from hilltop ruin to the top of the redwall). This was a lot of fun!
Days 1 and 3 - I just hiked up/ down Tanner trail. It's pretty quick but I usually get distracted and scout from the trail. There were lots of folks backpacking (I barely got my permit) but it didn't feel crowded because most were groups of two. On my way out a runner lapped me on his way down and up - he was moving!
Layover day - I got a somewhat late start and hiked along the beach toward the hilltop ruin. I found some cool artifacts in one spot - a pot and kettle with paint remaining. It's pure luck that I stumbled across it, you can't see it from any distance.
I left the beaten track at a saddle in the hatakai shale and dropped into Cardenas creek near its large fork. I followed this for a ways and had a great angle to scout my line. I'd studied the route description on Doug Nering's webpage, which is excellent. I followed a somewhat loose line of tapeats boulders through most of the basalt, then had a short scramble up the basalt at the point. There are two cairns here which would be helpful on the descent. There's a bit of a track along the base of the tapeats to the tapeats break. Folks say the tapeats break is difficult to locate when you don't know where it is and I agree - I only assumed it was behind the corner I couldn't see from below. Again, this break was straightforward though there's one spot where I took off my pack to climb up and crawl under a ledge. I'd want to use a rope for overnight packs. Another tiny cairn marks the best spot to get down this ~4ft ledge.
In and above the tapeats there were plenty of sheep droppings to quicken my routefinding. I hiked slightly east of the drainage through the redwall to bypass some cliffbands, then decided it'd be easiest to maintain my bearing until I reached the bottom broken limestone cliffs. Getting off loose talus and onto solid rock was delightful - I had a great time scrambling up the redwall chute. This was the easiest part of the route. Near the top of the redwall there's a clear track. Once at the redwall saddle with 75mi creek I contoured in the lower supai to the redwall campsites overlooking the river. There were also good sheep trails through here and the going was faster than expected. Near the camping area I noticed several small snail shells, which I haven't seen in the canyon before.
Back on the trail with just a day pack, I positively trotted down to the beach. Then I stuffed myself trying to reduce my food weight for the hike out  This route was strenous but not technical, and routefinding is straightforward from below. |
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