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| Backpack | 43.00 Miles |
10,300 AEG |
| | Backpack | 43.00 Miles | 4 Days | | |
| 10,300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | My first packraft trip and a very good time overall.
Pernell and I arrived at a decent hour on Saturday and the employee at the entrance station laughed and said "no, you're not going down Tanner". Well, we did. But first we had to drop of our packs and hike from Desert View out to Lipan Point, which wasn't plowed. We ran into another would-be hiker there who hadn't been able to find the trail off the rim.
The snowdrifts were deep below the rim. I got excited about maybe finding the trail and got stuck in deep snow within my first 5 steps... the snow drifts over the Kaibab cliff bands so that it looks like a steep slope but when you step off the edge your feet touch powder and you're stuck on a "saddle" of snow. I slowly extricated myself while Pernell found the real switchback. The Kaibab was the trickiest section because the switches are difficult to locate and we both plunged into deep powder trying to reach trail we could see winding below. The snow was knee-waist deep when we stayed on trail.
We finally found good trail in the Coconino and progress was slightly quicker. We switched to drier gear below the saddle with 75mi Creek but still encountered snow to mid-shin on the north-facing slope above the Redwall descent. I cut the switchback there but in hindsight should have searched for it because there were plenty of agave/ yucca pincushions hidden under the snow. So glad we didn't encounter one of those!! The rest of the hike to the beach was fast, and good thing because between our false start and an extra hour at the top of the trail we were running out of daylight to cross the river. We put in below Tanner a little after 4 and even got a few rays of sun on the crossing. Packrafting was exciting and I was having a great time, even when I got sucked back into an eddy. We found a camp on Basalt Delta which was nice and sheltered from the wind and blowing sand.
The next morning we started up Basalt Creek. The salty flats were very nice walking and there was a good amount of water flowing. Our bypasses were simple except for one that looked new where crumbly shale blocked off a ~6ft pouroff on all sides. After sliding down a few times we dug out steps well above the pouroff for a tenous crossing. The creek opened up again below the Tapeats and the sun was warm. I really enjoyed a section with lots of Tapeats slickrock and juniper trees.
We crossed a pass into Lava and contoured on some annoyingly steep shale. Eventually I found a decent game trail. Then to a Tapeats break with lots of nice loose shale where we could plunge-step and a game trail that practically looked constructed. This was easy walking but I fell twice hiking down - I blame the slippery snow and worn bottoms of my shoes. We dropped gear at a camp sheltered by a large boulder and visited Juno Ruin. Before long we were both chilled by the wind gusts and ready to climb into bed. This was an early night.
We had early sun at camp and hiked up Natchi Canyon the following morning. There was plenty of flowing water here and more snow as we got higher. We were eventually stopped at a nice amphitheater in the shale.
After packing up camp, we hiked down to Still Spring. Along the way we found some pretty painted potshards. I drank straight from Still Spring (still feeling healthy!) and we visited the old coffee grinder. The tree has died around the grinder and the grinder is partially removed.
Then we hiked over a hill into Carbon. There were nice colorful, tilted strata along the way. We also saw lots of large cat tracks. I think the Tapeats in Carbon is super cool! This was a nice way to end the day. At Carbon Beach we had company from the river but they offered us beers and went to bed early so I didn't mind. Winds out of Carbon were gusting at us all night but we avoided the blowing sand.
We woke early on the final morning and left the beach ahead of schedule. A short packraft down to Palisades then an easy walk along the beach. I finally visited the old mine. We made quick work of the lower section of Tanner, then took 3 hours to reach the rim from 75mi saddle. Ugh. Hiking through the snow started off fast enough but snow had drifted over our tracks in the Kaibab so we had the combined difficulties of finding the trail from below and busting through a tough snow crust which was just weak enough to not hold us. In a few spots I climbed to the next switchback by using my poles as anchors and kneeling on the snow, effectively turning my shins into snowshoes... this was easier than walking. We were cold when we reached the rim but we caught the last of the sun. Lipan Point still wasn't plowed and a paper taped to the sign said Tanner trail was closed due to snow. Well, we did it but it'll take me a while (or maybe a week) to want to do this one again.
We got lucky and got a hitch back to Desert View from the second car that passed us. The sun set as we looked over the Painted Desert on Hwy 64. |
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