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| Around Crazy Jug Point, AZ | |
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| | Around Crazy Jug Point, AZ | | | |
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Around Crazy Jug Point, AZ
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| Hiking | 11.00 Miles |
2,800 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.00 Miles | 9 Hrs | | 1.47 mph |
| 2,800 ft AEG | 1 Hour 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This hike has been on my list for a while as a way to visit two Coconino breaks/ historic trails and make a loop. It is now off my list for good.
Early in the morning, I followed the FS roads to Big Saddle and picked up the old trail descending towards the head of Crazy Jug Canyon. Even largely forgotten and in disrepair, constructed trails provide fairly efficient routes. I did my part for its upkeep by rolling some dead trees off the trail bed.
I probably followed the trail too far down the talus below the Coconino; although it was a steep place to traverse, the brush was less dense up high. Instead, I left the trail and immediately had to claw through a thicket of manzanita and shrub oak. I had a brief respite upon reaching a small saddle, and here I had two (lousy) options: (1) continue high around the head of Crazy Jug Canyon, avoiding the dense tangle below a spring, or (2) find a way through the Supai into the bed downstream and climb back out on talused slopes. I started with the second option, then quickly changed my mind at the prospect of finding Supai breaks where I could barely see 10 feet ahead of me. This meant I had to regain the elevation I’d lost, climb even higher above the spring, and walk the long way around a debris flow pillar.
Once west of the head of Crazy Jug, I assumed travel would pick up. It barely did, because while I could now avoid the worst thickets I ended up crossing several deep gullies. Finally, finally, I came to an area with more slickrock and less vegetation and thought I was in the clear. Wrong again!! Rather than continue to contour around the long way, I crossed a couple of Hermit saddles where the vegetation looked tolerable. Near one of these, I found a half-buried horseshoe – I think the cowboys must have either burned the manzanita or established trails to move through here. At a final saddle below Crazy Jug Point, where I hoped to turn the corner and make a quick exit to the rim, I was confronted by dense pinyons, sagebrush, and manzanita. In exasperation, I checked my satellite map and guessed that the least-horrible passage out of here would be up, over, and down the far side of the high-point beside me.
Here, travel did become less horrible. I walked through open pinyons and junipers, reached Esplanade proper, and had a positively lovely time traversing slickrock. I identified the only place where talus reached all the way through the Coconino and started up the ridge leading to it. Along the way, I followed a track that may have been used by cowboys. However, as the talus became steeper I was left with steep sheep trails. I saw no signs of construction at the Toroweap contact, which I don’t think a horse could descend without aid. Once in the Toroweap, I followed my fading sheep trail until I spotted a scrambly cliff break; then I headed directly uphill. I’m sure there was a better route here (probably along the sheep track), but I was ready to be out of the canyon by now so I ended up ascending this horribly steep, slidy limestone scree for hundreds of feet to the rim.
I was feeling pretty beat after this hike and didn’t know if I wanted anything more to do with the canyon for a while. It’s incredible what magic some good food and drink can do: by dusk, I felt much better and was planning to head in again the following day. |
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