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| no partners | | Now is a great time to visit the Clear Creek zone. All the falls are running including the ever elusive Cheyava! But the water level is dropping fast so go sooner rather than later... It will take me forever to edit the 484 photos I took with my camera so I’ll just add a few phone snaps here.
Day 1 - South Kaibab to Clear creek camping area
With 5 day packs - ugh, what a slog. We took the last hiker shuttle from the BIC at 7am and got to clear creek at ~7:30pm. A long break at Phantom and two lunch beers were a terrible (but also great) idea. Flowers are blooming like crazy. Saw a cute lizard on the big cairns at sumner point and a GC pink right alongside the trail a couple miles from camp. The first rattlesnake I've seen in >20 years and I came within inches of stabbing it with my trekking pole! No water/potholes along the clear creek trail.
Day 2 - Cheyava falls
Apparently rangers had/have been warning hikers against crossing clear creek but that was not the message I got... when I visited the BIC on Tues to check for updates, the ranger confirmed that the falls were running and suggested "tight slippers" for the creek crossings  My knock-off crocs were fine. The water was fast but not that deep (just above the knee at worst & I am only 5'4") and all crossings were doable. Poles required for me though. The first three crossings were hardest and the rest (10+) were pretty trivial. Cairns are a little scarce as the trail approaches the falls and it gets a bit hard to follow. But the side canyon that heads to Cheyava is so pretty and the falls were GUSHING. Spectacular!! We forgot to look for the ruins south of cheyava but checked out the Obi granaries on the way there and Gila pueblo on the way back to camp.
Day 3 - Ariel and Obi
Back across clear creek and up the wet arm. Many more creek crossings required and a few looked scary but they were all fine. Met another hiker and traded info; we told him about Ariel falls and he told us about some ruins he found. After lunch at the base of the falls we climbed to the top to see if we could find a high route over to the ruins (maybe possible, but didn't seem worth it; the slopes are steepish, plus snakes.) So we retraced our steps a ways and climbed back up to them. Found a nice big pottery sherd as well as a few more ruins that the other hiker hadn't mentioned. On the way out of this canyon we saw another large black and yellow snake hanging over the creek getting a drink - a very strange sight! On the way back to camp we took the short stroll up Obi to the pouroff there which is also running and quite pretty.
Day 4 - East clear creek
This was supposed to be a quick morning walk before starting the hike out but turned into a half day side trip because the canyon is so cool. Towering walls, a huge agave roasting pit and other detritus of ancient puebloans, tapeats narrows, a slabby watercourse with tons of pour offs and pools, amazing views of wotans throne, angels gate, Thor temple and other stuff! We were disappointed that we had to turn around where the canyon splits. Definitely a place worthy of more exploration. Packed up and hoofed it to camp at sumner point. Saw another pink on the trail.
Day 5 - Sumner point to south rim via BA
I had never been on the BA below havasupai gardens. It’s a nice section of trail so I’m glad we did it, but the mass of humanity was kind of overwhelming after visiting more remote parts of the canyon, as usual. I offended some young punk - er, guy - by suggesting he try headphones instead of blasting me with his goofy death metal  |
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Wildflowers Observation Extreme
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