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| Crazy Jug and Tapeats, AZ | |
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| | Crazy Jug and Tapeats, AZ | | | |
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Crazy Jug and Tapeats, AZ
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| Backpack | 26.50 Miles |
8,600 AEG |
| | Backpack | 26.50 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 8,600 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Pernell and I made a neat little loop off the North Rim.
On Friday we parked at Monument Point and walked for about an hour along the roads to Big Saddle Camp. From here we stepped over some old fences and soon found the old Big Saddle Trail contouring into the canyon. The trailbed is good but the brush is overgrown. Old Bright Angel vibes. We did some trail maintenance (translation: entertained ourselves by throwing dead trees down the hill). I remember slithering under a fallen tree in the Toroweap and getting pine needles all down the back of my shirt. It was a tighter squeeze than expected. The Coconino break is neat: the cliffs suddenly appear and you descend a nice ravine about 15ft wide between them. The switchbacks gradually became more overgrown and I gained a new respect for mexican locust as we neared the Esplanade. Eventually we lost the trail in the manzanita and aimed for the creekbed to the west. We thrashed through some horrible brush after exiting the creekbed, but fortunately this only lasted about 100 yds. After this it was the standard Hermit Shale contouring and detouring around thickets. We saw no more signs of constructed trail.
We passed one spring with lush grass and cattails. I love Supai slickrock and got a little caught up admiring it near the spring. Travel improved considerably when we reached our descent nose through the Supai. The route was so natural that I don't think I backtracked once to scramble through a cliffband. We dropped into Parissawampitts for a snack break beside a modest flow and teeny tiny toads. As it turns out, Parissawampitts does not go into Crazy Jug and we were turned around at some pools and short drop-offs. In Crazy Jug proper I didn't notice Parissawampitts join so it must have quite the final fall. We continued through Redwall narrows with a bit of wading and scrambling. There is a place where you can see the strata curve upwards about 90 degrees near the bed.
We left the drainage after the second set of narrows and were frustrated by how brushy and rugged travel was on top of the Redwall. It was warm, too. A storm rolled in and clouds provided welcome shade. We hadn't been worried about water access but the Redwall bypass was so slow (~3 hours) that we were both out of water by the time we reached the creekbed again. The Redwall route is cairned and a track is apparent in places. There are excellent views into Timp Canyon and an unnamed adjacent drainage that looks like its twin. Still, the bypass is very steep, on very loose talus, and requires enough back and forth around various sections of cliff that it was fatiguing. I kept expecting the slope to level out at the bottom and it never did: instead, we had a contour quite a ways above the Muav and perform a vegetation-belay descent into the bed. To add insult to injury, there was one final bypass after this where we had to gingerly weave between large prickly pears (talk about a high-consequence fall)! We made camp at the confluence of Saddle and Crazy Jug canyons.
On Saturday morning we warmed up with a short hike up Stina Canyon to a pretty waterfall. A short ways below our camp, the water dried up in Tapeats. Travel was fast. A trickle began a short way above the Tapeats Cave inlet and I noticed some shale ledges that would make good camping in this area.
Pernell reached the confluence from Tapeats Cave before me fell asleep in some shade around the corner. I reached this spot and thought, huh, wonder where he went. I spent about an hour eating lunch, stubbornly waiting for him to find me, then searching for his tracks. Eventually, I noticed Chaco tracks across the creek and concluded that Pernell must be waiting in some shade downstream. Seemed out of character, but I set off to catch him, following these Chaco tracks for a good half-mile. Then as I'm rounding a hill, Pernell calls out from behind me - I was following the wrong person's Chacos! 
The narrows in Tapeats Creek were very pretty. At the chockstone pool, we waded through water about 4ft deep and COLD. Near the confluence of Thunder River we spent a few hours resting in the shade of an overhang and watching a chuckwalla. It was plenty hot in the "oven" now, even in the shade. Luckily, our camp that night had a cool breeze coming from the creek.
On Sunday we left after sunrise and ascended quickly. It was quite warm, even before the sun hit, so we enjoyed a stop where Thunder River comes out of the cave. We saw other hikers for the first time this trip on the Esplanade. The ascent through the Coconino was warm and I'm glad we weren't stuck in that heat below the Esplanade. Our exit took about 5 hours and I felt like I'd had a proper leg workout after.
On our drive back we passed two cars near Marble Canyon that were absolutely covered in dirt. Zero paint visible. We both thought, "WTH??" and had a little laugh about how on earth someone could get that muddy. Turns out, that was my co-worker and they did it trying to drive to Rider Canyon! |
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