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| Backpack | 42.00 Miles |
6,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 42.00 Miles | | | |
| 6,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Katie and I completed a four day backpack through the Kanab Creek Wilderness and Grand Canyon National Park over my fall break. The drive in was a bit of an adventure. There were several closed roads and the recent storm made the final nine miles to Sowats Point attention getting to say the least.
Day 1: 14.7 miles, AEG 2,410
We started off down the Jump Up Trail, just after seven, on Thursday morning. It was a chilly morning, confirmed by mud-caked, frozen shut doors and icicles hanging from my 4Runner to remind us of our adventure driving in the night before. After only a quick couple of miles and a steep descent we were already at our point where we would leave the trail until our fourth day on this trip. We left the Jump Up Trail shortly after the cottonwoods and began looking for our use trail to the unofficially named Ojojojo Canyon. It did not take long to pick up the trail and we cruised across the esplanade to Oj3. The canyon was a little brushy at first, but then the walking got easier and the scenery more scenic. Aided by a few stretches of running water, gurgling cascades and idyllic hanging garden springs with crystal clear pools below them. The culminating attraction was a several foot tall waterfall that had a light, but steady flow. We bypassed the fall hikers right. After reaching a suitable campsite at the confluence of Oj3 and Indian Hollow, we packed the day packs and headed for the next objective of the day, Racetrack Knoll. Indian Hollow was an absolute treat and the going up canyon was not overly hard, however, we were definitely ready for our turn off down the unnamed arm that would lead us out of Indian Hollow and up onto the esplanade. The unnamed side drainage we took is on hikers right when heading upstream. Its the first Canyon that clearly "goes" out of Indian Hollow and it was about 2.5 miles up canyon from Oj3. After a short walk, a surprisingly well worn trail took us around an impassable dry fall section and then shortly after that Katie spotted what could be an easily missed side drainage that took us up to the esplanade. After picking our way through a couple of shelves, we were on top and making our way to the steep ridges of RTK, which actually went pretty nice compared to our last couple hour of boulder hopping. The summit itself has enough room for about two people to sit on a crumbling block of hermit. We signed the register, which only had two entries since its placement in 2019 and then headed back down. We both felt a little fatigued for the final couple miles down canyon back to camp, but the magical lighting and photo ops kept our spirits high.
Day 2: 9 miles
We left camp a little after seven again, on day two. There was no need to leave any earlier, as we were anticipating some swimmers to get through the rest of Indian Hollow and we wanted at least some slivers of sun rays on us for those. Our first obstacle came up rather quickly, there may be a bypass there, but we ended up just opting for a light down climb and a neck deep wade with packs on our heads. After that there was nothing overly notable until we got to the final obstacle, a chockstone with about a 20 foot drop into a deep swimmer. I cut out a rats nest of tat off a boulder with a pinch point and then slung a new piece of webbing with a single rap ring. Some guidebooks suggest the obstacle can be down-climbed, but we had brought rope and there was no interest in down climbing it for us. After Katie made the first rap and swim, I took the rope and our packs along an edge to a point just past the swimmer and then lowered them to Katie, after that, I rigged the rap again and descended. The beautiful narrows of Indian Hollow revealed themselves next. At the intersection with Jump-Up Canyon we cached our rope and harness and headed down Canyon. The hike to the boundary and confluence went pretty quick, but the final miles to Showerbath Spring seemed to drag on a bit, which may have been aided by the fact that Kanab Creek was flowing pretty nicely from the recent storms. It was chocolate milk the whole way, which made the crossings more tedious and our lines of travel less direct. We were both pretty beat after day two and barely made it past six before crashing.
Day 3: 13 miles
We found ourselves stepping off around seven again, on the third day. It took us only 39 minutes, with our light packs, to reach Scotty's Hollow. We explored up Canyon, to around the area I turned around at last time. Scotty's is a true gem and I recommend the side trip if ever in the area. After Scotty's we headed back to camp, packed up and made off up stream; passing the park boundary and then passing Indian and Kwagunt Hollows until we reached our campsite, near Sheep Mountain Spring. The rest of the day, and early evening, were spent doing the usual camp chores and looking at the various glphys in the area.
Day 4: 5.4 miles, 2,719 AEG
We left camp at 6:30 a.m and were back at the TH by 10 a.m. on the final day. The hike out on real trail and good tread was pleasant and the golden hour on the esplanade proved to be perfect ending to our four day trek. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
good thing too, reaching camp that night was interesting. We went up and over the saddle from the NW side, down The East facing side to the Esplanade...then it got HOT. The guys carried 6-8 liters of water, I had 5.5 myself and when we reached camp that night we have 2 liters total between us all... whaaaaaat?? How do three humans even drink that much!!
