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| Backpack | 29.00 Miles |
7,300 AEG |
| | Backpack | 29.00 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 7,300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | We headed back to the Escalante Route to complete some unfinished business from the Spring, Solomon Temple.
We started late Thursday morning from Lipan Point. The hike down Tanner felt a little warm at times and I felt a little out of shape, but we made it to the bottom nevertheless. After reaching the river, we made our way down stream along the Escalante Route and then crossed the river and floated a short stretch to reach Rattlesnake Camp, a popular stop for rafters. The river was running brown, but we had a solid system for drinking the mud water and it did not prove to be the pain we thought it might be.
Solomon went pretty smoothly on the second day, as we had done most of the approach already when we did The Tabernacle in the spring, and the summit proved pretty straightforward. Although, we did take different routes to and from the summit. I think it makes the most sense to utilize the nicely defined use trail to summit the Tabernacle and then make your way down the obvious ridgeline from Tabernacle's summit to the saddle and ridgeline system connecting the two summits. A narrow "use" trail takes you along the steep slopes of Solomon to the obvious break/steep slope that divides the two summits of the Temple. From there, a short traverse to an easy chimney takes you to a series of limestone shelves with a little exposure here and there that lead you to the highest, northern most point of Solomon. We spent a considerable time on the summit taking in the big views up river into the Unkar area and beyond to the Palisades. We replaced the old "register," which consisted of a rusted metal can and a cracked film case, and then headed back down to the river.
We spent our last day getting back across the river and completing the short climb up New Hance. Solomon Temple was my 56th Grand Canyon summit. |
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