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| Hiking | 2.93 Miles |
2,093 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.93 Miles | 3 Hrs 53 Mns | | 0.86 mph |
| 2,093 ft AEG | 29 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Summers are for summits off the north rim. Woolsey Butte crossed my mind as I was mulling over a less committing summit to do, while I was in the area helping my girlfriend set up a shuttle for a little thru-hike of the AZT. There is no such thing as a "gimmie" off the north rim, but I thought I was setting myself up for success with Woolsey, having done nearly half of the approach twice already on my way to climbing Mount Hayden.
We made the quick drive up to the north rim Friday night and camped in the national forest outside of the park. I did not get an overly early start due to the shorter miles and my guess that it would take me about 4-5 hours to complete. I told Katie see you in four hours from the Point Imperial Trailhead at about 7:20 and I was off.
The first portion of the Woolsey approach utilizes the climber's "trail" to Mount Hayden, so that went pretty smoothly for me, having done Hayden twice before. Its still steep, still loose, but felt easy to follow and probably because of the familiarity, the downclimbs went with ease. From the base of the Coconino, I continued to drop down the locust choked drainage I came down. There were just enough openings and "paths" to keep the blood letting low, but it was still a bit of a pain. I left the drainage after a bit and then contoured a line a little above the Supai towards Woolsey. A rock slide of boulders provided a bit of an obstacle, but some game trails existed through the boulders and with some creativity the boulders could be used to avoid thicker brush. The rest of the traverse over to the obvious ridgeline that accesses Woolsey went fine and only bordered on being tedious in a few spots. An obvious break at the broken ridgeline takes you down to a saddle area just below Woosley, from there, take the obvious path up.
The views from the indiscriminate summit were great despite its modest stature in comparison to its neighboring summits Saddle Mountain and Mount Hayden. Similarly, the flat little summit offered a unique perspective on that area of the Canyon and I enjoyed the views down canyon towards Nankoweap Mesa. Had Katie not been waiting with the dogs, I would have liked to look around more to find a vantage point to Kolb Arch/land bridge, but I headed back the way I came after a short break. On the return I did not attempt to bushwhack back up the locust choked drainage and instead ascended to the coconino on the far less brushy slopes immediately to the left of the drainage, if looking up hill. Once I hit the base of the coconino, I took the overgrown climbers trail back to the original descent gully. From there its just a steep little slog to the rim.
I topped out in just under four hours to Katie waiting for me with the pups on the rim and we went about our day. An excellent option for a less committing June summit off the north rim. This was my 53rd Grand Canyon summit. |
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