Hack Canyon • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Northwest, AZ

Hiking		Apr 16 2024
		pseudalpine • Triplogs 1,290

Hiking	20.38 Miles	1,092 AEG

Hiking	20.38 Miles	6 Hrs 25 Mns	3.30 mph
	1,092 ft AEG	15 Mns Break

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Since I was low on gas exiting the AZ Strip to Fredonia, this bonus hike was started where the transmission lines cross Hack Canyon (near the mine). Doing this added eight and a half monotonous filler miles to a hike very similar, but worse than trudging through upper Hualapai Canyon on the enter/exit to Supai. Leave no trail unhiked I suppose, but likely one and done for this canyon. Very dry, lots of cowpies, and numerous cattle paths everywhere. One highlight was the few flowering Cali Redbuds. The drive through upper Hack Canyon's limestone hoodoos was better than the hike itself.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Redbud Tree

Geology

Geology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HooDoo

4 archives

Jan 09 2024

shelby147

Routes 5
Photos 435
Triplogs 119

female

Joined Mar 26 2022
Flagstaff, AZ

Hack Canyon Loop, AZ

Backpack		Jan 09 2024
		shelby147 • Triplogs 119

Backpack	55.00 Miles	6,000 AEG

Backpack	55.00 Miles	5 Days
	6,000 ft AEG

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Ranger Trail - Kanab

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I made a new friend for this hike and we got along pretty well. He has spent a lot of time wandering around the Kanab Creek Wilderness and took the time to show me some interesting prehistoric sites. We also avoided having to mess with the new GRCA permit system here, which is not something I look forward to.

We started before noon on Tuesday and saw several cows on our way down Hack Canyon. It wasn't apparent to me until the return to Hack, but the cattle really have trashed the place. Dust, cow pies, trampled terraces, and invasive vegetation - including one nasty spiky thing - wherever they've been. Thank goodness there isn't more grazing than this in Kanab, but I wish they wouldn't permit it in Hack.

I had a better time once we were into the Supai. The sandstone invites scrambling but a heavy pack held me back. We exited the creekbed on the Lawson Trail, which still has some nice construction showing, and then I was having a really good time in the winter sun surrounded by Esplanade mushroom rocks. We camped at some reliable potholes just shy of Jumpup Point, but water was available everywhere after the recent storm. Given the cold weather, I carried my bulky 20 degree bag, 30 degree quilt, and tent. A few pounds more than I normally schlep, but I was cozy for each of these long nights when temps dipped into the 20s. Except for one day, we had early sun to coax us out each morning.

On Wednesday we continued contouring around Jumpup Point. I'm less familiar with Esplanade contouring than Tonto, and I found it a little harder to orient myself when the trail followed Hermit slopes around deep but near-indistinguishable gashes in the sandstone. Unlike Tonto, I think progress may be better monitored by watching one's position with respect to the rim, rather than the side canyon. I would love to set up a base camp to visit those Esplanade terraces and scramble through the ravines.

We hiked down Sowats Canyon, where we found icicles at the springs and pools of water had frozen into beautiful white ice with concentric rings. We only had to take care in a few places not to slip. When we reached our camp I hiked up Kwagunt Hollow to collect water. After seeing several small potholes frozen solid, I bashed a rock through an inch of ice on a deeper one and was able to extract some cloudy water. We decided to exchange this for liquid water retrieved from a short ways up Jumpup later.

It snowed in the early hours of Thursday morning and stopped soon after sunrise. This was actually the warmest night, staying about 30 degrees. Even though we didn't have direct sun, it wasn't too uncomfortable to pack up quickly and start down into the Jumpup Narrows. Below Indian Hollow I was on familiar ground for a short while, until we resumed our hike back upstream in Kanab. We made a short detour into the bottom of "Crack Baby", which is impressively narrow. At the mouth of Flipoff we paused in a patch of sun. There is a mark (maybe a cattle brand?) on the rock here, which looks like a backwards 4 underlined.

Flipoff presented some fun obstacles and I enjoyed the sections with lots of slabby Supai bedrock. There are a good amount of cottonwood trees and I think it would be a nice place to visit when they have leaves. We made camp shortly after reaching the Esplanade and had an early night, chilled by a persistent breeze off the rim.

Friday morning was spent exploring the Esplanade near our camp with day packs. There was an old salt block near our camp. We finally packed up around noon and continued contouring around Chamberlain Canyon, again making a camp near a point of Esplanade which received lots of sun. The frequent potholes were a boon because I only carried one liter at a time while hiking and we never had to worry about dry camping, no matter where we stopped.

We followed the Esplanade into Hack on Saturday, reaching the car around 1pm. After all the sandstone terraces and potholes of the previous days, the return through cattle dust felt unpleasant and tedious.

2 archives

Nov 11 2020

MAP

Routes 137
Photos 1
Triplogs 105

44 female

Joined Oct 21 2016
Tempe, AZ

Northwest, AZ

Hiking		Nov 11 2020
		MAP • Triplogs 105

Hiking	11.37 Miles	1,857 AEG

Hiking	11.37 Miles	5 Hrs 36 Mns	2.15 mph
	1,857 ft AEG	18 Mns Break

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Followed the Arizona 20-20 Challenge route starting at the top about 3 miles west of Sunshine Point. The road from Mount Trumbull to the TH is in good shape and may be passable for cars but something with high clearance is needed the closer you get to the TH. I don't remember the name of the trail posted at the top but am guessing it said Willow Spring something. Gorgeous camp spot at the top too btw. Got to the TH around 9 am and the temp was still about 24 degrees and I was lucky enough to see the canyon with snow-dusted layers of rock. There was a little snow up top but the trail was clear. Also this area seems to feel much warmer then the temp shows and I just wore a base layer on top & a light pullover.

I was not expecting such a beautiful trail. Somebody (or multiple somebodies) really love this trail and maintain it regularly (big thank you!!). This made me love it even more. There are very large cairns spaced regularly from the top all the way down to the bottom of Hack Canyon. The mile distance from the top is absolutely stunning but it is also very gravely and steep in some sections with nothing to grab onto. I would highly recommend bringing trekking poles. Once down in Hack Canyon it is typical of the grazing canyons in the area and I said hi to the many cow friends watching my every move. Followed the trail upstream to the actual Hack Canyon TH where two cars were parked. From the Hack TH there is a road all the way up-canyon that joins with Mount Trumbull road. I hiked along the stream, following cowpaths, to the point indicated on the 20-20 map and walked the road back.

It was super cool following the 20-20 route and getting to see that gorgeous very loved stretch of trail going down to Hack. The area didn't feel as remote as I thought it would either. So much more to explore just in this tiny pocket of canyons!

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Mar 17 2018

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

Northwest, AZ

Backpack		Mar 17 2018
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Backpack	63.00 Miles	2,500 AEG

Backpack	63.00 Miles
	2,500 ft AEG

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Jumpup-Nail Trail

Scotty's Castle

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BiFrost

John9L

John, Karl and myself completed a four day foray into the Kanab Creek Wilderness and it was prettty spectacular. We began our modest trek via the far lengthier Hack Canyon approach, as winter weather had access via Sowats Point out of the question.

Day one was reserved for getting to our base camp at the junctions of Jumpup Canyon and Kanab Creek. It was a 15 mile day, but the lack of AEG and long stretches of nice trail along the benches of the creek made for quick hiking. Apart from what appeared to be a perennial stretch along Kanab Creek the hike in was very dry. In fact, there was no water a camp and we had to filter water from some left over pot holes a few tenths of a mile from camp. We knew rain was coming from the time we set up camp, so we ate our dinner a little sooner than usual. Around seven, the rain chased John and I to our tents for an early night, but Karl endured a little longer. It never really rained hard throughout the night, but there was a pretty steady light period of rain after midnight that lasted for a couple of hours, but nothing to make anything too uncomfortable.

Day two was a trip up to the Jumpup “obstacle” via Jump Canyon and Lower Jumpup Canyon. This route was a tad heavy on the boulder hopping, but big on the reward side. There was an awesome narrows secttion reminiscent of Buckskin along with some dramatic stretches with towering walls through Jumpup Canyon. Eventually the narrows relented to the much more open lower Jumpup Canyon, which was a real treat. There was flowing water, countless cascades and small waterfalls topped off by some excellent views of a snow dusted rim in the distance. I got an itch to explore a cave about a half a mile from the “obstacle,” so I let John and Karl explore that while I checked out the cave. The cave was a dud for prehistory, but offered some cool views. After meeting back up, we headed down to Indian Hollow. We held off on exploring Kwagunut and Sowats in order to save more time on what looked like a promising Indian Hollow. The beginning of Indian Hollow proved worthy with a short but spectacular little slot section, however, the excitement quickly wore off when we reached an impassable chockstone not too far in. A little disappointed, we turned around there and headed back to camp with modest plans to explore an unnamed canyon downstream of camp. The unnamed canyon proved to be a little bit of a dud, but nobody was complaining after the first rate hike up Jumpup earlier in the day.

Showerbath Spring and maybe a peak in Scotty’s Hollow was the goal of day three. Kanab Creek becomes a whole different world one you hit the stretch when it begins to flow above the surface and although it was a boukder hop, the hike to Showerbath was pleasant. Showerbath itself is also a pretty cool destination, complete with some nice deep swimming holes occupied by some rather large and unexpected fish. John went back to camp from Showerbath, while Karl and I headed further downstream to Scotty’s Hollow. This proved to be a worthy side trip, as we both left Scotty’s Hollow very impressed. A scenic little waterfall and grotto greets your entry into this special canyon and it just get better with each step further up canyon. We turned around at the “swimmer” as we were not planning on getting wet and we knew we still had a six mile camp relocation to complete once we got back to camp. The hike back up stream was boulders for days and a little redundant at times, but we still made decent time. Once we got back to camp, it was a quick breakdown and then back on the trail to set up camp six miles closer to the trailhead along a flowing stretch of Kanab Creek.

Day four was just a brisk 8.5 mile hike back to the trailhead. The recent snow had made some of the views in the distance nicer, but the last stretch to the Hack Canyon trailhead was certainly a little more mundane than the previous stretches from the days before.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Scotty's Castle Showerbath Spring

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Mar 17 2018

John9L

Guides 6
Routes 183
Photos 5,612
Triplogs 1,647

male

Joined Mar 12 2004
Scottsdale, AZ

Hack Canyon - Kanab Creek - Jump Up Canyon, AZ

Backpack		Mar 17 2018
		John9L • Triplogs 1,647

Backpack	59.00 Miles	2,500 AEG

Backpack	59.00 Miles	4 Days
	2,500 ft AEG

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The idea for this trip came onto the radar in fall 2017. We looked ahead to Lee’s Spring Break and decided it was the perfect timing to make it happen! Our original plan was to start the hike from Sowats Point but that is high elevation topping out at over 6,000 ft. Rain & snow were in the forecast so we decided to play it safe and start on the west side in Hack Canyon which sits at roughly 4,000 ft. This was a great option but features a long hike in of fifteen miles.

The three of us left Phoenix on Friday afternoon and made the drive to Kanab, UT where we stayed in a hotel. We woke on Saturday morning and made the drive in. The roads to Hack Canyon are in good condition overall. There are a few hairy spots in Hack Canyon but high clearance will do the trick.

March 17, 2018
We arrived at the Hack Canyon TH around 8:15am and got geared up for the hike in. There were three guys from Oregon who camped at the TH the night before. They were heading out and told us there was no water down canyon but they only went roughly six miles in. We expected this section to be dry but it still gave us some anxiety. If we can’t find water we’ll have to cut the trip short.

We started hiking around 8:30am and cruised down canyon. The first six miles are high speed as there are use trails on the benches above the creek. We took a short break at the junction with Kanab Creek and then continued hiking in. There was no water at all and our anxiety grew. We kept hiking and finally hit flowing water at roughly nine miles in. We made note of this spot and decided to camp here on night three. This will shorten our hike out on our exit day.

The next 5-6 miles were slow going and the flowing creek dried up within a mile or two. We found a few small pools as we neared the junction with Jump Up. The long hike was taking a toll on us and we talked about setting up camp roughly two miles from the junction but ultimately pushed on and we’re glad we did. There is a sweet campsite at the junction of Kanab Creek & Jump Up Canyon that rises 25 ft above the creek. We also found a small pool roughly a third of a mile away.

We set up camp and settled in for the evening. Rain was in the forecast and we were prepared. A light drizzle started falling around 6:30pm and sprinkled on and off. I spent the evening relaxing in my tent and fell asleep only to be woken around midnight by heavy wind and more rain. It was a bit unnerving but not too bad.

March 18, 2018
I started day two with checking my tent for water after the rain last night. There was some condensation on my tent and some water inside but not a big deal. We left camp and headed up Jump Up Canyon. There is a small chance of rain but we got lucky and it stayed dry.

The going up Jump Up Canyon is fairly easy as you walk up a dry creek bed. Some sections are loaded with annoying rocks but it’s not too bad. A few miles up we passed through a sweet sections of narrows that all of us enjoyed. We continued on and the canyon eventually opens up and water started flowing. We pass Kwagunt Canyon and kept heading north. Our goal was the Jump Up Ladder and I’m glad we went. The last mile leading to the ladder is spectacular! The canyon becomes steeper and features several breathtaking waterfalls.

Lee turned off to explore a cave while Karl and I continued another half mile to the ladder which turned out to be very cool. You arrive at a waterfall and have to turn to the right to spot the ladder 20ft above the canyon floor. We climbed up to it and the ladder looks precarious. Karl climbed up and briefly explored the area above. He eventually returned and then we started our return back down canyon where we took a short lunch break and met back up with Lee soon after.

The three of us then returned down canyon with a quick stop in Indian Hollow. We proceeded up this sweet canyon about fifteen minutes until we cliffed out at a 20ft waterfall. Getting up this would be extremely difficult and dangerous so we turned around and headed back to the camp.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring another short side canyon below camp and then settled in to our evening. The weather was dry and comfortable and we enjoyed dinner and turned in around 9pm.

March 19, 2018
On our third day we headed down Kanab Creek. The going was similar to Jump Up as we followed the dry creek bed and dodged large boulders. We made good time for the most part and ran into flowing water after 2-3 miles. From there it’s water all the way as we continued on for Showerbath Spring. We arrived at the spring and took a variety of pics and took a short break. Scotty’s Castle & Hollow were another mile down canyon but I was tired of all the rock hopping so I decided to head back. Lee and Karl continued down canyon. I took my time and returned to camp where I took a nap and broke down camp.

The guys returned to camp a couple of hours later and I had everything packed up and ready to go. The plan was to hike six miles back towards Hack Canyon and camp along the stretch of water we found on our hike in. This will greatly shorten the hike out on our last day. I hit the trail and made good time as I headed up canyon. Along the way came the first and only person we would see while backpacking. A solo backpacker was heading in and we had a short conversation. After that I continued on and made it to our camp location within an hour. Once there I set up camp and waited for the others to join me.

Lee & Karl arrived a bit later and we settled in for an evening around a campfire. All of us were beat after covering a lot of ground the past few days. We enjoyed dinner around the campfire and everyone was in bed around 9pm.

March 20, 2018
We hit the trail at 7am and started our hike out. We had roughly 8.5 miles to go and made quick work of the hike. We took a short break at the junction with Hack Canyon. From there it was one foot in front of the other as we cruised out. Along the way a couple of jet fighters flew overhead as they headed down canyon. We were back to the trailhead around 10am and packed up and then started the return to Phoenix. Another wonderful trip in the books! Thanks Karl for driving!

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Showerbath Spring

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1 archive

Mar 17 2018

BiFrost

Guides 4
Routes 491
Photos 10,890
Triplogs 1,257

55 male

Joined Nov 20 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Hack Canyon - Kanab Creek - Jump Up Canyon, AZ

Backpack		Mar 17 2018
		BiFrost • Triplogs 1,257

Backpack	59.00 Miles	2,500 AEG

Backpack	59.00 Miles	4 Days
	2,500 ft AEG

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Jumpup-Nail Trail

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John9L

Great place to spend 4 days. John put the trip together and with a slight adjustment to the trailhead moving to Hack Canyon instead of Jumpup or Sowats we were ready to go. The trail in on Hack Canyon is easy to follow and very fast with little AEG. It’s 6 miles down to Kanab Creek which we headed downstream once at the confluence. Then about 9 miles down to the confluence of Jumpup and Kanab Creek camp spot. So it was 15 miles but pretty fast track which left us time to explore a bit once at camp.

At camp we already knew there was rain forecast for that night and it did rain but not too hard and by next morning it had stopped. That morning we day hiked up Jumpup Canyon exploring the narrows which were one of the highlights even though the creek was dry. We pass Sowats and then Kwagnut which shortly after that Jumpup stated to flow. The next several miles were another highlight of the trip with cascades, pools, and general awesomeness! Snow capped the rim above the canyon from the overnight snow just to add more flavor to an already fun day. Eventually in Jumpup we reached the ladder obstacle which is a bypass to get around the waterfall. We turned around here after checking out the ladder and headed back. On the way back we hit Indian Hollow but this turned out to be bit of disappointment since we only made it short ways up canyon before running into chock stone we couldn’t bypass. We then headed back to camp to call it a day. Settled into camp that night this time with no chance of rain and had relaxing night.

Next day we headeded down Kanab Creek towards Showerbath Spring. It's several miles and Kanab Creek starts to flow just mile or so upstream of the spring. Nice spring with hanging garden and we took a break taking quite a few pics. After that Lee and I continued another mile down to Scotty's Castle and Hollow. The hollow was really cool side hike with several waterfalls, a rabbit hole climb and many pools. We spent about an hour up and back exploring Scotty's Hollow and definietly worth the extra side trip. Then headed back to camp and packed up to move up Kanab Creek about 6 miles. John had picked out a nice spot with water and relaxing location to enjoy our last night.

Next morning it was just about 9 mile hike back out to the trailhead. We had a really cool fly over by F22 jets just before
[ youtube video ]
reaching the vehicles. Another great trip in the Canyon! Thanks for putting it together John!

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Scotty's Castle Showerbath Spring

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1 archive

Jan 16 2018

Hippy

Guides 8
Routes 12
Photos 1,918
Triplogs 662

39 female

Joined Dec 02 2009
Grand Canyon