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| | | Salt - LCR - Beamer - Tanner, AZ | | | |
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Salt - LCR - Beamer - Tanner, AZ
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| Backpack | 38.64 Miles |
8,933 AEG |
| | Backpack | 38.64 Miles | 4 Days | | |
| 8,933 ft AEG | | 60 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | A bucket list backpacking trip for me ....
In the planning phase, it started modestly with getting a GC permit to camp along the Beamer trail, with an out and back route planned from Tanner. Then it morphed into adding a day hike to the LCR confluence. Then I read @Bifrost's triplog about packrafting back from the LCR to their camp along Beamer, which added a packrafting bug to the plan. Then, as I was driving back from Utah about a month before the trip, I saw signs of life at the Cameron station and, on a whim, decided to stop to see if I could get a permit for the Salt Canyon Trail. Got a permit, and then changed the plan to a point-to-point hike, with a shuttle, from Salt to Tanner. Then, I read @Peter_Medal's triplog about packrafting the LCR. And voila, bucket-list trip planned.
The only downside of the whole trip--and admittedly, it took a bit to get over--was the random rainstorm that came through Northern AZ 5-6 days before our trip and dashed our hopes of a turquoise LCR. That disappointment aside, the trip was amazing!
We left Wednesday afternoon and drove up to drop a car at Lipan Point before heading back to Cameron where we spent the night at the Trading Post motel. Great accommodations.
We rented packrafts from C&D Outdoors in Camp Verde, and picked them up on our way to Cameron. Carlos (the proprietor) was almost as excited about our trip as we were. While we all had experience kayaking, none of us had packrafted before, so we spent about an hour with Carlos giving us a crash course in all things packrafting. We quickly learned that Carlos had packrafted the LCR and Colorado, and we soon put two and two together to figure out that it was actually Carlos who accompanied Peter Medal on the trip I flagged in his HAZ triplog and featured in his Youtube link [ photoset ] !
I had concerns about a packraft holding up to the sharp travertine on the LCR, but Carlos had no worries whatsoever. Turned out he was right. The rafts performed beautifully. He outfitted our group of four with Alpacka Gnarwahls and one of C&D's original rafts. They were a bit bigger than the most compact/backpack friendly rafts, weighing in at 8-9 pounds, plus PFD, helmet, paddle, interior drybags (which he called "twinkies") and a small amount of miscellaneous gear (pumps, patch kits, etc.).
After dropping our return vehicle at Lipan Point, we pulled into Cameron around 11 pm and spent the next hour figuring out how to add the packrafting gear to our packs, which, with water, tipped the scales at about 60 lbs.  
Then, we settled in for a few hours of surprisingly decent sleep. We left the Trading Post just before sunrise and made the 1 hr. 15 min. drive to the Salt Canyon TH. Neither Google nor Apple maps provided the most direct or smoothest route to the TH. Indian Road 6130 (a mile or so past the Gap) is a great starting point, and was pretty good for all cars. But about 2/3 of the way to the TH, IR 6130 peals off to the left at an unmarked fork, while continuing straight on the more well-traveled/defined road puts you on IR 6120. Google/Apple continue on IR 6120, which eventually requires bounding along some faint and definitely non-sedan friendly tracks to get back over to the TH. We had no problems in our Kia Telluride, but our return car was a minivan  , so we committed to find a different route for the pick up on the back end. (NOTE: On the backend, we paid close attention to the fork spot and turned left to "stay on" IR 6130, which is a more direct and smoother (though still rougher than the road leading up to the fork) ride to the TH.
Anywho, after finding the TH, we continued on another 2.5 miles to the canyon overlook, where our strong chocolaty LCR suspicions were irrefutably confirmed. The view was nevertheless pretty spectacular.
After photos, we returned to the TH, which was occupied by a couple of AZ Game and Fish trucks, loaded up our 60 lb. packs, and officially began the adventure.
Day 1: Salt to LCR
The "trail" is, as advertised: not really a trail at all, with the initial chute requiring handing down backpacks in a couple of places and very slow going. The initial chute takes you to the unmistakable spire, which is bypassed on the left.
From there, the cairn hunting begins in earnest, though the challenge of the route is relentless from start to finish. We didn't have too much trouble route finding, except that once we crossed the drainage from the east to the west side, where there is an initial steep climb, then two apparent routes from there--one low and one high. Both are cairned. Our group split and took both. The high route is recommended from our experience, as the low route required a rather precarious downclimb. Both routes meet up again on the other side of the side drainage.
In all, the descent took us 6.5 hours. We initially had planned on inflating our rafts and setting up camp further down the LCR, but after seeing the lovely beach just beyond and upstream of the AZGF camp, we decided to call it a day and reserve the packrafting for Day 2.
We set up camp on the idyllic beach and shortly met 3 AZGF folks coming back from a day of "fishing" and collecting data on the Humpback Chub. They were on day 3 of a 10 day trip, with three additional groups of 3 spread out at other camps along the LCR, doing the same thing. They had all been helicoptered in, and were impressed that we hauled packrafts down the trail. Given the silty LCR, clean water was at a premium. They didn't have any clean water to share (they bring all of their water in with them), but they did have a 5 gallon bucket of LCR water that had settled over several days that they offered us. We accepted. After filtering, it wasn't bad, and the fact that the LCR was flowing at a higher level diluted some of the natural mineral content (a plus for us).
After setting up camp, we decided to head upstream to visit Emerald Pool, the site of a couple of the flash flood deaths in the Canyon (Georg Mancuso and Linda Brehmer). The hike to the pool is relatively short mileage wise, but quite a bushwhack, even with some "trail" trimming done by the AZGF folks. We persevered though, and enjoyed a payoff swim in the Emerald Pool, before returning to camp for the evening.
Day 2: LCR to Lava Canyon
After lovely night on the beach, we awoke, cleaned up camp and got our rafts inflated and situated for the packrafting adventure, hoping that we could remember various tidbits of Carlos's advice. A small "bay" by the beach gave us a chance to paddle around and get our bearings before tackling the downstream current.
At first we were worried about dumping over the travertine falls, but soon we were just having a blast. The cascades were a ton of fun. The biggest challenge was not getting "stuck" on the lip of the travertine, which happened frequently, and required some butt-scooting, and in a couple of places, required getting out and nudging the raft along.
As we went, we got a little better at picking lines that provided the smoothest traverse over the cascades. In between cascades were idyllic smooth sections where we just floated along and enjoyed. We passed each of the additional 3 AZGF groups, and at one, stopped to see their catch--a 3 inch chub that they said was 2-3 years old. It looked like a minnow. They said the chub can live up to 25 years, and while this one was already a few years old, it was not yet old enough to get its hump. They explained that each fish has a chip that allows them to scan and record growth, etc. each time it is caught, for inputting into their database. Each of the 4 groups had a volunteer with them.
We visited and reverently marveled at the Sipapu. Not too far downstream is a lovely beach for camping on the south side of the LCR.
As we approached the confluence, we stopped for a look at Beamer cabin, then went on to the confluence proper. The Colorado was flowing a beautiful green above the confluence, and it was mesmerizing to watch the clean water mix with the silty LCR.
With the LCR as a warm up, we took off the training wheels and paddled into the cold Colorado. Although there aren't any major rapids in this section, there were 4-5 whitewater rapids/riffles that definitely got our blood pumping. We bypassed most of the first one, just below the confluence, but then scouted and ran the rest without incident. The Hopi Salt Wall section was cool to look at as we floated by.
After a combined 10-11 miles on the LCR/Colorado, we arrived at our camp spot at the mouth of Lava Canyon as the evening sun lit up the opposing canyon walls. Another really great camp spot on the beach next to the river.
Day 3: Lava/Carbon Hike to Tanner Beach
We awoke on Saturday morning with the goal of doing a day hike up Lava Canyon and across the upstream drainage and down the Carbon Canyon narrows. At the start of the hike, we also scouted Lava Canyon Rapid (the only named rapid along this section) and pondered whether to tackle it or bypass when we returned.
The day hike was super cool. Lava Canyon is not much to look at (by comparison), but the Carbon Canyon narrows were a lot of fun. On our way back, we crossed paths with a group on a private rafting trip who were doing the hike as a loop. They had 6 rafts. They left 3 at the mouth of Carbon and floated the other 3 down to the beach where we camped at Lava Canyon, where they exited for their hike with the intent of shuttling down from Carbon after they finished their hike.
We visited briefly, and they offered to take us through Lava Canyon Rapid if we wanted. By the time we got back to camp, reinflated our rafts and cleaned up camp, the private flotilla of 6 was just about to push off. My wife took them up on their offer to ride with them through the rapid, while one of their crew jumped at the chance to take her packraft through the rapid.
Running the rapid was a blast, and we all came through unscathed. We then bid the rafting group farewell and floated the final 3-3.5 miles to Tanner Beach. Along the way were a handful of additional rapids, and on the last one I apparently got a little too cocky. After navigating the first 2 of 3 big holes in a row, I got hit by a lateral wave, and the next thing I knew, I was swimming the rapid. My raft was upside down (with my strapped pack creating drag), but I had my paddle and with some effort, over what seemed to be a 150 yards or so, I was able to swim my way the bank and right the ship. While we had worried about water temperature, it wasn't too bad, and I was not overly chilled.
The rest of the way to Tanner Beach was without incident, and we set up camp for our final night in solitude and enjoyed a lovely sunset to the sound of Tanner Rapid. We wisely opted to forego a run down Tanner  .
Day 4: Out Tanner
Our final day involved trudging our only slightly lighter packs up Tanner. I've been down Tanner before, but the top half was in the dark, so it was nice to see what I missed previously. All in all, we did great, and had some wispy clouds and an occasional breeze to help keep us cool.
Once out, we drove around to pick up our shuttle car, and the revised route was minivan-friendly enough.
We dropped off our packrafts to Carlos about 11 pm. He was excited to hear about our adventure and likely would have kept talking for hours. But we had 2 more hours of driving ahead, and a full day of work the next day. So, we wrapped up the verbal report, and headed for home.
Apologies for the long triplog, but it was a fantastic trip!
Now, just need to redo when the LCR is running blue .... |
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Luckily our camp site was under a nice dry overhang, and the storm cleared before dark set in revealing a starry sky and moonlit canyon walls overnight. 
. The question was which way do I turn. Silence was our response to Joel.
