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| | | Jackrabbit Draw to Lee's Ferry, AZ | | | |
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Jackrabbit Draw to Lee's Ferry, AZ
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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | | | |
| 300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I left Lee's at 5:30am. My ride and i Arrived at Lee's Ferry Lodge a mere ten minutes later but i began my 27° solo hike "cross country" around 5:45am...why? Because it was 27° and the sun wouldn't be up till almost 7am!!!!
So off I skipped through the dark and barren desert almost due east to the rim.of marble canyon and an unnamed draw. I startled up dozens of cottontail bunnies and one HUGE black tailed jackrabbit.
Right as the sun finally rose just enough to paint the tops of the vermilion cliffs I scared up this jackrabbit and in the subtle dark he led me directly to the mouth of the unnamed draw.
Hence the unofficial named of the 6.5river mile pouroff and unnamed drainage... Jackrabbit Draw. 
I scrambled through the drainage easily, navigating huge boulders, shimmying down a very easy 10ft down climb, countourinf the Kaibab boulder field to the upriver end of the drainage then looping around the corner to begin my "long" traverse above the coconino sandstone cliff.
Half an hour later the limestone and sandstone meet in a rushed rockfall and my coconino break presents itself. After a 7minute scramble through this much larger boulder field I've arrived at the river!
The sun is up and I find a large boulder with a downstream view to awake my dear friend Jamie.
Today is his last day of his third and final section of his Grand Canyon Line...when we reach Lee's Ferry he'll be the 25th person ever recorded to have hiked the entire length of grand canyon.
My two hour wait on my boulder included beer, a bighorn, 2 tarantulas, a falcon and a freezing river swim.
Upon his arrival I simply waved and our hiked began. We took a break upstream at
7 mile draw and were moving again soon enough.
There are no trails here. No routes.
At first a very faint bighorn path but where we were headed even the bighorns opted out!
Our..."direction" took us along the crumbling river banks, through bogged messes of thick cottony trees that choked us with their get.
Tiny cactus stuck us at every turn.
Multiple rock climbs faced us every mile or so. First up then down then over, under, up, across then we hit another coconino break and climbed away from the river. We contoured this cliff right on its edge, most of the time a mere step from the edge, the river swirling 200ft below...
The Navajo bridges were first sighted early on. The sun baked on shoulders and necks but those bridges kept us moving. Any minute now we would walk beneath those bridges!!
We've driven over them. We've walked across them. We've rafted the river beneath them...
Today we cross under them on foot!
The edge of the cliff led us quickly upon the bridges with much hassle immediately below them.
I gather we each completed roughly 1,000 squats, dips and situps in that last mile!!
The coconino shies away upstream of the old bridge and leaves us groping through trees and bushwhacking beside the river for the next 4 miles.
Sometimes there was a nice dusty comfortable sheep path to follow at breakneck speeds, other times we reached a "wall" and had to take turns feeling out a solution to pass this momentary break in stride.
At one such "wall" we were standing side by side on a 5 inch ledge with the toes of his books half an inch above the river water. A tamarisk stared us in the face and was our mainly obstacle. Jamie ducked under it the tamarisk attempted to claim his pack as a prize as he tried to find a foot hold without falling in the river. Even with long legs like his this wall had us stumped. I took a chance and shimmied up the wall using the tamarisk to distribute my weight (and this is how people drown in the river!) I found the worlds greatest handholds just about 3ft above the tree and was standing on a wide ledge 6ft above Jamie and the river in an instant and he followed close behind. Not as easy as it sounds but hella fun!!
Our next crux is around river mile 3.5 and is known as "The North Side Gate" or simply "The Gate".
This 20ft sheer kaibab limestone upclimb will either be "opened" to you by completing the climb. Or the gate will remain "closed" if you cannot complete the climb therefore causing you to turn back the way you came.
I am a decent climber but by now it was 4pm! I've been moving for ten hours. Think about this... 3 river miles upstream off trail in about 7 hours :O yeah. I'm tired!! Sun sets in an hour in a half!!
I attempted the climb with J spotting me below. Right off the bat a beautiful hand hold broke and I would've fallen a good 8ft into a tamarisk had I not been so diligent about my 3 points of contact. My legs were shaking and I backed down. Jamie headed up the climb with his long legs and 6 foot stature he made great progress!
I opted for a different route...an in-river free climbing route where I traversed below "the gate" barefoot with my feet on slippery holds beneath the rivers waters.
The handholds were dusty and crumbly but water erosion had formed dozens of pockets that I tested carefully and found safe for tiny me to rely on!
35 feet across, one handhold break resulting in a river dunking up to my armpits, a rock jettisoned and hit my right eye dead on, shredding my contact leaving me temporarily "blind" in that eye...then I was out! Standing on the bank I dried off, geared up, took photos of jamie, doctored my bleeding fingertips and we moved on.
Bring it on North Side Gate!! 
The next 3 miles were obnoxious as the sun shrugged lower in the sky. The walls of marble canyon had us without warmth and full light at 5:35pm!
Our "route" was once again along the river on a precarious ledge, then on a fat muddy beach, then through a forest of trees I couldn't identify in the dark I only know we were practically crawling through their thick mess of branches until...
I spotted a Kaibab break! We exchanged a glanced and wordlessly aimed for it. Lo and behold. One last climb. It was tall. Sheer. And loose. By that time we no longer cared. I climbed, he pushed up on my butt as the smaller rocks slid beneath my grip. I hugged a massive chock stone and scrambled onto flat ground. With boulders and bushes and cacti! FLAT!!
He was right behind me we mostly jogged to the old road and we spotted a tiny grill fire half a mile away in the campground at Lee's Ferry.
6:25pm.
Steak was cooking.
Beer was cold.
Jamie completed his line.
I enjoyed this amazingly fun and challenging dayhike and walked under the bridges!
The next morning my butt thighs and calves simply said "Nope!"
I'd do it again! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
before heading back to Phoenix from our ABC camp/hike at the N Rim. They are paving the road all the way. We had to wait before the bridge that goes over the Paria for a pilot car to finally get to the Lee's Ferry site.
with the chinle formations and the Colorado River along with some old buildings and equipment. We checked out all the cool things, enjoyed the reflections of the hills in the River and the activity of the fishermen and boaters.
(yep, got a movie and pictures but from quite a distance). We took plenty of pictures and as were driving, I stuck my camera out the window to film the beautiful rock hillsides.
Not real safe and 1400' almost straight down.
