|
| | | |
| |
|
| Backpack | 11.00 Miles |
4,768 AEG |
| | Backpack | 11.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 4,768 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | So everyone bailed on me but I decided to go ahead and do this hike by myself. I had originally decided to go up Thursday and hike down part of the way but, since I was by myself I decided to compress the schedule. I left the valley around 1pm. I stopped at REI in Flagstaff and picked up a couple more things. I made it to the trail head at about 6:30 pm or so. I brought some extra water, and sausage and eggs for breakfast so I just camped at the car.
On Friday I woke up just after 6 and it was barely cold enough to frost my car a bit. But there wasn't any snow that I could see except in a few places on the north facing slopes just below north rim level on the mountain. I cooked my eggs and sausage, packed up my stuff and set off at 7:10 am. I started this hike at the saddle mountain trail head and hiked 3 miles and up 1500 feet to the North Rim to reach the actual Nankoweap trail head. The first half mile is a steady climb up but then I dropped quickly into a ravine and gave up all of that elevation I gained. Then I followed the bottom of the ravine for a while and then it started to steeply climb again. Just as I got to the sign indicating that I was entering the National Park boundary I hit the Nankoweap trail. After all of that climbing I instantly started to head down. The first quarter mile is a very steep decent. Then the next 4 miles or so were kind of like the level part of the hermit trail. I was hiking along in the redwall on the edge. It went up and down as I went never really changing my elevation much. There were a few sketchy places but it was mostly pretty easy to follow.
I was going to cache water at Marion Point but decided not to before I left the car. Just below Tilted Mesa I stopped for lunch under a little tree. That was at 11:35 am. From there it gets really steep. It drops about 3000 feet in less than 3 miles. I made it to the Nankoweap creek at 1:05 pm. The creek flows really well and there are several cottonwood trees in the drainage. Up until this point there was no water from my car to here. I stuck my feet in the water, refilled all my water containers, and hung out for about an hour. Then I followed the creek for another 3 miles or so to the river. On the usgs maps and my gps it shows the trail heading off to the left when you reach the large Nankoweap creek delta. I headed that way for a while but the beach area was covered with boulders and over grown with catclaw. I searched around for a good half hour and gave up. I went back towards the creek and explored the area to the right (down river) of the creek. I found a decent sandy beach area and decided to call that good. I jumped in the river and washed my shirt. It was very refreshing. This was about 4:30pm. I made dinner, did a little more exploring and setup camp. I went to bed about 9 pm.
On Saturday I woke up again a little after 6 am. I got up, made breakfast and packed up. I wanted to visit the Indian Granaries before I left so I went searching. When you are initially hiking down the creek to the river, just when you reach the delta there is a hill running parallel to the creek off to the right. It runs to the river. There is a trail that takes you up on this hill. I decided to try and hike up on this hill. When I got to the top I could see the nice beaches I had been looking for on the other side of this hill. There was even a rafting party on one of them. There was also a very well used trail going up to the cliffs were the granaries were. They are up about 500 feet above the river and the trail goes almost straight up the hill to them. It was a steep climb. I got up there and then checked them out for while. Eventually I threw my pack on and started hiking up the creek. I made it back to the creek/trail junction around 9:30 am.
At this point I had a decision to make. How far will I go today? I had thought at one point about staying there in the shade until 4 pm and then hiking 3 miles up to Tilted Mesa and camping there. But It was only 10 am and I thought that if I left then I could make it to Marion Point or farther and have less to hike on Sunday. I drank almost 3 liters of water and then filled all of my water containers (4.5 Liters) and set off at 10:10 am. Climbing the trail up to Tilted Mesa was brutal. Like I said it is steep and it was very slow going. It took me three hours to go three miles. That was with a ton of breaks along the way. I crashed on Tilted Mesa underneath a tree and took a quick nap. I ate my lunch and some extra snacks and was feeling really good. I knew that from here on the elevation didn't change much until just before the climb out of the canyon. I started to think about making it all the way to the car and then camping at the trail head again.
I started to hike and made really good time to Marion Point. I started to realize that if I pushed a little harder I could make it to the car with enough time to drive home (about a 6 hour drive for me). I made it to Marion Point and was still doing really well with the water. Of the 4.5 liters in my pack when I refilled I had used almost 2. But the hardest part was behind me. I pushed on from there and I started to get a little worn out. The little ups and downs on the traverse from Marion Point back to the trail head were wearing on me. I pushed though and made it to the Nankoweap trail head at 4:30 pm. From there I started the downhill hike back to my car. My knees were pissed. "I thought this was a Grand Canyon hike? What is this downhill crap at the end?" they seemed to be asking me. It sucked. I had hoped to make that part in an hour but I made it to the car at 5:45 pm. I decided to just head on home. By the time I got everything packed up and stowed it was 6 pm. It took a little more than an hour to drive down the forest road back to the highway. The road is well graded and so I had brought my car to save fuel. If I had brought the truck I would have gone faster on the forest road. Anyway I made it home right around midnight.
So In total I was on the trail for slightly less than 35 hours (7:10 am Friday to 5:45 pm Saturday). I had two people on the permit for 3 nights but I only used 1 person 1 night. Oh well. It was a blast. The park service says that this is the MOST difficult of named trails in the canyon and I agree. If I had had friends with me I would have gone slower and enjoyed a little more. I didn't really like being my myself. It was boring so I just kept on hiking.
Nankoweap would probably rank on the lower end of my list of favorite GC hikes. It is also located right underneath one of those flight corridors so there were helicopters there all the time during the day. But I might consider doing it again some day. Doing it in March might be problematic if there is snow. Reaching the trail head might be difficult and I can't even imagine how scary the trail would be with snow on it. The temps were in the high 60s on the rim and the low 80s at the river. There was a nice breeze most of the time. Late March and definitely early April are probably the best spring times. Last week of October or first week in November would probably be the best time in the Fall. Provided that snow hasn't fallen yet.
Here is the video https://youtu.be/S8VYp... |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
