gunungapi's Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Mar 06 2022

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Royal Arch Loop

Northwest, AZ

Royal Arch Loop

Northwest, AZ

Backpack		Mar 06 2022
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	35.00 Miles	8,000 AEG

Backpack	35.00 Miles
	8,000 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

This is probably my new favorite Canyon hike. I've hiked almost all the South Rim established trails, and this one really stands out for beauty and adventure.

I went with my 19-year-old son and my good friend Sam.

It snowed a couple inches in Tusayan the night before we started, and the temperatures were in the teens when we drove to the trailhead. I might have canceled at this point, but this was the third time that I've had a permit (first time canceled for weather, second for illness), so we went for it anyway. The weather was supposed to clear up after a day or two. I was concerned about getting to the trailhead, but now that I've driven to the South Bass trailhead in the rain and in the snow, I can report that snow was easier.

Day One: Trailhead to the head of the first arm of the Royal Arch drainage. This day was easy walking. Hiking on the Esplanade is unusual, and it's great to hike at this level.

We camped on the large shelf just before the trail descends into the drainage. Overnight it started raining, about 2 am. I lay in my sleeping bag for a couple of hours until the rain slowed, then got up to pee. Turning on my headlamp and unzipping the tent fly, I found that it had been snowing, not raining. At least 2" of accumulation already. I got back in the bag and lay awake until dawn, wondering what we should do. Things looked better in the light and the snow started melting almost right away.

Day Two: Royal Arch drainage to Toltec Beach.

We didn't get started until 10 am because I let the other guys sleep, given our rather sleepless night, and then morning preparations were slowed by the snow. We were all packed up and ready to go when another storm rolled through and we got sleeted on for another 20 minutes. When it cleared, we stood around for another 15 minutes trying to decide what to do: go back to the trailhead (how much snow was up there now, could we get out?); wait a day to see if the weather cleared (which we didn't have time for); or go ahead and take a chance that we'd get rained on all day. We could see that the snow cover was gone about a mile down the drainage, so we ended up going forward.

Descending the drainage through the Supai layer was a lot easier than I expected. Lots of long sections of walking on flat rocks, punctuated by boulder fields and detours around pour offs. We used the right-hand bypass around the biggest pour off instead of the "Ledge of Death" to the left.

The going got a little slower in the main Royal Arch drainage as it descended through the Redwall. More boulder jumbles.

We got to Royal Arch by midafternoon. The canyon is really pretty in this area, and the arch itself is a lot more massive than I expected. You need humans in the photos to get the right perspective. We pumped water for the first time, from the creek under the arch, though we had seen plenty of tinajas with water along the way.

We decided to try to make it to the Tonto Shelf past the Arch for camping, but walking on this section of trail was so fast that we made it to the rappel by 5:15. The rappel was scarier than any of us expected -- there's not much room on top to maneuver, and there's a lot of exposure below the landing ledge at the bottom. I had brought a rope along and webbing to tie up into a harness, as the Park Service recommends, so everything went smoothly. My son went down first, then we lowered the packs. As we lowered my pack over the edge, my steel water bottle slipped out a side pocket and fell; it didn't stop at the lower ledge, but bounced and kept going down the shear slope below. Eventually the threaded plastic top popped off with a loud bang, and water pinwheeled out as the bottle bounced into oblivion. My son said "That's what's going to happen to you when you fall!" I love him too.

We had no more rain or snow this day, and it was warm down at the river. We made it to the beach at 6 pm-ish. Camping at Toltec Beach was great.

Day 3: Elves Chasm, then Toltec Beach to somewhere on the Tonto

In the morning we spent almost 3 hours on the Elves Chasm side trip. That is a rough trail. We filled up with water at Elves Chasm. The Colorado was full of dirt, and the water in the puddles in Toltec drainage looked suspect, so this seemed like the best option.

We started off in early afternoon headed upstream from Toltec Beach. The going was slow and tough where the trail runs close to the river, especially since we were loaded down with water for a dry camp that evening. Some of the rocks that you have to climb over are so sharp that it hurts to put your hand on them. The trail got better as it climbed away from the river, and the ascent through Garnett Canyon was really nice.

Walking on the Tonto was easy, and quite a relief after the last 1-1/2 days of rough trail. We made it to within a mile or so of Copper Canyon before camping on the Tonto Shelf.

The sky was perfectly blue on this day without a single cloud. The only bummer was that my son's ankle started hurting, so he was hobbling by day's end. He probably hurt it sometime on the second day with all of the jumping down from rocks in the drainage. He's not nearly as cautious as us old guys.

Day 4: from somewhere on the Tonto to the trail junction on the Esplanade

We hiked the rest of the Tonto in the morning and arrived at the South Bass shortly after noon. We planned to either descend to Bass Beach for the night or climb to the Esplanade for the night, depending upon the water situation. We found water puddles in the drainage below the junction, so we filtered water and headed up the hill.

It was windy and colder by the time we got to the Esplanade about 5:30-ish. It was getting cloudy and looked like it could rain, but we decided to camp anyway rather than climbing out because my son's ankle was really causing him pain. He had been hiking mostly on one leg since midway through the day before.

We made it all almost all the way through the night without precipitation, but it started snowing at 4:45. We waited until it started to get light at 6:15 to assess the situation, at which time there was over an inch of snow on the ground and it was plain that this was not just a passing storm.

Day 5: Esplanade junction to trailhead

We packed up everything in the snow and headed for the rim. Luckily the trail was easy to follow at this point, even in the snow, and we made it out by 8 am. There was only 3 inches or so of snow on the ground at the trailhead.

Driving out from the trailhead was easier than I feared. We had no problems with my 4x4 Sequoia. Again, the snow was better for driving than was the mud on a South Bass trip several years before.

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Nov 11 2017

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Tanner - Escalante - New Hance, AZ

Backpack		Nov 11 2017
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	27.00 Miles

Backpack	27.00 Miles	3 Days

no routes

Linked

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Tanner Trail

Escalante Route

New Hance Trail

Partners

none

no partners

My friend Sam and I, along with my 15 year old son, hiked this route over three days. What a beautiful hike. This is now definitely one of my favorites in the Grand Canyon.

The hike definitely has a few challenging places. My topo map designates trail intensity with letters: E=Easy, M=Moderate, D=Difficult, and for extra difficult, DD. All three legs of this hike have “large chested” stretches on my map.

The views on the descent down the Tanner are spectacular because of the relative openness of the terrain all the way to the river. I can’t think of another trail where you’re within sight of a single spot on the Rim for the whole descent to the River. (In this case that spot is Desert View tower.)

I wish that I had read the triplogs on this website before the hike because we would have taken the detour up Escalante Butte. We certainly would have had plenty of time, since we reached Tanner Beach by early afternoon. We explored and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The upper cliffs of the South Rim illuminated by the setting sun were gorgeous, and the cliffs reflecting in the Colorado made for some nice photos.

As soon as the sun went down our camp was besieged by mice. Those little devils are fast. You could hardly raise your arm to throw a rock before your target had darted off under a rock or log. We emptied our packs of food and hung the food off an overhang, but even that wasn’t good enough: I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of Sam whacking his empty pack with his hiking stick in order to knock off a couple of mice that were busy chewing on it.

The second day of the hike, the Escalante Route, was my favorite leg because of the variety and beauty of the terrain. The only part of this leg worthy of its “Route” designation was the last couple of miles, from the mouth of Seventyfive Mile Creek to Hance Rapids. Otherwise it’s an easy-to-follow trail.

We stopped partway up Dox Hill because one of us had to dig a hole, and while we sat beside the trail, I spotted Angel’s Window out near the end of Cape Royal on the North Rim. My son and I had visited it a couple of years ago, so it was fun to see it again, but from a different perspective.

Later on, it was a thrill to lean over the east edge of Seventyfive Mile Canyon looking for the creek bed below, not be able to see it, and then have to lean even farther over the edge before finally seeing it. Less than an hour later, we were walking down that very creek bed, looking waaay up to the canyon’s edge far overhead.

The trail definitely gets more route-like after Seventyfive Mile Creek. It was a bit daunting to arrive at the bottom of Papago Wall without really knowing what it was, and seeing the cairns at the bottom and top. We really have to climb that? But upon closer inspection, it turns out that it’s not so bad. We were able to climb it without even removing our packs.

The mice were even bolder and more numerous at Hance than they were at Tanner the night before. At one point in early evening I looked down and found a mouse sitting right beside me in the sand.

The mice stole a couple of things from us in the night too: Sam’s sock (taken to be used in a nest?) and the small leather keeper from his hat strings. A mouse also chewed a hole in my son’s water bladder bite valve. I was relieved that they didn’t chew a hole in my tent.

What can I say about the hike out on the New Hance? It’s steep, especially since the first couple of miles in Red Canyon gain almost no elevation at all. That being said, I enjoyed the hike up more than our hike down a couple of years ago – definitely easier on the knees and hips.

Now I’m itching to get back here again sometime – maybe try out the Tanner-Beamer-Salt trails?

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1 archive

May 12 2017

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Turkey Creek Trail #34

Tucson, AZ

Turkey Creek Trail #34

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		May 12 2017
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	22.50 Miles	2,839 AEG

Backpack	22.50 Miles
	2,839 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

linked

Devil's Bathtub Trail - Coronado NF

Bonita Trail

Spud Rock Trail

Mica Mountain Trail

Fire Loop Trail - Mica

Partners

none

no partners

My friend Sam and I, along with three of my kids and one of his, hiked the Turkey Creek trail to Manning Camp for a two-night backpacking trip. We had made a similar trip six years ago to Spud Rock Camp, when the kids were much younger, and we’ve been itching to get back to the Rincons since then.

The jeep trail to the trailhead is a little rough in spots. There’s one steep uphill that we attempted and failed in four wheel high, so we had to back up and use low range.

The weather was pleasant. Still, the several miles of trail from the wilderness boundary to the where the ponderosas and firs start in earnest felt pretty hot. This section of trail is exposed, steep, and rocky. Once in the trees, however, the hiking is a very enjoyable. It took us over six hours to reach Manning Camp, including some fairly generous rests.

We were the only people in Manning Camp the first night. What a great place to camp. The pit toilets are even somewhat pleasant. The only fly in the ointment was the Mexican whippoorwills that sang quite loudly for what seemed like most of the night.

The second day we hiked a circuit of trails around the top of the range, visiting Helen’s Dome, Spud Rock, Mica Mountain, Reef Rock, and Man’s Head. This was the highlight of the trip for me. The views from Spud Rock and Reef Rock were especially noteworthy. We lay for awhile on Spud Rock, sucking the warmth from the rock while a cold wind rushed over us, pulling our body heat away.

My boys were able to climb to the top of Man’s Head, but I was not. I made it up the lower half, where inching on our bellies along a shallow ledge was the worst required, but the upper half required skinnying through a really narrow crack, right through the middle of the “head”. I got part of the way through but turned around when I found myself stuck horizontally and several feet off the ground, able to move only when I exhaled all the air from my lungs. If you want to know how skinny you have to be to make it through this crack – I’m six feet tall and 150 lbs, and I was too thick.

The second night we were joined at Manning Camp by a group of three backpackers. I was kind of disappointed to have company – by this time in the trip, I was thinking that we might end up with the mountain to ourselves from start to finish.

Hiking back down on the third day we took the slightly longer route that goes past the Devil’s Bathtub, and I’m glad we did. Beelzebub’s Tub is definitely worth the couple of extra miles. If we had had more time it would have been fun to climb down the cliff to the pools below.

Sam’s daughter had serious shoe/blister problems within a few miles of the trailhead, so she hiked the remainder of the trip barefoot. One tough cookie!

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Spud Rock

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1 archive

Mar 16 2017

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Wire Pass - Buckskin Gulch - Paria Canyon, UT

Backpack		Mar 16 2017
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	42.00 Miles	314 AEG

Backpack	42.00 Miles	4 Days
	314 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

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Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch

Buckskin Gulch - Wire Pass to Paria River

Paria Canyon

Partners

none

no partners

I did this hike with my 14 year old son, along with my friend Sam and his son. We did the hike in an unconventional manner because of a last minute change in plans. Our original plan was to hike from the Whitehouse Trailhead down Paria Canyon to Wrather Arch and back in four days; however, my son woke me up in the middle of the night at Whitehouse Campground the night before we were to start hiking to tell me that he didn’t feel so good, and then proceeded the throw up six times within an hour. Fortunately he felt better the next morning, but nonetheless we decided it would be prudent to day hike from Wire Pass Trailhead into Buckskin Gulch rather than backpack down Paria Canyon with full overnight packs.

So, for our first day we hiked about six miles into Buckskin Gulch and then back out again. Buckskin Gulch is an amazing natural wonder. I had visited Lower Antelope Canyon with my family last fall, and while Lower Antelope has more color, and more finely featured swoops and turns, the crowds and tour guides with cattle prods made for a less than spectacular experience. (I’m just kidding about the cattle prods, but only barely.) Buckskin Gulch, on the other hand, was relatively deserted, and it seemed to go on forever. Whatever it lacked in nuance it made up for in quantity and variety.

At one point during our hike I noticed an interesting feature on the canyon wall about 100 feet up. It looked a bit like an Indian feather head dress, or maybe a small section of white picket fence. It didn’t necessarily look natural, and it didn’t seem to fit with the surrounding cliff walls, but then again it was hard to imagine how or why someone could have put something like that so far up on the cliff wall. More on this below…

After another night at the Whitehouse Campground, we started our second day of hiking by heading down Paria Canyon. Paria Canyon was not nearly as visually stunning as Buckskin Canyon, at least until we reached Slide Rock Arch. However, for my money, Paria Canyon from Slide Rock Arch down to the Confluence was one of the best parts of the trip. The canyon walls are so tall and sheer that I felt like I was walking in a landscape made for giants. Wading through the knee-deep, muddy yellow Paria all the while made it even more memorable.

At the Confluence we turned up Buckskin Gulch, dropped our packs at the campsites just upstream, then headed further back down Paria Canyon in search of the 10-mile spring. I had seen online photos of hikers posing in the uniquely shaped vertical fault lines that occur several places in this stretch, so I asked Sam and the boys to pose for photos too; however, quicksand prevented them from getting within 20 feet of any of the fault lines. There was a fair amount of quicksand over this stretch.

On the way back up canyon from the spring we found a clue to identity of the mysterious structure on the canyon wall we saw in Buckskin Gulch the day before. At one point we found some bee honeycomb on the ground; while we stopped to look at the honeycomb, I happened to glance upward, and I noticed a structure on the cliff wall overhead exactly like the one I had seen the day before in Buckskin Gulch. Therefore, I’m pretty sure it was a bees’ nest. I’ve included photos of this structure and the honeycomb in the photoset for this triplog.

Back at the Confluence campsites, we camped at the site on the south side of the creek. Five parties camped on the other side of the creek. The canyon was so echo-y that we could almost everyone’s conversations as if they were right next to us. It made you want to whisper.

The following day we hiked up Buckskin Gulch to the Middle Route and back. The rabbit hole at the Boulder Jam was open but it required a wade through a pool of unknown depth, so we chose to climb over the Jam using the semi-permanent webbing instead. Not far above the Jam we had to wade through a stretch of thigh-deep water, so we ended up getting a little wet anyway.

I found the lower portion of Buckskin Gulch even more impressive than the upper end. It wasn’t as narrow, but it was definitely deeper. At times the sunlight was almost blocked, and the air was chilly.

The climb up the Middle Route was definitely worth it, just to see the outside world for a few minutes. It was a jarring experience, after having spent 1-1/2 days in the canyon and feeling isolated from the outside world, to climb up the canyon walls a few feet and then to suddenly find oneself back in the Utah desert. The temperature change added to the effect when the pervasive cold of the canyon was suddenly replaced by the desert heat.

The climb was fairly easy, except that all of the climbing surfaces were sloped slightly downward and covered with a fine layer of sand that felt a bit like thousands of tiny ball bearings. Surfaces that otherwise would have been easy to stand on did not feel so safe. I’ve seen online images of a route that goes straight up the crevice, but that seems like the hard way to do it; we had good luck criss-crossing back and forth, at least on the lower portion.

We spent another night at the Confluence, and strangely enough, this night we had the whole area to ourselves. I had been irritated by the crowd the first night there but the second night actually seemed lonely. We found that we could pump water from Buckskin Creek by digging a hole in the sand, lining it with flat rocks, and then waiting for the creek's flow to remove the muddy water from the basin, so we didn’t have to make another trip to the 10-mile spring.

The following morning we had an uneventful hike back to the Whitehouse Trailhead.

Overall we hiked about 42 miles over our four days, essentially hiking the Wire Pass Trailhead to Whitehouse Trailhead route both directions except for a couple of miles in the middle of Buckskin Gulch that we missed altogether, plus tacking on the short trip to the 10-mile spring.

I’ve had enough slot canyon hiking for a while, but Sam and I agreed that we do it again a couple of years, and next time we'll hike from Wire Pass to Lees Ferry, with a short detour from the Confluence up to Slide Rock Arch just to see that stretch of Paria again.

A quick warning about the human waste bags (which we affectionately dubbed “Silver Bullets”) issued by the BLM with overnight permits. While it is true that the BLM will provide you with the bags when you pick up your permit, what they don’t tell you ahead of time is that each person only gets one. If you’re backpacking for more than a day or two and you don’t want to use your silver bullets more than once, you should bring some of your own. (It’s obvious once you get into the canyon why the bags are required – there’s just not enough dig-able real estate in much of the canyon to support lots of cat holes.)

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Oct 29 2016

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

West Fork Oak Creek Trail #108

Sedona, AZ

West Fork Oak Creek Trail #108

Sedona, AZ

Backpack		Oct 29 2016
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	12.00 Miles	300 AEG

Backpack	12.00 Miles	3 Days
	300 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

My friend Sam and I took five of our kids backpacking for three days over the weekend, an out-and-back to the wilderness boundary. The trail was very busy because of the fall colors – we arrived at the trailhead at 8 am on a Saturday morning and the parking lot was already nearly full. We chose to park along the road rather than try to park in the official parking lot (more on this later).

The 6-mile hike to the wilderness boundary was very pleasant, especially after reaching the turnaround point for hikers who want to keep their feet dry. We only saw four other people after that point.

We did this hike 2-1/2 years ago, in the spring, and I was anxious to see how the relatively recent forest fire had affected the landscape. Thankfully, the answer is “not much”. We could see burnt trees along at the canyon rim, and several of the water holes had been filled by eroded dirt, but overall the canyon appeared to be untouched. Hiking in fall was more pleasant than spring because of the fall colors and because the water wasn’t so cold.

We camped in the penthouse suite at the wilderness boundary. The yellow oak leaves still on the trees and blanketing the ground made this spot even more beautiful than it was on our previous visit. We got to the campsite about noon and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around and then bushwacking up through the thick Manzanita to the overlook behind the camp. The view is worth the scratches.

We spent the next morning exploring two drainages that empty into the main canyon less than ¼ mile downstream of the wilderness boundary. Sam went up the dry drainage to the right because he wanted to keep his feet dry, while the rest of us went up the left-hand one that had water flowing out of it. Sam’s drainage disappeared before too long so he climbed up onto the ridge between the two drainages and followed it as it headed toward the canyon rim. He gave up on it when he ran short on water, but it appeared to him that you could climb it all the way out of the canyon.

The wet drainage that the rest of us explored was a wonderland of color – green moss and green plants, smothered in yellow oak leaves. After walking awhile we came to a rock-walled basin with a pool at the bottom, and the only way to move further upstream was to climb a wet, slippery wall. My older son was able to climb the wall with the aid of a vine and then tie off a rope for the remainder of the group. We found webbing and a carabiner at the top of the wall, so this may be a popular route. The drainage above this basin was dry, but no less beautiful. The walk up this drainage was my favorite activity of the trip.

In the afternoon several of us ventured further up the main canyon. About 1-1/2 miles upstream from the wilderness boundary we saw a fantastic pine tree clinging to an overhanging ledge, 100 feet or so above the canyon floor (see the photoset). We were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s relatively easy to climb to the rock spit that the pine sits on via a very steep slope to the right. The far edge of the spit is a straight drop, so we laid on our stomachs with heads hanging over the edge. We didn’t venture out to the edge where the tree sits because the overhang doesn’t look any too sturdy from below. It was definitely worth the climb.

The only downside to the trip was finding upon our return to the trailhead that someone had broken out the passenger side window in my vehicle and stolen several things, including a copy of the Aeneid, several pairs of prescription glasses and my first aid kit. Fortunately my insurance replaced the window glass for no cost. If I backpack this trail again, I will be sure to park in the parking lot instead of along the road in the hope that the vehicle will be safer there.

This is a lovely backpack and I look forward to doing it again (if I can convince my wife to let me leave a vehicle at the trailhead again).

Autumn Foliage Observation Substantial

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May 30 2016

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Keet Seel

Northeast, AZ

Keet Seel

Northeast, AZ

Backpack		May 30 2016
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	17.00 Miles	2,000 AEG

Backpack	17.00 Miles	2 Days
	2,000 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

I hiked this trail overnight with my 14-year old son and 11-year old daughter on Memorial Day. We camped in the Canyon View Campground the night before so we could get an early start.

This is an easy trail, with the exception of a short 3/4-mile descent/ascent. The scenery was nice, though not spectacular. We did not run into any quicksand. The ranger at the orientation the day before said that there wasn't enough water for quicksand. I was apprehensive that walking in the creek would be difficult -- the usual slogging through sand alternating with jumping from rock to rock -- but the sand by the creek turned out to be quite firm. Cool creek water felt good on the feet.

The campground at Keet Seel is quite nice. Lots of shade.

Steve and Diane Hayden were the rangers on duty. Steve gave a fantastic, 2-hour tour of the dwellings. It is incredible to walk freely through so much history, surrounded by broken pottery, corn cobs, yucca ropes, etc. I have never been anywhere else where it was possible to see and touch so many things. You can understand that it is all 700 years old, but in a way, it's hard to believe. Maybe because it's not behind glass.

I was amazed at Steve's generosity with his time, and Diane was quite kind, asking the kids several times if they needed a drink or any supplies. When we lamented that we had forgotten to bring playing cards, Diane lent us a deck.

I can't wait to go again. See it while you still can!

PS. I should add that my daughter was amazed at the cleanliness of the pit toilets everywhere in Navajo National Monument. For what it's worth. (That kind of thing is important to her.)

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Mar 27 2015

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Rainbow Bridge via North Trail

Southeast, UT

Rainbow Bridge via North Trail

Southeast, UT

Hiking		Mar 27 2015
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Hiking	14.00 Miles	500 AEG

Hiking	14.00 Miles
	500 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

This is a beautiful hike, with sweeping vistas, claustrophobic canyons, towering rock formations, and of course Rainbow Bridge. While Rainbow Bridge is impressive, this is not just a “destination” hike: this would be a fantastic hike even without Rainbow Bridge.

My friend Sam and I took six of our kids (ages 10-17) plus a friend on this hike. We hiked it as an out-and-back, taking two days each way. I would not have wanted to hike it in less time. We hiked it out-and-back because the one-way trip with the lake and van shuttle was too expensive for us (too many kids!), and we didn’t have enough vehicles for the north-to-south trail loop. I’m not a huge fan of out-and-back hikes, but this one had so many things to see that the hike back was as enjoyable as the hike out.

The end of March was a good time for this hike. Navajo Mountain is visible throughout much of the hike, and it was covered with snow when we did the hike. Being able to see its snow covered peak offered some relief (if only mental) from the heat in the canyons below. And, all of the creeks were running from the snow runoff.

We drove north from Flagstaff to get to the trailhead. We bought our permits in Cameron on the way. The Navajo office in Cameron is a small pink structure at the roundabout – easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. The drive took about 4-1/2 hours, including buying permits, stopping for directions once, and backtracking once after a wrong turn.

We used the directions on the National Park Service Rainbow Bridge North Trail pdf (you can find it online) to locate the trailhead, though it turns out that these directions are outdated: Indian Road 16 has more paving, the Navajo Mountain Trading Post no longer exists, and there are more forks in the road than are mentioned. If I had to give directions to the trailhead, I would say to follow Indian Road 16 all the way to the community of Navajo Mountain (about 35 miles past the turnoff from 160), and then go straight through the four-way intersection where Road 16 appears to end. You will immediately be on an unmaintained dirt road. Follow this road straight through several intersections in “town” and then when the road forks thereafter always follow the larger road or, if both roads are about the same size, take the left fork. The road to the trailhead basically hugs the base of Navajo Mountain in a counter-clockwise direction, so if you stay as close as possible to the mountain you can’t go too wrong. After several miles you will see a high ridge on your left that looks like an earthen dam (though it’s obviously a natural formation), and a small road will branch left toward it. Take this road up and over the ridge, to the trailhead. Sam and I both drove four-wheel drive vehicles on the road without a problem. The clerk at the Navajo permit office warned us to display our permits in the trailhead vehicles' dashes or the vehicles would get an "automatic tow", but we had a good laugh about that when we got to the trailhead. It would take one heck of a tow truck to get the vehicles towed out of that trailhead.

We also used the NPS Rainbow Bridge North Trail pdf as a trail guide. It was adequate, and the mileage seemed about right until mile 11.5, where the trail joins Bridge Canyon. Beyond that point the mileage figures given on the pdf are obviously wrong – it is definitely not 17.5 miles from the trailhead to Rainbow Bridge. I think the true mileage is 14-15 miles.

We found the trail to be well marked for the first four miles and somewhat spotty (though adequate) thereafter. The trail surface is rough throughout, even when well marked. This is not a groomed trail.

Day 1: Trailhead to N’asja Creek

We left the trailhead at about noon and hiked relatively slowly. We soon stopped in Cha Canyon and were in the middle of eating lunch when a herd of 14 hikers stampeded up through Cha Canyon toward us, and then turned and headed out on the trail ahead of us. I thought at the time that perhaps they had just gotten a little lost, but I figured out later that they were probably downstream viewing cliff dwellings as described in Gossamer Gear’s guide for this hike (google it, it’s excellent). The group was from the BCH Backpacking Canyoneering & Hiking club out of Phoenix. I wish I had read the Gossamer Gear trail guide more carefully before our hike – we missed the side trip to the cliff dwellings.

The highlight of the first day for me was Bald Rock Canyon at about mile 3.5. It’s full of neat sandstone formations, and it seems to come out of nowhere. You’re hiking along a broad ridge when suddenly there’s a deep canyon right in front of you. Water was running in the stream at the bottom and there were multiple places to camp. Several caves/overhangs in the cliff walls look like they would be fun to explore if you had the time. Unfortunately the trail doesn’t spend much time at the bottom before you have to climb out the far side, which was a bit of a grunt in the heat.

We arrived at Surprise Canyon/N’asja Creek at about 4:30. This is mile 6.5 or so. There’s a Surprise Canyon sign located about ½ mile up the trail from N’asja Creek, but according to the topo map N’asja Creek runs through Surprise Canyon, so I think the sign is wrong. (Someone else evidently thinks so too because they’ve written “No it’s not” and “Nope” on the sign.) There’s a nice (modern) horse carving on the sandstone wall on the left as you come into the N’asja Creek area.

The BCH group of 14 had already set up camp when we arrived. Luckily there is enough room at N’asja Creek for an army to camp comfortably, so that wasn’t a problem. I counted four or five fire rings in the area. We camped on the east side of the creek not far from an old sweat lodge. We spent a pleasant evening around the campfire, telling jokes. (My favorite was a Bil Keane pun: What do you call a “WEYATHIRE?” Answer: the worst spell of weather we’ve had in quite some time.)

Day 2: N’asja Creek to Echo Camp (& Rainbow Bridge & Lake Powell)

We started hiking about 9 am. The first mile or so of trail follows a canyon. Owl Bridge is about ½ mile up the canyon. An old hogan and sweat lodge are nearby. The trail has some impressive construction as it climbs up through the canyon and then out a narrow pass. A fair amount of labor must have gone into building this portion of the trail, unlike most of the trail.

Once through the pass the trail crosses a broad plain with expansive views of Glen Canyon to the north and Navajo Mountain to the south. It is quite a change from the narrow canyon just left behind. The trail has minor ups and downs for a couple of miles until you reach Oak Canyon at about the 10 mile mark. Like Bald Rock Canyon on the first day, this canyon came as a surprise. Unlike Bald Rock Canyon, it is not especially scenic. The treacherous trail in and out of the canyon is steep and covered with rocks varying in size from marbles to grapefruits. A small area at the bottom near the creek is free of rocks, and there’s a decent spot to camp if you can ignore the SUV-sized boulder perched on an inadequately-sized (in my opinion) dirt pedestal directly above the camp site. I would not want to be camped there in a rainstorm or during an earthquake.

Within a ½ mile or so after leaving Oak Canyon the trail starts its descent through the ravine that takes you into Bridge Canyon. The start of the ravine is not obvious, and I would have had trouble finding it without the footprints of those who had passed before to guide me. Even with the tracks, I wasn’t sure it wasn’t just a side track until we came across an obviously human-built portion of trail after several hundred yards. The ravine turns into a canyon before too long, and this canyon was quite pretty. I don’t think the descent through this ravine/canyon is much more than a mile long.

There’s a nice shady camping spot where you reach Bridge Canyon. The BCH group of 14 was planning to camp here for the second night of their three-day hike to Lake Powell. We continued downstream though. We lost the trail several times in the canyon because it’s a typical canyon trail that gets washed away every time the canyon floods. For the most part the walk consists of trudging through sand or hopping from rock to rock. I ended up longing for a nice hardpack trail surface by the time we got to Echo Camp.

The junction with Redbud Creek and the South trail is probably about two miles downstream from where you enter Bridge Canyon. There’s a large cairn but no sign. Given that many other landmarks along the trail were signed, it seems strange that the one junction in the trail is not. If you’re coming back this way like we were, be sure to take a good look around so you’ll recognize the junction when you reach it coming from the other direction. It would be easy to take the wrong fork if you weren’t paying attention, like a couple people in our party did the next day.

The canyon really opens up after the trail meets the South trail. The deep canyon walls are truly beautiful. Within ½ or ¾ miles of the junction, the trail goes through a nice clearing with a fire pit. When I make this trip again I will want to set up camp in this clearing instead of at Echo Camp. It was in shade both times when we came through and it would be easy to drop the packs here and make a round trip to Rainbow Bridge, which is maybe a mile or so distant. The canyon walls tower overhead.

We got to Echo Camp at about 3 pm. It was hot, with the amphitheater of Echo Camp facing directly west into the afternoon sun. The kids explored the pond, climbed under the overhang to make echoes, and bounced on several of the more than dozen steel bed frames scattered around the camp. We rested about an hour and then headed downstream about ½ mile to Rainbow Bridge, which thankfully was cooler.

I don’t have anything to say about Rainbow Bridge that hasn’t been conveyed better in the hundreds of photos on of the Bridge on the internet. It’s neat. The leader of the BCH group had told us that there is a dinosaur track at the bridge, but we couldn’t find it. I wish I had known about it before the trip so I could have googled it to increase our odds of finding it. It is not obvious. There were only two lake tourists there when we were there.

The trail to the lake was so inviting that we all decided to visit the lake too. After two days of struggling over rough trail surfaces, the mile-long semi-paved tourist trail to the dock felt like a super highway. Several of us may have jumped off the dock to cool off (swimming is officially not allowed in Rainbow Bridge National Monument), but if we had, we would not have stayed long in the water because of some UFOs (unidentified floating objects) near the bathrooms on the floating dock.

We were all pretty tired when we got back to camp. We didn’t stay up too late. Two of our party slept on beds (one bed frame even fit in a tent).

Day 3: Echo Camp to N’asja Creek

We stopped on our way out of camp to gaze at Rainbow Bridge one last time while I read a semi-creepy meditation on the “real” Rainbow Bridge -- the bridge leading from pet purgatory to Heaven (it comes up in a google search for Rainbow Bridge). Most of us laughed but my ten year old daughter asked why it was funny.

Sam and I were a bit apprehensive about this third day of hiking after all the miles we had done the day before, but this turned out to be our easiest day. I guess our muscles were getting the hang of it. We left camp just before 9 am and got back to N’asja Creek by early afternoon. We considered going on to Bald Rock Canyon to camp there instead, but we ended up staying at N’asja Creek because of the heat. Sam and I did the lazy adult thing and laid around in the shade all afternoon, while the kids built a dam.

Day 4: N’asja Creek to Trail Head

We left camp at 8:30 and arrived at the trail head a little before noon. There was another large group camping in Bald Rock Canyon so it was just as well that we had stayed at N’asja Creek the night before. There would have been enough room for both groups to camp, but it’s always nice to have a camp spot to oneself. Nothing of note happened on this day except that we had to leave this wonderful place for the long drive home to Prescott and Tucson.

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4 archives

Nov 28 2014

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Granite Mountain, AZ

Hiking		Nov 28 2014
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Hiking	11.00 Miles	2,800 AEG

Hiking	11.00 Miles
	2,800 ft AEG

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Granite Mountain Trail #261

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My friend Sam and I hiked with several of our kids up to this peak on the day after Thanksgiving. Sam had lost one pant leg of his convertible pants near the summit a couple of weeks prior, so our mission was to find the missing pant leg.

We decided to bushwack all the way to the top rather than hike the 261 trail. I don’t really care for the middle section of 261, so the bushwack sounded better. We left the trail at the second large drainage, about 1/2 mile or so from the trailhead.

It was a tough bushwack, all rocks and bushes and especially cactus. The kids joked that the Forest Service had planted extra cactus in order to thwart bushwacking. Our route alternated between climbing hairy rock ascents to avoid cactus fields and tip toeing through cactus fields to avoid even more hairy rock ascents.

It took us about two hours to reach the rim of the “bowl” at the top of the range, by which time we were covered with scratches and scrapes and agave punctures. I had ripped my shirt, and Sam’s daughter had lost her sunglasses.

From the edge of the bowl, it was smooth sailing. Last year’s fire had cleared out most of the underbrush, and we were able to easily walk up the drainage to the foot of the final ascent and then follow the cairns to the top.

As a bonus, we found Sam’s pant leg near the top, several feet away from where he had removed it and stuffed it into his pocket (which it evidently promptly fell out of) two weeks before.

We took the 261 trail back down in order to get back in time for dinner.

On other occasions Sam has bushwacked the first big drainage heading north and west up the mountain, located almost right at the trailhead, and he assures me that it is easier than our route. If I were to bushwack up Granite Mountain again, I’d try that route instead of ours. Though, who knows, we may decide to go back for those sunglasses.

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Oct 31 2014

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Hermit-Tonto-Boucher-Dripping Springs, AZ

Backpack		Oct 31 2014
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	22.00 Miles	2,290 AEG

Backpack	22.00 Miles	3 Days
	2,290 ft AEG

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Hermit Trail - Grand Canyon

Tonto Trail: Hermit Trail to Boucher Trail

Dripping Springs - Grand Canyon

Boucher Trail

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My friend Sam and I, along with several kids from each of our families, usually manage at least one Grand Canyon hike per year. Several years ago we had hiked the Hermit Trail to Hermit Creek, and we all enjoyed it quite a bit. This year we decided to hike down the Hermit Trail again, but to come back out via the Boucher Trail. Sam brought two of his kids (ages 13 and 15) and I brought two of mine (ages 12 and 14).

Day 1: Hermit trailhead to Hermit Creek

We started off at the Hermit trailhead about mid morning. The weather was perfect. We ran in difficulties, though, just shy of Santa Maria Springs, when Sam had a major wardrobe malfunction: the back half the sole on one boot separated from the upper. We sat for a few minutes and considered how to proceed. We didn’t have any extra boots back at the trailhead vehicle, so getting a replacement was going to be a time consuming process. As far as repairing the boot, Sam had a tube of superglue in his backpack and I had some duct tape, but we didn’t think that either one would repair the boot well enough to complete the hike. Sam was carrying some Teva sandals in his backpack, however, and he decided that he could make do with those if he had to. We decided we would nurse the boot along as far as possible, hopefully getting through some of the roughest downhill stretches.

Accordingly, we applied superglue and wrapped several lengths of duct tape over the joint and around the heel. This pseudo repair lasted a couple more miles before giving way. Not willing resort to hiking in Tevas, we wracked our brains for another repair method. We finally seized upon the idea of using some zip ties that I had in my backpack to “sew” the heel back onto the upper. We punched three holes through the heel at the top edge and three corresponding holes in the leather upper directly above them, threaded a zip tie through each set of holes, and then cinched the zip ties tight. This repair worked perfectly and Sam was able to wear the boot throughout the rest of the hike. (See the photos for the boot repair.) We were rather proud of our MacGyver-ism.

The remainder of the descent to Hermit Creek went smoothly. The trail was in good shape, in fact better shape than when we had hiked it several years before. During that hike some of our party had gotten slightly off track during part of the descent through the Supai, but this time the trail was so plainly marked that we weren’t even sure when we had passed through the trouble spot.

When we arrived at Hermit Creek, the only open camp site was the one with the overhang. I believe others have referred to it as the “penthouse”, though we ended up calling it the Urine Camp because of the odor that surrounded it. While it is a beautiful spot with soft, level sand, and a convenient stone table, it appears that perhaps too many people are waking in the night and just peeing right outside the perimeter. I don’t recommend choosing this spot without first sitting at ground level and taking a whiff. Hopefully a good rain will clear things up for future campers.

We didn’t hike down to the Colorado this time. Instead, Sam and I relaxed while the kids played in the creek.

Day 2: Tonto Trail to Boucher Creek, then up the Boucher Trail to the saddle at Whites Butte

Despite the relatively late time in the year, it stayed so warm overnight that we could sleep on top of our sleeping bags most of the night. The sky had clouded over, and it stayed that way all of the following day.

Not long after starting out on the Tonto we spied something shiny a few yards off the trail. I dropped my pack to fetch it, and it turned out to be a large foil balloon with “Happy Birthday” emblazoned on it. Who knows how far it drifted before landing where it did – there’s probably a little girl somewhere in California mourning the loss of her balloon. Anyway, since my son was turning 15 in a week, I presented it to him. I hate picking out presents, and what fifteen-year-old doesn’t love getting a balloon for his birthday?

I can see how hiking on the Tonto could be a bit monotonous if you’ve hiked it numerous times, but being as to how this was my first time over this stretch of ground, I thought it was quite beautiful. There were numerous interesting rocks on the ground just outside of Hermit Creek and again just before reaching Boucher Creek, the approach to Travertine Canyon was quite striking, and the views of the Colorado River were noteworthy as well. I was the only one in our party with a camera, so I often lagged behind to take photos.

We reached Boucher Creek about noontime. We spent a while finding the cabin and the mining tunnel, and then Sam and I settled down for a nap while the kids tried to dam the creek. My nap never really got started because of all the bugs, so hiked down to the Colorado River instead. While it was a pleasant walk, the route down Hermit Creek is nicer. If you only have time for one, walk down Hermit Creek instead of Boucher Creek.

Mid afternoon we filled up on water, and started up the Boucher trail toward the saddle by Whites Butte. Sam and I were carrying extra water for camp that night, so we were working pretty hard. I was interested to see how the trail would take us through the Redwall, but the route turned out to be rather unremarkable – straight up a canyon that forms a break in the Redwall.

We reached the saddle at about 5 pm and went about setting up camp. This was a beautiful place to camp, with fantastic views on every side. You felt that you had some elevation even though the saddle is broad enough that you don’t have to worry about a kid getting up in the middle of the night to take a leak and wandering off a cliff. It was definitely worth the effort of hauling water up the hill instead of camping at the creek.

After the tents were set up, my younger son wanted to explore Whites Butte, and the rest of us followed him up. We had to move quickly because the sun was soon to set. The climb was easy and the top was fun – contrary to its appearance from the saddle, the top is a ridge instead of a point. Walking/climbing along the ridge was exhilarating, giving one the feeling of being on top of the world. The views from the top were well worth the climb.

While we were on the butte, several from our party saw a hiker heading down the trail toward Boucher Creek. This was the only hiker we would see that day after leaving Hermit Creek, or for that matter the next day until the Boucher Trail met up with Dripping Springs Trail. Blessed solitude!

We got back to camp at about 6 pm just at full dark. We ate dinner and went to bed early because it was dark, it was getting cold, and we were bushed.

Day 3: Boucher Trail to Dripping Springs Trail to Hermit Trail and out

Rain started falling at almost exactly midnight. I got up and covered our packs and made my older son come into the tent for the remainder of the night. It rained steadily until about 7 am in the morning. I had trouble sleeping, listening to the rain and wondering if the trail would turn into a slippery, unstable morass of mud. I became less worried about the trail conditions when I got up before dawn during a brief lull in the rain to dig a hole (for a reason that will go unnamed in this polite triplog) and found that the ground was wet to only half an inch deep or so. The rain was steady but rather light.

As a side note, we found out that a Tyvek home wrap ground cloth is waterproof enough to work as an improvised rain fly. (The real rain fly was not discovered until unpacking one of the packs after the conclusion of the hike.)

This day started out cold because of the rain, and wind was whipping across the saddle. By the time that we had broken camp and started out on the trail, though, the sky was clearing and the temperature warming a little. Looking up at the Supai above us, we predicted that today’s climb wouldn’t be as difficult as the previous day’s climb through the Redwall, and it turns out that we were right. While the trail went straight up at times, it was in decent shape, and it was easy to follow. I had read online reports that the trail was difficult to follow and somewhat intense as it passed through the Supai, but we did not find this to be the case. Maybe the Park Service has performed maintenance on it.

It took us a couple of hours after we broke camp to get to the overlook below Yuma Point. This would be a scenic place to camp, but I wouldn’t want to do it with kids because I’d be worried about someone wandering off a cliff in the night. I got startled pretty good by a wind gust while taking a photo at the edge of the cliff, making me glad that I was standing a few feet back from the edge.

The trail from overlook over to where it met up with the Dripping Springs Trail and then the Hermit Trail was easy going. This flat section of the trail was probably in the worst shape of any section, because of numerous washouts. Fortunately only a few of the washouts were at areas with exposure, and they were easily negotiated.

We arrived at the Hermit trailhead about five hours after breaking camp.

Overall, I really enjoyed hiking this trail. It was great to see a part of the Grand Canyon that I had never seen before. The helicopters, which so many others have complained about on this trail, were not too bad, probably because of the time of year. In fact we didn’t hear any helicopters at all from mid day on the second day until noon on the third day -- I suspect because of the heavy cloud cover. If I have one complaint about the Boucher Trail, it’s that it’s all feast or famine: extremely steep or nearly level. That being said, it’s a minor complaint, and the steepness of the trail is really just due to topography and where the breaks in the cliffs lie. Half the fun of the trail is wondering how it’s going to get you through the next layer of cliffs towering above you. I probably won’t repeat this hike any time soon, but I am looking forward to trying out some of the other less maintained trails in the Grand Canyon sometime soon.

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Sep 01 2014

gunungapi

Photos 75
Triplogs 10

54 male

Joined Mar 17 2014
Tucson, AZ

Cabin Loop - Mogollon Rim

Payson, AZ

Cabin Loop - Mogollon Rim

Payson, AZ

Backpack		Sep 01 2014
		gunungapi • Triplogs 10

Backpack	17.00 Miles	950 AEG

Backpack	17.00 Miles	2 Days
	950 ft AEG

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U - Bar Trail #28

Barbershop Trail #91

Houston Brothers Trail #171

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We backpacked the east loop over Labor Day weekend -- starting Saturday noon at the west end of the Barbershop Trail, heading east on the Barbershop and then counterclockwise around the U-Bar Trail and back down the Houston Brothers Trail to our starting point, which we reached Monday morning. We camped at Dane Spring and Aspen Spring.

This was my first time backpacking on the Mogollon Rim. As others have noted, this is beautiful country. I was happy to find that it was much more than a flat walk through Ponderosa forests -- it had a nice amount of variation and elevation change. Dane Canyon and Barbershop Canyon in particular were very beautiful.

Mushrooms were everywhere. I ended up with more than two dozen photos of mushrooms, all of them different: red, orange, white, green, gray, red with white spots.

The Barbershop and U-Bar trails were a little hard to follow at times. They frequently join the many forest roads that cross this area, and it was difficult at times to figure out when the trail branched off again into the woods. The blazes on the trees were the most consistent trail markers, though many of them are so grown over that you wouldn't recognize them if you didn't know what to look for. I recommend looking for the blazes while hiking on the well marked sections of trail so that when you get to the iffy parts, you know what to look for. The cairns, flexible posts, and ribbons on tree branches were spotty, but the blazes were consistent.

If I get another chance to hike here, I will try to avoid doing it on a holiday weekend. The woods were packed with people, and you're never more than a mile or so from the nearest road and motorized vehicles. I felt a bit like the Berenstain Bears in their Picnic book where they keep searching for a secluded picnic spot, and at each one are overwhelmed by obnoxious civilization. Nothing like hiking all afternoon to reach Dane Springs, setting up camp, and finding out that there are hundreds of people with motorcycles and amplified music camped within 1/4 mile of you! Next time, I will hike another 1-1/2 mile north on the trail to the bottom of Dane Canyon, which is very secluded and beautiful.

Aspen Springs too, where we camped the second night, is connected to a forest road, but we didn't see or hear any obnoxious campers there. I cannot think of a more idyllic setting than Aspen Springs.

The last thing of note that we saw on the hike was dozens of fossils on the Houston Brothers trail, just north of the Barbershop Trail intersection. About the size of flattened golf balls -- the backs are ribbed like sea shells, and the bottoms have vanes like the bottom of a leaf or maybe a miniature turtle. Keep your eyes on the ground and you'll see them!

There was water at Dane Springs, Aspen Springs, Coyote Springs, Barbershop Springs, and in the creeks at the bottom of Dane and Barbershop Canyons along the U-Bar Trail.

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1 archive

WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

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