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| Hiking | 23.96 Miles |
6,690 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.96 Miles | 2 Days 8 Hrs 35 Mns | | |
| 6,690 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | October 22 (Sunday): Drove up from Phoenix around 9 am & met friends at the Cameron Trading Post, stopped at Lees Ferry (to drop my car), Cliff Dwellers, and finally arrived at the Nankoweap Trail #57 north TH around 4:30 pm to camp for the night. There were a few areas of thick sand on the road and a strip of layered rock across the road as you cross Fence/Wildcat Canyon (draining into South Canyon), but other than that the road seems fine for a car (depending on the type). The strip of rock is basically a couple of steep steps so a car with low clearance may be risky to try. The trailhead is open without many trees and it got super windy through the night. Thankfully we were tucked away nice and warm & were only reminded of the wind by the loud tent flapping. Earplugs are a wonderful thing.
October 23 (Monday): Started our hike a little after 6 am. It was still windy but we welcomed the gusts during the hike up to the Nankoweap Trail TH. Whew, that is a persistent slope but I kept reminding myself how nice it would be during our hike back (it was).
The view from the Nankoweap Saddle is awesome and a perfect welcome start for the hike in. A couple short and easy switchbacks down through a wooded area and we were near the elevation we would hover around for the next approximately four miles. The traverse along the Supai formation gave us the most incredible nonstop views. From what I've heard, the trail along the traverse has gotten better and the "scary spots" are not as scary. I have no comparison as this was my first time hiking Nankoweap. I can say that there are quite a few "no fall zones" (as the cool backcountry Ranger we met called them) and extremely narrow sketchy portions of the Supai stretch of trail. The exposure is constant throughout most of this entire hike but, along the Supai, at least there is also a decent amount of shrubs or layered rock that give a feeling of protection. As a recovering acrophobiac  , I think I felt comfortable on this hike because of the practice and experience I've had over the years with canyoneering and rock climbing and because I had two confident and experienced friends with me (for which I was extremely grateful for the ease and calm within our group). We each cached one liter of water at Marion Point and one liter at Tilted Mesa. It took us about 3 1/2 to 4 hours to hike from our vehicle to Marion Point and 2 hours from Marion Point to Tilted Mesa. Obviously, this will be different for everyone but it's just to point out that a 2 1/2 mile traverse without much elevation change still took us 2 hours.
Now onto the portion of the hike from Tilted Mesa to Nankoweap Creek. It SUUUCKS. This portion of the trail is MUCH scarier in my opinion because it is loose and steep and there are no shrubs or anything to provide a sense of protection. It took me a looong time to hike down this. Actually, I think it took 3 hours going down and 3 hours coming back up. My friends were much more confident on the loose gravelly rock and shale and would have gone down faster than me but they agreed it was the most sketchy part of the hike. I just squatted down and shuffled along a handful of times so I could be closer to the ground instead of flailing around with a big heavy bag. It's cool to be able to see our future camp way down on Nankoweap Creek almost the whole way down this portion of the trail, but also a little defeating since camp doesn't seem to get any closer and the steep and slidey stuff seems to never end. This portion of trail is also a great place to bust out your sun umbrella. I didn't use mine but our friend found one on the trail and was grateful to use it for a while until we found the owners camped down at the creek.
Finally reaching Nankoweap Creek is paradise! Big beautiful Cottonwood trees provide lots of shade and the water is cold and refreshing. There were 2 people camped at the site immediately after crossing the creek but we found a great shady spot just diagonal downstream from them. We got to camp around 3 pm, set up, ate, met our neighbors (who were leaving the next morning), and passed out around 7:30 pm. The temps were pretty perfect all day but the sun shining right on us for so long took it out of us.
October 24 (Tuesday): River day, yay! The hike down Nankoweap Creek was way more beautiful than I expected! Big towering walls & cool formations the whole hike. It's a little slow going mostly because of trying to choose the easiest route out of the maze of trails others have attempted. We hiked directly to the granaries since the temp was heating up & we knew we had switchbacks ahead. The hike up to the granaries is obvious and has rocks for stair steps once you reach the steep part. This is another good place to bust out the sun umbrella as the southern sun is relentless, even when the temps are otherwise very comfortable. Unfortunately, I left mine at camp. The granaries are small and high and it is fascinating to imagine the people's lives who created and used them (How are there not Ancestral Puebloan buns of steel workouts by now??). Perched on the canyon wall, looking down the river with the sun sparkling on the water, makes the steep gravelly descent from the previous day all worth it for a moment. We soaked in the beauty from above and headed down to the sandy beach to get some shade & cool down. The beach here is a beautiful crescent of sand with a shallow sandy entrance to the river & my friend jumped right in and did laps back and forth for a while to cool down. I am do big of a baby for that kind of cold so I just splashed some water on myself. We hung out for a while, continuing to move further upstream to chase the shade, and then hiked back to our Nankoweap Creek camp. We met a Backcountry Ranger who was camped a 10 minute walk upstream from us. She had hiked to the granaries shortly after we did and returned around the same time as us and we hadn't seen each other at all. Even in one small little nook of the canyon, everything is still absolutely massive.
October 25 (Wednesday): Woke up early and started hiking at 4:30 am so we could make it up to Tilted Mesa before the sun got too wild and crazy. Our one friend said he was slow going up so we had him lead the way. Going up was actually pretty nice going slowly and in the dark. It was a million times better than coming down in the hot sun! Maybe getting the most difficult part of the hike while it was cool & dark out changed everything but overall the hike out was not bad. We got to see our Ranger friend again and chat for a bit while hiking out of Saddle Canyon. Got back to our vehicle around 2:30 pm and I got back to my car at Lees Ferry around 5 pm. Pretty nice for a hike-out day! Our one friend is a canyoneering/adventure guide in Mexico and has been to some very cool places in his life...he said this trip has been his absolute favorite. I love the canyon and feel at peace whenever I am in it but seeing that in someone else just made this trip all the more special. <3 |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
Isolated patches of reds.
I think we just missed the other colors since most branches up top were bare already. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
We thought the sun would be gradually blocked over a period of time, giving us some relief (like clouds covering the sun) during our hike. Nope. We noticed maybe a little change of light around 9:30 am and that's it. 
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
So we took the up slow & stopped a lot to cool down & finally made it to a little less than a mile before Lemmon Creek & found pools of water to filter. Saved by the delicious buggy water pools! I'm surprised this trail is rated 3 out of 5 difficulty. This is a tough one for sure, but the views probably distract from the difficulty as long as you're not worrying about water the whole time!
