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| Backpack | 28.50 Miles |
11,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 28.50 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 11,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I headed back to the Canyon to make another run at Apollo and Venus, with a couple of friends. We were successful in our attempts at Apollo and Venus and tagged Ochoa Point on the way back for good measure.
We started our little expedition Thursday from Lipan Point and the Tanner Trail. The first mile or so was a little sporty, I was thankful I had micro spikes, my partners lamented about not having them. The hike to the river was pretty standard and so was the crossing. We camped at the same spot we camped two weekends ago.
We left camp just before 5:30 a.m. on day two. Having done Ochoa a couple weekends before, it enabled us to have a headlamp start aided by a full moon, with no difficulties route finding in the low light. We skipped Ochoa this time on our way through and immediately headed towards Apollo. The traverse at the end of Ochoa Ridge over to the redwall break was a bit tedious, but the break was straightforward and pretty tame. From the top of the redwall we headed to the northern end of Apollo and located a few breaks in the supai to reach its summit. Some light climbing and scrambling was required. It took us 3.5 hours to reach the summit of Apollo and we got there around 9 in the morning. The summit of Apollo had a thin layer of coconino covering it with some pretty cool little sandstone formations that looked like waves in spots and other geological oddities. After signing the register and spending a few minutes to take in the views, we were on our way to Venus, which we were all happy to learn was not the towering summit to the north of Apollo (that was Jupiter) ours was the almost diminutive, hermit shale boulder pile between them. Venus is pretty close to Apollo, but the jaunt over there seemed a little tedious. However, I may have just been a little fatigued by the long morning and drop and climb between the two summits. Nevertheless, we were eventually walking the distinct ridge of Venus to its boulder pile summit. A little scrambling here and there along the way. After signing the register around 10:30 a.m., we began our long descent back to the Colorado River, to include a stop at Ochoa Point along the way for our third summit of the day. If at first you dońt succeed, come back in 12 days and try again. Apollo and Venus were my 48th and 49th Grand Canyon summits. |
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