7Days6Nights

Finding things at 7Days6Nights

2009-11-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Trip or Item	Year posted	Month posted
Arkansas - Ozark Highlands Trail	2009	July
California – Lost Coast	2008	July
California – Lost Coast – Return Trip	2009	May
Canada, Ontario – Bruce Trail	2009	June
Canyonlands, Needles District, Utah	2009	August
Georgia Loop including a bit of the Appalachian Trail	2008	June
Grand Canyon – 4 day Rim to Rim	2009	March
Grand Canyon – Clear Creek and Phantom Creek	2008	June
Grand Canyon – Hemit, Boucher	2008	June
Grand Canyon – Nakoweap Trail	2008	July
Grand Canyon – North Bass Trail and Merlin’s Abyss	2008	July
Rim to Rim to Rim - Utah Flats, Phantom Creek	2009	September
Grand Canyon – Tanner, Beamer, Escalante, New Hance	2008	June
Grand Canyon – Tanner, Escalante, Grand View	2008	July
Grand Canyon – Thunder River, Deer Creek, Kanab Creek	2008	July
New Mexico – Gila Wilderness	2009	June
Reid Lake Foot Travel Area - Michigan	2009	October

Backpacking Resources	2008	July
Our Equipment List	2008	July
“playing Trivia”	2009	June
Why we do this	2008	June
Norm’s other interests	2008	June

Reid Lake Foot Travel Area

2009-10-01T08:05:00.006-04:00

Resources – Backpacking in Michigan by Jim DuFresne University of Michigan Press
Map – http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hmnf/pages/Recreation/huronshores/hs_reid_trail_map.pdf
Web Site – http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hmnf/pages/Recreation/huronshores/hs_reid_trail_txtonly.pdf

Reid Lake Foot Travel Area includes over 9 miles of hiking trails. Almost all the trails are wide enough for side by side hiking. There is very little deadfall over which to crawl. The trails are marked as well as any I’ve ever hiked with ample blue diamonds along the trail and full trail maps at every trail intersection, complete with a nail marking the “you are here” spot. Each intersection is numbered and the sign posts have arrows directing you to the next numbers. The camping sites were nice, with fire rings, and every approved site had a toilet nearby. The RLFTA is a convenient 4 hours from the Detroit area. We took I75 north and split off to the east on US23 to Harrisville where we turned west on M72. The trailhead is clearly marked and is right off M72 about 19 miles from Harrisville. This trailhead includes a very clean outhouse. This trip was planned with a short lead time and little to no training was required. Trip was done by Norm and two sons, Paul and Marshall. Paul had done the trip before. We all had hiking boots but Paul had done it in athletic shoes in 2008. We hiked on September 25 – 27. The trees were just beginning to change colors.

Short Half – We arrived at the trail head and were walking by 3:15. Our objective was a campsite near Little Trout Lake, approximately 3.5 miles. The segment from point 1 to 8 was closed so we took the slightly longer route past points 2 and 7. Then we proceeded to points 9 and 10. This basically took us down the East side of RLFTA. The segment from 10 to 11 was closed but we walked that way anyway. We found that the dam that forms Little Trout Lake had been washed out. The nice wooden bridge was askew in the bottom of the canyon left by the washout. Based on the water marks on the trees, the lake was down about 8 feet. There was a narrow stream leaving what is left of the lake and flowing through the canyon. Previous hikers had bridged the stream with logs, so we proceeded across and on to the campsite just beyond point 11.

We arrived at the campsite at 5:15. We dipped water just at the log bridge and filtered it for dinner and breakfast. Ate freeze dried and played trivia until Norm started to get chilled and we all climbed into our sleeping bags. We had heard “normal” owl calls during dinner but after we turned in we also heard the blood curdling screech owl calls. They sound too much like a human screaming in serious pain, and make you question the wisdom of sleeping outdoors. We also thought we heard coyote yips at one point. We had no varmints invading our food even though we didn’t hang it.

Up to Reid Lake – We had oatmeal and freeze dried eggs for breakfast at about 8:30 and were walking by about 10:00. We proceeded south around to point 12 and then north to points 4 and 3 and then down towards point 6, approximately 4.5 miles. This took about 2:20 with one short break. The first mile after leaving camp was all up hill, although not very steep. This morning’s hike seemed to have more uphill than downhill. How does that work?

We set up in a nice large campsite on the south side of Reid Lake, overlooking the lake. There was another site just to the west which was occupied but we did not even hear the couple that was camping there. There are four docks on Reid Lake and one seemed to be occupied by a couple who just walked in the mile from the highway to fish for the day. We saw a few day hikers around the lake as well. After dinner Norm watched a beaver swim along the shore. We had freeze dried dinner and played trivia again. By 7:30 we started turning in. We heard the same variety of owl calls again tonight. No varmints at this campsite either.

Back Home – We arose about 8, packed and walked back to the car via points 7 and 2. The mile walk took us only about 20 minutes. We changed into clean clothes and drove into Harrisville where we had a wonderful breakfast. We were back home in time to watch the Lions or the weekly NASCAR race.

Rim to Rim to Rim - Utah Flats, Phantom Creek

2009-09-04T05:32:00.009-04:00

April 17 - 25, 1998

Note - This was our first attempt at Phantom Creek. We reached upper Phantom Creek but due to the flow rate we did not descend Phantom Creek. See Grand Canyon - Clear Creek and Phantom Creek For our descent of Phantom Creek in a subsequent trip.

Friday – Getting to the Canyon - John drove. He and Jerry had time to get coffee, sweet rolls and still be early to pick Norm up. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our 9:40 flight only to learn it was delayed for one hour. Jerry checked his backpack and his travel bag so he had no glasses or book. Things were looking pretty grim. John luckily had an extra pair of reading glasses, and Jerry bought a newspaper. The flight was uneventful and included breakfast. John rented a Ford Taurus, which gave us just enough room by using half the back seat for luggage. We bought gas at a camping store in Phoenix and water and oranges at a Safeway in Flagstaff. We bought Subway sandwiches at a gas station and ate them outside (sitting on rocks; like we needed an extra meal on the rocks). As is our custom we reached the rim just as the sun set. We checked into Mather Campground, ate dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge dining room, and Norm bought a few more GC souvenirs. We slept better than we have on other trips but had to endure the motor home generator for a while and then a car alarm. We did not awake until 6 o’clock (9 by Michigan time).

Saturday – Down to the Bottom - It was COLD. Norm was happy he had gloves and all were happy to have stocking caps. We wore all the shirts and jackets we had with us. We fired up the stove for coffee and oatmeal to be sure it worked. We sorted through our stuff and repacked. We stopped by the Yavapi Cafeteria for coffee and then went to Mather Point to drink it and look over the S. Kaibab trail. We could see the trail clearly on and beyond Cedar Ridge, but we could not identify for sure how the trail got down to cedar Ridge. Did it stay high or not? We could see up the North Kaibab trail and had a good view of Utah Flats.

When we arrived at the trail head we learned that we would not be allowed to park; in fact we weren’t even supposed to drive up there. We quickly dropped Jerry and the packs off and went to find a parking place. A kind shuttle bus driver suggested a picnic ground nearby or the scenic overlooks nearby. The picnic lot was full and the scenic overlook lots looked too vulnerable so we went back to (yes, you guessed it) Yavapi Lodge to park. The shuttle bus picked us up and we were on the trail by 9:45. We did not hustle, as we were happy to be bringing up the rear to avoid a few more people. We have no history of catching up with people so it was a pretty safe approach. It was still brisk in the shade and there was ice on the puddles. The trail is wide and well prepared (for the mules). There seem to be some special cairns for (or by) the mules. They are green and aromatic. There were not as many as on the Bright Angel trail in May of 1994.

Our first OOPE (out of pack experience) was at the rest rooms on Cedar Ridge. This was quite short as there were about 100 people and 2 dozen mules. We stopped for a longer stop in the shade below O’Neil Butte. By the time we got to the Red Wall descent, we were in the full sun and the next shade was the rest room on the Tonto platform. John and Norm were not excited about the ambience but were happy to have the shade. As we ate lunch we were visited by our first ever backcountry ranger. It was Todd Van Something, who was also the Cottonwood ranger. He checked our permit and assured us we would see him again. (On six other backpacking trips we had never had a ranger check our permit.) We saw some raggedy looking squirrels. They needed to polish their begging technique if they were going to get fat and bushy like the Bright Angel Squirrels.

The trail is only on the Tonto for about 50 yards and then descends into the Tapeats. As it crossed the Tonto trail we were happy we were going down and not "across” on the Tonto trail like the group we saw. We were surprised to meet people who were coming up as we descended this lower part of the trail so late in the day. We expected this section would have been clear of people coming up by 9 or 10. We particularly noticed Mr. Sweats who had on shorts over sweat pants and was using a very slow deliberate step even in the lowest and earliest (for him) parts of the trail. The other people we felt for were a couple. The young woman had dropped her pack to go back and help the fellow. He had shorts and was carrying too much weight on himself (not in a pack). It was not at all obvious that they would make it by dark and they had no equipment to sleep on the trail. We stopped in the Schist but did not eat.

We crossed the black bridge at 3:30. 5 hours and 45 minutes to descend the 6 miles. Norm’s toes were feeling pretty jammed into his boots. After finding a site along the BA creek Jerry cooked mashed potatoes and roast beef gravy. It was from the 1996 trip but cooked up and tasted fine. After dinner Jerry made the blackberry cobbler. It was Ok at best but at least he wouldn’t have to carry it further. Jerry picked it out for the 1997 trip and Norm carried it for 7 days. After dinner we walked to and John and Norm crossed the Silver Bridge. Jerry was not interested in walking on this bridge since you can see through the grating all the way down to the river. This completed Norm’s goal of crossing the suspension bridges at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. While we were near the river we saw a Big Orange Jeep (Big Horned Sheep) high up across the river. We also looked around Phantom Ranch. After dark we played a little Trivia, getting 6 of 6 right in the first few pages, and went to sleep under the stars. It was cold enough Norm was literally shivering, and had to mummify himself.

Sunday – Up to Cottonwood – Jerry awoke feeling poorly so he went back to sleep. John and Norm walked to the ranger station to get trip tips on the Phantom Creek route. They learned that Phantom creek required wading in waist to chest deep water to cross the pools. Harvey and George hadn’t mentioned exactly that. We started to consider the Tonto route. The ranger advised that going up Phantom creek wasn’t much fun even at low water, but in the spring would be a real drag. When they got back to the campsite they found Jerry still asleep, so they read, and enjoyed the Canyon a little longer. Jerry eventually awoke and felt a little better but still couldn’t keep much food down. As Jerry packed up, Norm read Psalm 91. Jan always writes that on the GORP bags to remind us. By about 10:15 he felt good enough to leave for Cottonwood. We saw only one party going up, and eventually saw 4 parties coming down from Ribbon Falls; a total of about 22 people. The trail is quite gradual and is pretty smooth and wide. The major excuse for having this piece of trail in such great condition is that the water line is underneath it. We stopped four times in the shade of the overhang or other rocks, had lunch. John commented that Norm always seems to find a place to sit where he can lean back. We arrived at Ribbon Falls at about 3pm. We spent quite a bit of time at the falls and took some pictures that turned out very well. It is a beautiful spot. We climbed up behind the falls and watched the water hit the big mound. We then arrived at Cottonwood Camp at about 5pm. Ranger Todd recommended Site number 4, and he was right. We moved up to number 4. It was a little further from the other occupied sites, was the right size for 2 small tents, had a nice view, and was far enough from the whine of the water system that we could not hear it. Unfortunately even site number 4 had the gnats. We finished eating just as the sun set, and played Trivia by flashlight. We again got 6 out of 6 almost right away but played on anyway. We slept in tents, because it was a little cooler at the higher elevation.

Monday – On to the North Rim - We were on the trail by 7am without packs. We made good time and stopped less frequently for shorter periods than we do with the packs. Roaring Springs is spectacular. There are actually about 5 different springs gushing out along the north wall of Roaring Springs Canyon. They all cascade down hundreds of feet. This is where the water lines to both rims originate. From Roaring Springs, North, the trail is used for Mule trips but since we were there before the North Rim opened, there were no Mule cairns to avoid. It seemed pretty wide to Norm but pretty narrow to Jerry. To control erosion and run off, there are many diversion devices, of wood or stone. The mules must be very sure footed to cross all these without stumbling. The most memorable stretch (for John and Norm) is in the Muav and Redwall. It is a trail with hundreds of feet of wall on one side and hundreds of feet of fall on the other. Jerry said he just watched the corner where the wall met the trail and the feet in front of him. Norm and John greatly enjoyed the view across the canyon. Due to the snow melt above there were about 6 little waterfalls which came down near or directly on the trail. This was another day when we got to see active waterfalls where the summer crowd would just see rock. We could see them originate hundreds of feet up and cascade down through several shelves and falls. In the morning we did not get too wet even when the water fell right on the trail, but on the way down after the sun had increased the melt rate, we got quite wet a couple of times. We were happy the air was warm. We wanted to rush through to keep from getting drenched but we had to go slowly because the trail was right on the edge of the abyss and the wet rock could have been slippery.

There are some landmarks on the map that kept us apprised of our position and progress: the bridge, the tunnel… We stopped for a longer rest just after the tunnel. We soon found our first snow on the trail. It was in intermittent stretches of 10 to 100 yards but was at least 3 feet deep. There were footprints of two other people who had packed a trail, so we did not “Post Hole” too much. The snow was continuous through the Hermit Shale, and was intermittent in the Coconino at the beginning. By the top of the Coconino it was uninterrupted and stayed so all the way to the North Rim. The ranger had said that he talked to only one person who had tried for the North Rim this year and had been turned back by deep snow. We thought perhaps we would be turned back too, or perhaps we would be the first of the season to make it? We could make out tracks from two different boot treads in the mud, and they both went in both directions. These tracks made it all the way to the rim and so we followed them. There were two snowballs at the top, perhaps made by the two hikers. It felt great to be the second party of the season to make the rim, and to be on the North Rim all alone. We joked about a ranger asking us where our car was parked and telling him it was parked on the South Rim. The only ground not covered with three feet of snow was a single lane of road. We sat in the road, ate lunch and napped with our heads on our canteen pillows. We were sweating even though there was snow on the ground but after cooling down, we started to get uncomfortable when the sun was covered by clouds.

After lunch Jerry lead the way down. The snow was warmer, slipperier, and we ended up doing some post holing. We all ran out of water so filtered some just above the tunnel where we rested again. Norm used a zip lock bag to catch the water and Jerry pumped. This water lasted us down to the residence of the pumping station engineer. He has a sign inviting hikers to get water and in the summer often has lemonade. He came out and talked to us for about 15 minutes. He has been there since 1972, raised three children there and can’t image anywhere better to live. He said the park runs a helicopter shuttle weekly to supply him and the campgrounds. That station pumps only to the North rim, so he leaves in the winter and lives near the south rim. The water is carried by gravity to Indian Gardens on the South side where there is another pumping station for the South Rim. The pumping station engineer was the only person we saw all day.

We arrived back at camp at 5:30 (14 Miles). We were enjoying the out of pack day and decided to ask to stay at Cottonwood an extra day and give up a day near Phantom Creek. We had Chicken Stew, which was the best meal of the trip. As the sun was setting we watched the parade of jets and vapor trails criss-crossing the canyon. John guessed at their destinations. We talked about alternatives for our extra layover day, and decided on visiting the Transept, which Harvey recommended. It would require a crossing of Bright Angel Creek but we had crossed creeks before. We got 6 of 6 in Trivia quickly yet again but played until 8:35 which is pretty late for us.

Tuesday – Wall Creek – Ranger Todd was had not shown up around camp, so we decided to leave him a note asking permission to stay the extra night. Only three other sites were occupied and they would probably return to Bright Angel Camp again that day. We walked up and down Bright Angle Creek to find a good crossing point to get into the Transept. The flow was stronger than we really wanted to cross so we decided to go down to Wall Creek and explore there, since it was on our (the East) side of the Bright Angel Creek.

Walking up Wall creek was like walking up Shinimo in Merlin’s Abyss. There was no trail and we crossed the creek several times and walked through brush, bushes, branches, ankle biters, and avoided cactus. We stopped for snacks in several pretty places. Jerry left his T-shirt in the first one under some cottonwood trees, since the day was warming up. We were sure to see it on the way back, and we had to come back that way. We next found a beautiful 12 foot waterfall, then a quartzite alcove half bowl, then some huge cottonwood fallen trees which served as nice seats for serious lunch. Norm had smoked trout that was heavenly after canned chicken. On the way down to the mouth of Wall creek we walked back up a water shed up to a steep seep which was shaded and cool. As usual it did not seem possible to find our exact route again. Jerry lead and by hugging the north side of the water shed we made great time and found ourselves back at the North Kiabab trail. But the new efficient trail did not take us by Jerry’s shirt so back up we went to find it. Since we were not sight seeing, it did not take too long and we used the north side route to finish up quickly. It was still a mile or more back to camp and we were out of water since we had not brought the filter.

When we arrived back at Cottonwood camp we were plenty thirsty and tired. Our site was not shaded so we flopped down in one of the group sites near the water spicket. We chatted with a fellow from Wisconsin who was with his wife and son on their third or fourth trip; always down Bright Angel. He had packed in the Smokies in spring and told of sharing shelters packed shoulder to shoulder with “through” Appalachian Trail hikers. The shade was great and we were ready for a nap, but the flies made it impossible. Norm went to sleep in his hot but fly free tent, and then went down to cool off in the creek. John and Jerry joined him. We had Richmoor Lasagna. It was OK. We studied the maps and talked quite a bit about the Phantom Creek route, and although the enthusiasm was limited we decided to do it as planned, that is go up Phantom Creek. Played trivia by flashlight again but never got 6 of 6 correct. It was about here that Jane Fonda seemed like the correct answer to most movie-related questions. Jane Fonda was never correct.

Wednesday – Phantom Creek? No, Utah Flats – We hit the trail about 7:15 which was pretty early for us on this trip. We quickly noticed the difference of being back in packs again. Being down four day’s food didn’t seem to make much difference. Since we knew we would be near the creek, we did not even have full loads of water. It could have been (and soon would be) worse. When we got to Wall Creek we noticed the flow was much heavier than it had been when we came up to Cottonwood. It was so strong that the carefully selected and placed stepping stones were totally covered with water which was so clouded with sediment that we could not find the stones. Norm just waded across, and Jerry and John followed suit. We knew we would get our feet wet down at Phantom anyway. It was about there that we started to see how much higher Bright Angel Creek was, and how clouded it had become. When we got to the Ribbon Falls bridge, Norm stopped to talk about the plan. He suggested that we had some new valuable information: the warm temperatures had just about doubled the flow rate in the creeks we had come to know a little, and so the flow in Phantom would probably be double too. John quickly got consensus that we did not want to attempt the stock trail over the Tonto route to Phantom, and so we decided to go down to Bright Angel Camp, rest until near sunset and then climb up to Utah Flats. We took a long break at the mouth of Phantom Creek but no one seemed tempted to cross and hike up. The rangers had said that hiking up was a drag in low water. This would be much worse. We arrived at Phantom Ranch at about 11:30. Norm offered to buy Cokes. Jerry thought Phantom was exclusively for the Mule riders but Norm convinced him we were welcome. Norm bought Iced Teas and we browsed through old Grand Canyon books from their reading collection. When we couldn’t hang around there any longer we checked with the ranger to see if there was an opening at the camp ground. There was not but ranger Shore was in, and he gave us some advice about getting up to Utah flats and down to Phantom Creek. He said “You will wonder why you are staying high so long when you can see Phantom Creek for so long.” We found shady spots and enjoyed napping or soaking our feet in the creek.

By about 3:30 it was getting shady on the hillside even though it was 100 degrees in the sun. We started up, with full loads of water. The trail was steep but it was loose. We followed the trail up to the rounded rock Shore had pointed out. We found the trail up to the cliff that most people climb and also found the trail around to the right and up which Shore had told us about. Norm was exhilarated by the climb and the route finding through Piano Alley. There were hundreds of sandstone pianos to climb over, around, and through. After about an hour and a half we were up in the opening to Utah Flats. The Supergroup Dox Sandstone is smoothed into rounded but huge blobs that are stacked up like steps. They are so big and smooth that you can not climb up in most places. We did find a way up and onto a more soft and level shaley spot where we set up camp. There was one rock for the stove and about 25 feet away there were some rocks to sit on (the dining room). As we were unpacking our stuff the sun was over a hill, so we were in shade but the pinnacles to the east were afire with the sunset. Norm noted how blessed we were to be in such a place at such a time. Someone broke out more Pringles. There was no shelter there but there was also no wind and it was perfectly clear. Jerry cooked Mountain House Chicken a la King and corn. It was OK. Norm could not finish his and had to carry out the rest. Too many Pringles spoiled his dinner? (Six days is about when Norm gets tired of freeze dried every year.) We slept under the stars and watched for satellites and planes. There were many.

Thursday – Phantom Creek – We got going at about 8; not too far to go, so no big hurry. George Steck’s book says he could not find a trail across the flats, and neither could we. We had never seen such a dense patch of cactus as on the plateau between the exposed sandstone sections. If yesterday was Piano alley, this was cactus alley. We stayed to the right of the blister of sandstone on the slope and as we crested the slope we could see trail below us and off to the left. It came out of the first water shed we would have to contour into. Once we picked up the trail it was pretty easy to follow, although there are precious few cairns. It stayed at about the same level for quite a while. Ranger Shore said we would wonder why we were staying high so long. We did. At about 9:30, on the north side of the water shed, Jerry (as usual) found shade in the desert, in a shale alcove. It was welcome. Almost immediately after the alcove we found ourselves on a loose, steep descent to the creek.

As soon as we got to the creek we got a bucket of water and set it aside to settle. Norm was out of water and John and Jerry were low. Jerry found a nice shaded spot under a rock overhang right next to the creek. We lounged a little. We had read about the waterfall, and John had struggled to figure out where it would be on the map, so we wanted to see it. We knew from Ranger Shore it must be just down the creek from our position. We made our way down stream but got cliffed out and had to cross and recross. We found one of the sheltered camp spots on the north side of the creek. The creek was running so high we could not get to the good vantage point to see the falls from above so gave up and went back to the shady spot for lunch. We filtered some water but Jerry had to clean the silt our several times for just a canteen and a bottle. We hoped that above the confluence of Phantom and Haunted, one of them would be cleaner and so we headed upstream to find a campsite and cleaner water.

Soon we saw signs of the other party whose permit allowed them to be in the Phantom Creek use area. There was one fellow at the campsite and he directed us to some pools they had been using to filter water. They were next to the creek but were seep pools and so were not as silty. We got all the canteens and some bottles filled and then the creek level rose a few inches and flooded the pools with silty water. Norm went up stream while Jerry and John worked on the water. He found a nice sheltered campsite and lead John and Jerry to it. We explored little and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Jerry found a clear pool next to the creek for filtering water. As we relaxed the rest of the other party came by. They had been up to the source for Phantom Creek and told about a cairned trail up through the Redwall to Diva Temple. They had not taken it and seemed about as likely to as we would be (very unlikely). The wind was quite gusty that afternoon and evening. It would seem to build up steam and then pour into our “cave”. Jerry thought it was all blowing right down his sleeping bag. Norm had to get the sand out of his hair and ears and teeth in the morning. We played Trivia down by the creek and Jerry shared his Italian Salty Snacks. We played until after dark but did not get 6 of 6 this night.

Friday – Phantom Creek & Back up to Utah Flats – We had the morning to explore and sight see. We headed up the trail, up Phantom Creek. Haunted Creek comes in from the North, and above the confluence Phantom was cleaner. Jerry and John bathed and we all relaxed at a wide spot in the creek. When we got hungry for lunch we headed back to camp, ate by the creek, took a nap, and filled up all our canteens and bottles to prepare for the night’s dry camp on the Flats. We did not want to be up on the flats in the afternoon sun so we timed our departure to get us up there about the time the sun went behind the hills. Even though the packs had only 2 days food, they still felt heavy with all the necessary water. It was gusty again but as we went through the other party’s campsite it was like a wind tunnel. They were in a very narrow spot with rock walls on both sides, so it was probably worst there. They said we would be blown off the Flats. The climb up to the Tonto was not as bad as the descent. The footing is better going up than coming down. You don’t have gravity fighting you for control. Norm was relieved when the steep climb was over. We were surprised at how short the ascent seemed compared to our memory of the descent. It took us back to the shale alcove and we took another break there. The rest was basically contouring through the watersheds and it was basically up and down in small increments. We lost the trail at about the same spot we had found it. Jerry led us back to the campsite and although we stayed a little higher, it was about the same route we had taken the day before. John tried to tell us about a ledge we had to descend but Jerry and Norm were sure there was no such ledge. John said “OK, fine, see you in camp”, and then Jerry and Norm found the ledge. John always has the best trail memory. There is little point in arguing with him. We arrived in camp at about 5, and made good time with few stops. It was still a little windy but as the evening came on the wind died down. We had Chicken & Noodles which was better than the Chicken a la King. Jerry started falling asleep during Trivia so we had to wake him up to get his expertise. Tomorrow would be a tough day so we agreed that anytime after 5am, whoever woke up first should wake the others. We slept under the stars again, although it was more overcast.

Saturday – Bright Angel Camp and Back to the South Rim – Jerry was first to wake and got us up. We were walking across Utah Flats by 6. John’s great trail memory got us down to Piano Alley where we picked up the trail. It was looser going down than it had been coming up so it took great care. Norm ripped another big hole (2 actually) into another pair of old pants. We arrived at Bright Angel Camp by 7:40. We dumped our stuff in a campsite next to the wash room, changed into shorts, and used the facilities to clean up. Norm rinsed out his short sleeved shirt and then put it on wet. Before ascending the South Kaibab trail we stopped at Phantom Ranch for a second cup of coffee. A little civilization is not all bad. John let Ranger Shore know we were safe and sound and that neither Phantom Creek party had gone up or down the creek. We headed up the trail at 9, which made us about the last party to start up. The only others were hiking up from a boat party. One of the women had a huge pack which even had a life jacket strapped to the side. The overcast from the night before stuck around so it was cooler than it had been and the sun was not as oppressive. There was even a breeze. We had planned our water to have the canteens last to the Tonto plateau, the first bottle to the top of the Redwall, and the last bottle to get us to the rim. On the Tonto, we topped off our canteens and dumped out the remainder of the first bottle. We met dozens of people coming down, few with full packs. The real exceptions were three women older than we who had full packs and all three had a ski pole in each hand. John and Norm had joked about the ski pole hikers, but for these ladies we were all admiration! Several people asked if we were coming all the way up from Bright Angel. A few times we tried to explain that we started from Utah flats or at the Tonto elevation on the North side. No one understood, so we gave up and just said yes. We did get across to a few that we had been down for a week, not just overnight. A few even understood we had been all the way to the North Rim.

We did not rush the pace and we all felt the exertion but we stopped infrequently and for pretty short periods, so we made pretty good time. We had lunch after climbing up the Muav and Redwall switchbacks, on the narrow saddle that leads to the Supai. The overcast reduced the need for shade so we just sat out next to the trail. All Jerry had left to eat was some tuna. Norm had chicken but was so tired of it that he swapped with Jerry for some beef jerky. We topped off the canteens again and dumped out more of the excess. The next OOPE was at Cedar Ridge. Jerry had not liked being there among all the people on the way down, but Norm refused to go any further without a rest. At that time of day all the mules were gone and the people were pretty dispersed. Norm got strained stares from a young girl who was on a day hike with her family. He guessed 8 days below the rim must make you look pretty interesting; 8 days of beard, little washing, plenty of scrapes and scratches and clothes which have been soaked through a couple of times. (She really would have loved the pants he split!) During the final climb through the Coconino a couple observed our big packs and asked John if he would recommend it. They chuckled when he said, Yes!

We rimmed out at 2:40 which meant we had climbed out in about the same time it took us to descend. Not bad for 50 year old gents. The shuttle bus was idling so we hustled to get on. It was already full and we had to stand WITH OUR PACKS ON. No one offered a seat. Another young woman stared to ask Norm a question but when she got a good look, she stopped short and said “Never Mind”. Boy, how bad could he have looked? He’d even changed his shirt by this time. An adult fellow did engage John in a chat about our adventure.

We cleaned up at the Mather Campground Showers, ate dinner at the Sizzler in Flagstaff, and arrived in Phoenix at about 9PM.

Canyonlands, Needles District, Utah

2009-08-24T11:10:00.001-04:00

Planned for spring 2010

Resources

Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau by Michael R. Kelsey, Kelsey Publishing Provo UT
Utah’s Incredible Backcountry Trails by David Day, Rincon Publishing Orem UT
Canyonlands National Park Favorite Jeep Roads & Hiking Trails by David Day, Rincon Publishing Orem UT
Needles District Trails Illustrated Map, National Geographic
NPS Website - http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm
NPS Map - http://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/upload/tripmap.pdf

Following is a plan for our spring trip in 2010. If anyone has experience in this area and would like to make suggestions we would welcome them.

This will be broken into two separate loop hikes. We will move the car in between. The first part includes a loop of the Chesler Park area and then a larger loop down to the Colorado River, up the river to the Confluence with the Green, and then back to the car. Part 1 looks like four days for us. The second portion will be in upper Salt Creek. The car will be relocated to the Cathedral Butte area. We’ll hike north in the West Fork of Salt Creek, and back to the car in the main fork. Part 2 looks like 3 days. This plan omits hiking into the Big Springs, Lost Canyon and Squaw Canyon. We only have so many days.

Day 1

Drive the Car to Elephant Hill. Hike 2 miles to campsite EC1. Bring 1 extra gallon of water per person. Drop the packs. Day hike without packs down to Chesler Park via Chesler Park Loop Trail, jeep trails, and the Joint Trail. Depending on our feelings at this point, we could go down to see Druid Arch or not. Then back to EC1. Distance without packs: 7.5 to 11.1 Miles.

Day 2

Using that extra gallon of water we carried on day one, hike down to the Colorado River via Lower Red Lake Canyon Trail. Distance: 8.3 Miles.

Day 3

Hike down river without packs as desired. With packs, hike up the Colorado to the Confluence with the Green. Distance: at least 4 miles.

Day 4

Hike back to the car at Elephant Hill. Distance: 7.5 Miles. Shower. Camp at Squaw Flat.

Day 5

Drive the car to Cathedral Butte. Hike down into Salt Creek. Before reaching Kirk’s cabin, cross over to the West Fork. Hike North in the West Fork. Camp in the West Fork, near the confluence with the main fork. Get water from main fork if necessary. Distance: 8-10 Miles.

Day 6

Leave packs at junction with main fork of Salt Creek. Day hike up to Angel Arch. Come back. Pick up packs and hike down to campsite SC3. Distance: 9-11 Miles, 5 without packs.

Day 7

Hike back to the car in the main fork of Salk Creek. Distance 9 Miles. Drive back to Salt Lake City.

Ozark Highlands Trail

2009-07-11T14:58:00.010-04:00

NW Arkansas in the Ozark National Forest

Sections 7 & 8 plus the Buffalo River Trail

Resources – Ozark Highlands Trail Guide by Tim Ernst, Cloudland.net publishers

This is perhaps the best trail guide we have ever used. The maps were so complete that we did not buy a separate map. This is the only trip for which this is true. The map has distances between significant land marks.

Web - http://www.hikearkansas.com/oht_map.html

We flew into Springfield MO airport and drove south past Branson MO and through Harrison AR.

Shuttle was prearranged with

Buffalo River Outfitters.

Route 1, Box 56

St. Joe, Arkansas 72675

Phone:870-439-2244, 1-800-582-2244

http://www.buffaloriveroutfitters.com/

Shuttle And Half Day Hike – 31 March 2006 – Breakfast at the stone bakery in Harrison. Wonderful cinnamon/pecan rolls with eggs. (Colton’s - Good steak house last night with peanut shells on the floor, etc.) Arrived at Buffalo River Outfitters about 8:45. Our shuttle driver was late so we played fetch with the dog. They had us put the car inside a fence to be safe. The shuttle driver was born and raised in the area. Her family owned property “down in that holler”. She dropped us off at Fairview Campground on Highway 7.

We were walking by noon. It rained lightly. We found the actual OHT after a few minutes of reviewing the book/map. This is a walk in the woods. We stopped on a fallen log for lunch and found our first ticks. Took a break next to a stream. Found more ticks. We saw a snake, a few squirrels but few birds today. We had done 5.5 miles by 4:30. We first stopped next to a small creek but Jerry walked on and found a nicer spot near a larger stream in Greenhaw Hollow.

We heard a 2 cycle motor vehicle, dogs and a shot was fired. Don’t know more than that but that was enough to fuel a few imagined scenarios. We ate a very good teriyaki steak with rice dinner. Jerry made a fire and we solved three 5 Minute Mysteries and answered 50 trivia questions. We wanted to sleep under the stars but we could feel the dew forming. We put our sleeping bags under or in plastic. Condensation formed and we had damp sleeping bags by morning.

To Falling Water Creek – 1 April 2006 – Cool when we awoke so not in much of a hurry to get going. Walking by 8:40. Today we saw wild turkey, squirrels and a family in a golf cart with three dogs. We crossed several two tracks and three roads. The afternoon was more rugged, less traveled and less well marked. The hike up from Richland Creek is steep and long. We could have trained a bit harder to get ready. We explored around the old CCC camp. There are still remains of some buildings. We saw a three foot black snake which got our attention. We then heard a strange squeak and followed it to find a frog being eaten by another snake. Survival of the fittest… The book uses the abbreviation SSS meaning Special Scenic Spot. We had our first SSS at the end of the day, a deep ravine with huge boulders. It was interesting to cross.

We ended at a river near a bridge where roads 1219 and 1205 cross Falling Water Creek. We found a nice level rock shelf jutting into the river. We made 9 miles today. Ate stroganoff for dinner but we could have eaten a bit more tonight. It rained twice during the night. Jerry joined Norm in the tent during the first rain. When it stopped he went back out. When it started again, he just put his sleeping bag and himself into a construction sized plastic bag. He had his rain jacket on already. The plastic bag on his pack blew off, so much of his stuff was damp. Having the tent on the rock turned out to be a poor idea since the water pooled around and under the tent.

Richland Creek Campground – 2 April 2006 - The sky cleared about 11am. The trail included several SSS. It was cloudy and misty so we didn’t get any good pictures. We reached the National Forest Campground by noon.

It had tables, a water pump and an outhouse. We planned to use the afternoon to visit the Twin Falls and/or Richland Falls. There is no trail and so we were constantly looking for the easiest walking. We crossed the creek one too many times and ended up stranded on the wrong side (the east side). We walked back to camp and cleaned up and napped. There was no other party within ear shot but we had seen a car-camping party in another part of the campground during our walk. We were visited by a skunk twice during the night. Norm shined it away with his flashlight. Slept under the stars. Got down to 50 degrees. It seemed colder.

Beyond Stack Rock Trailhead – 3 April 2006 – On the trail by 8:00. Cooler walking compared to yesterday. Got confused once by missing a turn off a jeep road. Recovered in about 10 minutes with only 100 yards of back tracking. This is the prettiest section so far. More boulders and little water falls. Took a climb up through the large boulders surrounding a stream. This morning we met Ed and his friend. They were doing trail maintenance. Ed had a chain saw over his shoulder looking for dead fall across the trail and his friend was nailing up metal “blazes”. Ed informed us we were entering the section where the “problem” bears are released. Great. Just what we wanted to hear. Ed’s friend said he had never seen an Arkansas bear that did anything but run away. That was more in line with what we wanted to hear.

We had been expecting dogwoods in bloom. Saw our first today. Also saw thousands of trillium just about to open up. Saw lots of May Apples. We got confused once in the afternoon. On a jeep road we got to a place where the road goes left and right. Fortunately we guessed which way to go correctly and double luckily the trail crossed our road. I believe we should have left the road onto a trail sooner. Originally we intended to stop at Stack Rock but there is no water, so we went on about a mile and found the best spot of the trip. Water down the hill to the right and the foundation and chimney to an old cabin to the left. We were done for the day at about 4:30. We could see smoke rising through the trees in the direction we would be going the next day. Not what we wanted to see. We had beef stew for dinner. It was pretty good. We solved all three of the mysteries we tried. It got down to about 40 degrees. Jerry slept out by the fire.

To the Buffalo River – 4 April 2006 – Cold. On the trail by 8:40. Unremarkable morning. Saw deer after lunch. We took a break by a creek. It was green on one side and burned on the other side. Our trail went right through the burned part. We proceeded with caution and wondered if we would be turned back at some point. We saw some smoldering logs so deduced the fire had been there within a day or two. A single tree was still burning and fell after we passed it. It got smoky and the smoke got thicker and thicker. Eventually we could see the edge of the burn up ahead. Fortunately, the fire was really only burning the dead leaves and so we just crossed the line of small flames and proceeded up the trail. The trail lead away from the active burn but we saw burned patches throughout the rest of the day.

We reached the last source of water for this stretch of trail much too early to stop so we decided to press on to the Buffalo River. This required five more miles of walking. It was on a jeep road, so the walking was relatively easy and level. Portions were even shady. There was a huge pasture on one side. It was a pretty pleasant walk.We made decent time but Norm ran out of water. The final event of the day was to cross Richland Creek. We reached it where it intersects with the Buffalo River, so the creek was backed up and looked deep. Perhaps we could have walked upstream a half mile but it would have been bushwhacking so we just walked straight across. Norm took a trial walk. It was about chest deep but the bottom was reasonably firm and smooth. There was little current at that point. We just carried our packs above our heads and walked across. The water temperature was refreshing but not too cold. We definitely wanted to do this in the heat of the day rather than tomorrow morning, so we camped on the far side. The shore was very soft dirt but not quite mud. It wasn’t the greatest site but it was OK. Shaved and cleaned up. Spaghetti for dinner. The Mystery stumped us tonight.

Buffalo River Trail – 5 April 2006 – When we crossed Richland Creek yesterday, we technically left the Ozark Highlands Trail. Continuing on the OHT would require crossing the Buffalo River somehow which would definitely require a boat. The Buffalo River Trail took us directly back towards our car at the canoe livery.

We heard thunder soon after we awoke. We hustled to get all our stuff packed so it would stay dry. The rain started before Norm could get his long johns off. Fortunately, at least, he had slept in his rain pants. We put our slickers on and covered our packs with plastic bags and ate breakfast standing in the rain. The rain stopped for about 20 minutes, just long enough to take a nature call and then we headed up the trail. I do mean up. The trail immediately heads up the side of the bluff on some wooden steps and hugs the side of the bluff for miles. It started raining again. We stopped only briefly and we didn’t even snack or take pictures. When it’s raining, the only thing left to do is just walk. There were some nice views back down to the Buffalo River. We could see large parties of canoers who were camped on the far side of the river. It rained until about noon. Some of the trail is quite beat up by horse traffic and there is quite a bit of hiking on normal roads. There is some color coding on these trail markings. We followed yellow or if both marks were in evidence we followed white. We referenced the book frequently. At one point the book and the marks clearly disagreed. We followed the marks. They lead to a small cemetery. It had stopped raining at that point, so we took our packs off and hung them on the cemetery fence and had lunch. Everything was wet so we didn’t even sit down. After lunch we found out that following the marks had given us a bit of a shortcut and then we were back in agreement with the book again. Rained again in the afternoon for about an hour. We had expected to find water in a creek at about 6 miles but that creek was dry. The next creek bed had small pools of rain water. We anticipated a dry camp so we filled all of our bottles. It stopped raining at about 3:30 and since we had not taken many breaks, we had enough miles in, but we just couldn’t find a decent camping spot. At 11+ miles we found a marginal flat spot off a side road. We were just north of Calf Creek. There was a pond nearby but the water didn’t look clean enough for us to wash up. The sun came out so we hung everything out to dry.

After dinner we tried the 5 Minute Mysteries again. First one stumped us but we got the second one. Norm got so cold he just wanted to get into his sleeping bag. Strangely, it seemed to get warmed through the night and we both took off layers of clothes. We heard owls and coyotes.

Back to the Car – 6 April 2006 – Due to the long day yesterday, we were not very far from the car. We were awakened by thunder. Again we hustled to get all of our stuff packed to keep it dry. This time it did not rain. The trail markers took us into some big hay fields. Then there was a fork in the trail and no marker. We backtracked but couldn’t find a marker right away. When we did find one it took us back to the road we had been on yesterday. We never figured out why any markers took us into the hay fields. After following the road for just a little ways we found the trail into Tyler Bend Recreation Area. There is a nice sign at that point. We were very early so we took some trails in the Recreation Area and visited the visitor center. At an overlook we could clearly see down into the hay fields. We laughed the the locals had put the confusing markings on the trails just so they could watch hapless out-of-state hikers wander around in those hay fields. Even though the road would have been shorter we took the trails all the way to the bridge and then walked up the highway the 1.2 miles of hill to the outfitter and our car.

Under the category of “nothing is ever easy” we found a sign on the door. “Went to St. Joe” with a phone number. No one was there and our car was locked inside the fence. We had no cell phone so Jerry walked back down the hill a hundred yards to another outfitter/store and called the number from the sign. No answer. The fellow at the store figured out what Jerry was trying to do, knew where our guy was and suggested a different phone number. Jerry got through on this number and our guy was back by the time Jerry walked back. We had lunch at Colton’s in Harrison, and got a room at Big Cedar Lodge (a Bass Pro Shop fishing theme park), about the only place to lodge between Harriosn AR and Branson, MO.

What is "Playing Trivia?"

2009-06-23T14:26:00.003-04:00

Most of these trip logs mention "playing Trivia". Perhaps some explanation is in order. We have two books filled with questions and answers from a wide range of fields. We have torn these books into smaller sections. We take one section of each book on each trip. After dinner and before go to sleep we frequently attempt to answer some of these questions. We ration the questions so we have enough to last the whole trip. We mark the year we use each section so we don't use the same section two years in a row. Even though we have used some sections two or even three times, I don't believe we get better at the answers.

The original book required us to completely supply the answers from memory. It was published in 1991. We have to be careful now. There are cases in which the best answer today was not the best answer in 1991. Originally, we allowed ourselves to go to sleep only after we had gotten 6 out of 6 correct. We have compromised that rule over the years.

Questions

Answers on the back of each question page.

The second book we bought has multiple choice questions.

Questions

Answers on the right margin of a following page.

Gila Wilderness

2009-06-23T13:52:00.000-04:00

Southwest New Mexico
May 15 – 20, 2005
Norm and Jerry

Resources
Visitors Travel Guide & Map – Gila Wilderness – Gila National Forest – Prepared by United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southwestern Region – Includes Average Temperatures and Precipitation but by far the most valuable aspect is the excellent map.
The Gila Wilderness a Hiking Guide by John A. Murray, University of New Mexico Press

The The Gila Wilderness a Hiking Guide describes several named trails well, but I found it impossible to put together a loop until I obtained the Visitors Travel Guide & Map. The map makes it easy to see all the potential loops, variations and options. The map includes trail numbers on all trails. The narrative below will note these trail numbers although the trail numbers are not noted on any signage along the trails. Rather the signage refers to land marks. The signage was helpful and very adequate. This trip is a loop that starts and ends near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. It starts out south of the West Fork of the Gila, and runs west roughly parallel to the river. At about the midpoint, we crossed the West Fork and headed back East staying well north of the river, and finally again crossing the West Fork at the very end of the trip. There are endless options for loops in this region.

May 13, Friday Getting to New Mexico – We had a long delay in the plane. Other planes were taking off and then, when there was only one plane ahead of us in line, a violent storm with plenty of lightning blew in. We had to wait another 25 minutes. We arrived in Denver 5 minutes after our connector to Albuquerque left. All hope was lost. But wait! United had already booked us onto a Frontier flight! Wow. We arrived in Albuquerque at 10:30 (12:30 our time). The packs didn’t make the plane though. The Frontier luggage office was closed but wait, a perky Frontier girl helped us contact United and then she found the printout that indicated United would fly the packs down tomorrow on the first flight. Our reserved motel room was only 30 minutes down the freeway, so we just rented our car and went to the motel. The motel clerk was shaken up due to a fight that just happened in the motel lobby. She put us in a room with a single King bed, but wait, she moved us to a room with two doubles. We crashed.

Saturday Driving to Gila Wilderness – We had breakfast at about 8:00. Barb served us and everyone else and seemed to have a conversation going with each table. We got our LP gas and more trail snacks at Wal-Mart. The packs arrived on the carousel just as we arrived to pick them up. We notified Frontier and drove south. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. As soon as we left the freeway, the road began to wind. Jerry drove pretty slowly for Jerry so Norm didn’t get too car sick. We arrived at the visitor center at 4PM. They closed at 4:30. Ranger Dave helped us make our final route selection. He has a huge USGS map on the wall. Dave thought a 50 mile hike was pretty ambitious (for us). Norm called the details home to Bonnie so someone would know where we might be.

We found our trail head and then found a camping site with at table. The noodles turned out to be terrible but al least we didn’t have to carry them. We read and tried to solve 5-6 5 Minute Mysteries. We played a few pages of Trivia. We got all 6 correct once and we stopped. Went to bed about 9:30.

Sunday - Out Little Creek – It was about 40 degrees when we got up at 6:10 AM. We parked the car near the trail head (Trail 160) at Woody’s Corral. We took some trail head pictures and were walking by 7:45. Up. Up. Nice Vistas as we climbed. We took a break in the Ponderosas on top of the mesa. We saw a party of three and changed our route slightly to avoid hiking immediately behind them. This was probably not necessary. We seldom keep pace with another party. We saw another party of three breaking camp. We turned West on Trail 162 and took an unnumbered connector trail South to Trail 161 where we turned West again. When we reached this junction, at Little Creek, the trail forked and there was no sign. Both options seemed equally used. The map didn’t settle the decision either. We went left which was also lower, near the creek. The trail got quite sketchy because the creek had eroded some banks away taking the trail with it. We walked in the creek and bushwhacked through the woods. We found a nice sandy and shady spot for lunch. Norm took a nap and Jerry bushwhacked around until he found the trail again. We did not fill up with water because the map indicated we would soon reach a spring. We never found the spring. The trail got so sketchy, Norm was sure we were not on the trail. He got his Garmin Forerunner runner’s GPS out. The reading indicated we were about where we wanted to be and we soon reached a marked intersection which confirmed our location. Our only concern now was water. We were concerned that the next spring might be impossible to find like the last one, but wait, there is water in the creek again. Even though we expected the creek to keep running all the way to our camp site, we tanked up as soon as we saw water again. We were about where we thought we’d stop for the night at about 3PM, so we kept going, even with more frequent rests. We found an excellent camp site at 4:30. We shaved and had beef stew for dinner. Jerry built a fire. We hung the food. We set up the tent but slept outside under the stars.

Monday - Granite Peak Side Trip - We slept in and didn’t get started until 9:05, one of our latest starts in 14 years. We walked about a mile to the cutoff toward Granite Peak (Trail 155 Southeast & then Trail 150 up the peak) where we dropped our packs, taking only water, lunch and a few snacks. Ranger Dave said the peak is not actually granite but the view is worth the walk. The spur trail is 100% up. We made good time with 1.5 hours for 3 uphill miles. Some of the trail is sketchy due to erosion. Norm asked if this trip and the California trip were spoiling us with good trails. The worst parts of these trails became irritating but the bad sections are about equal to typical trails in the Grand Canyon. Granite Peak is over 8,700 feet above sea level and Little Creek is about 7,000 feet so the hike gains 1,700 feet. There are some trees at the top so the view is interrupted but nice. We had lunch on top. It seemed like there were billions of lady bugs on top but we didn’t see any others anywhere else on the trip. Interesting. We got back down to the packs in 1:15 hours. Napping was impossible due to the flies. We were walking (West on Trail 155) again by 3:45, intending to stop at about 5PM. At 4:45 the trail got very narrow and hugged the side of the mountain for about an hour and 45 minutes. No place to camp along there. A strap on Norm’s pack let loose but Jerry quickly found a way to just tie one end on so it did not really impact the hike very much. We got up onto a broad saddle which was sheltered by trees. According to the map we were at about 8,000 feet. We couldn’t get the rope over the limb to hang the food. It took about 15 tries. We slept in the tent. Norm wore just about everything he brought to start with. The tent was pretty warm so he stripped off some of the clothes as the night went on.

Tuesday - To White Creek Flat – Woke at 6:15 and were walking by 7:45 – Going downhill first is very nice. We got water from McKenna Spring which was running strong and clear. We followed the creek to where it comes out of the hillside. There is a large, deep hole with a nice gravel bottom. No bubbling though. We also followed it downstream until it disappeared again into a gravel stream bed. This is a beautiful spot. From the spring the trail goes up to McKenna Park then mostly flat for a few miles. It’s about 7,000 feet high with plenty of grass. This could have been a great “high summer pasture” in the old days. The trail got sketchy twice. We really lost it at a turn and once in a wash. We had lunch at another spring near Raw Meat Creek where we left Trail 155 and went West on Trail 153 and then North on Trail 302. On the map this leg looked pretty easy with gradual ups and downs and then camp in another park. It started out easy but then went down into a deep ravine. The trail on the other side seemed to just hang on the side of the mountain. Again the GPS confirmed we were where we intended to be, so we continued. When we reached the area we intended to camp, we found it had been burned by a forest fire, so we had to keep going. Norm fell down today. He just lost his balance and fell on a burned log and cut his knee. Neosporin can help anything heal. We camped just beyond the burn and just before the trail got narrow and headed down into another ravine. Not too cold. Norm slept in the tent. Jerry slept under the stars.

Wednesday - To Lilley Park Spring – Up at 6:30. Part of the stove got caught in the gas bottle when Jerry tried to take it apart and pack it. All the gas had to escape from the bottle before he could get the piece out. The gas bottle got very cold as the gas escaped so quickly. When the gas bottle was empty Jerry managed to wiggle the piece loose. Now we were potentially going to be short on LP Gas. We are pretty dependant on hot water for oat meal and freeze dried food.

We forked off onto Trail 152 and went down to White Creek. It was running quite strongly and there were no rocks on which to step across. We each found a stick to steady ourselves and then we changed from boots into rubber sandals. Being there at the water, we took the opportunity to shave and clean up. Meanwhile two deer came by for a drink of water. After the creek crossing we soon took Trail 151 going East down to the West Fork of the Gila. The trail is wide but hangs on the side of a wash. There is no signage indicating that the trail is crossing the Gila and we had to bushwhack around a little to find Trail 30 North to Lilley Park. We didn’t want to mistakenly end up on the West Fork Trail with all the required river crossings which are a bother or mean wet feet. Crossing the West Fork of the Gila was not much different from crossing White Creek as far as flow at this point. We had lunch at the crossing at about 11:15. We took on some water from the Gila.

Trail 30 gains noticeable altitude quickly as it leaves the West Fork. Norm claimed to be the Energizer Bunny. Jerry said he could do all things through Christ who strengthens him. He agreed he needed some strength on that climb. We stopped in a nice level shady spot near the top at about 7,800 feet where we enjoyed nice views. It was up only a little more and then level for a couple of miles. We found the sign for the trail we would take tomorrow (Trail 164) but we kept going on Trail 30 to Lilley Spring.

The spring is just two little trickles but they are steady. There are some pools near the actual spring. Norm did laundry and cleaned up again. Jerry filled water bottles. Norm tried to use the map to estimate the GPS locations for the water tanks (ponds) we would depend on for the final days. They are the only water available since the trail stays at this high elevation. Jerry successfully attached the flaky stove to the second (and final) LP gas bottle. He planned to just leave the stove attached to the gas bottle. Jerry made another fire.

Thursday - To Grave Canyon – Woke at 6AM. Stove worked very slowly. We were all packed before the water finally boiled. In about 15 minutes, going south on Trail 30, we reached Trail 164 where we headed East. There was an initial climb but the trail was basically level for several miles. There was intermittent shade in the Ponderosa pines. We saw 6 fellows who had 2 dogs. The dogs had packs too. The fellows all had new, modern space age equipment. We made excellent time through lunch. We thought there would be a great view of Hell’s Hole but it didn’t turn out that way. We saw two other fellows twice. They had a GPS but their map seemed to be lacking. We saw them twice because they had to backtrack.

Our midday water source was the big tank (pond) at Woodland Park. We left our packs and headed up Trail 12. The trail is sketchy but we found the tank. To be sure we would have enough water to get to the car on Friday; we filled every bottle we had which was more water than we had carried to that point on the trip. We backtracked to Trail 164. The sun was directly overhead and we walked into a patch of low scrubby Pinion Pines which gave no shade while we were walking. It was about 95 degrees. We met a man and woman riding horses and pulling a pack horse. We walked until we couldn’t walk, and then rested until we couldn’t rest (due to the flies). Repeat for 2-3 hours. Even though we had enough water, we were looking for the other tank on the map. It seemed to be about half way to the car from Lilley Spring so it was a good objective for the day. We found it approximately where Norm had calculated it would be in GPS terms. It’s off the trail and down a hill to the left. We didn’t bother to top off the bottles.

We walked another 30 minutes and back into the nice shady Ponderosa Pines at Grave Canyon. We couldn’t wait to stop. This day had been like the Tonto Trail in the Grand Canyon, flat, exposed to the sun and generally debilitating. Norm put the tent up without the fly. An hour with no flies (the 6 legged variety) was priceless. Played Mystery and Trivia after dinner. Never even got 5 out of 6 but went to bed anyway. It was a little warmer than the other nights so we didn’t need to wear gloves. Even Norm slept under the stars.

Friday – Cliff Dwellings and the Car – Awoke at 6AM. Stove was slow again. This is the last trip for this stove no doubt. We were walking by 7:30. We made good time on the level trail. We had moments of doubt at a trial junction. One option seemed to be blocked by a log but not definitely. There was no sign. We took the most traveled trail and it seemed to work out. At the intersection with Trail 28 we took it south towards the National Monument. We stopped to check out the views as the trail went near the edge of the canyon. There were great views of the West Fork of the Gila River. We took several pictures here. About 15 minutes down the trail Norm realized he had left his canteen hanging on a limb at the scenic spot. He dropped his pack and made the round trip in 15 minutes. We went down into the canyon of the West Fork. We met a group of three fellows who were the only people we saw until we got to the National Monument. The trail near the river is rocky and loose, more like a Grand Canyon trail. We finally got to the river, crossed and found a shady place to clean up. We had two crossings. We changed into sandals. The current is quite noticeable. Norm could use up the final battery on the GPS so he had it in the “find home” mode which kept giving distance to the starting point.

The trail ended right at the entrance to the Cliff Dwellings, so we dropped our packs and climbed up the path and stairs to the dwellings. It is very interesting. There are many, many rooms and much of it very well preserved. There was a knowledgeable guide to answer questions and take our picture.

Jerry walked down to Woody’s corral to get the car. We headed for cool refreshment at a colorful gift store just outside the park. They had a little of everything; books, gifts, food, gasoline, pop and ice cream. We drove on to Silver City and had our traditional Steak dinner with fresh salad at the Red Barn. We got a room at the Comfort Inn.

Saturday – Cat Walk and back to Albuquerque – A ranger at the National Monument had recommended that we visit the Cat Walk We enjoyed the side trip on the way back to Albuquerque. There is a stream rushing through a narrow canyon and you basically walk above it.

At http://www.southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southwest/Catron/TheCatwalk.html you will see that “The Catwalk, a National Recreation trail along the canyon of Whitewater Creek, is a unique feature of southwestern New Mexico. Located five miles east of Glenwood (take Hwy. 180 to 174), it presents an always vibrant journey along a path reflecting the region's mining history. The canyon was used as a hideout by both Geronimo and Butch Cassidy.”.

Bruce Trail

2009-06-09T12:13:00.000-04:00

Ontario, Canada
September 3 – 6, 2007
Bonnie and Norm Kern

Resources
The Bruce Trail Reference Trail Guides and Maps – The Bruce Trail Association
The Bruce Trail by Rich & Sue Freeman – Footprint Press – Describes a hike of
the complete Bruce Trail.
Website for the Bruce Trail Conservancy - http://brucetrail.org/places
Shuttle - http://www.thorncrestoutfitters.com/

The Bruce Trail meanders for approximately 465 miles along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara Falls to Tobermory, Ontario. Various parts of the trail are within a few hours of Toronto, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, or a half day drive from Detroit, Michigan. For our four day hike we chose some of the northern most miles on the Bruce Peninsula which extends into Lake Huron. This hike is described on maps 39 and 40 from the above noted Reference Trail Guides and Maps. Our hike started at Kilometer 136.6 and ended at Kilometer 168.4. This stretch is reputed to be the most demanding of the whole Bruce Trail.

Camping is limited to established campgrounds. For Back Country and Group sites within the National Park call (519) 596-2263. For Cyprus Lake Campground booking information and fees call 1-877-737-3783 from 7 am to 7 pm or by internet at www.pccamping.ca (24 hour service).

Side trips before the hike - We drove to Tobermory from Detroit on Friday, August 31. Tobermory is a very nice little town at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula which extends out into Lake Huron. It is a summer tourist town and since this was Labor Day weekend in the US, Tobermory was very busy. We stayed at the Blue Bay Motel which overlooks Little Tub Harbor, all the shops, pubs and restaurants. We enjoyed sitting on the balcony outside our room. Everything is within walking distance in Tobermory. We can recommend breakfast at the Princess Hotel, dinner at the Leeside and Mermaid, and deli sandwiches from the grocery store. On Saturday we walked to the National Park Headquarters. We watched the movie, and stopped to climb the observation tower which affords wonderful views of the nearby islands and the Niagara Escarpment to the east. The Burnt Point Trail gives a taste of what the Bruce Trail will be like and gives nice views of Lake Huron. On Sunday, we took a Zodiac boat out to Flower Pot Island. We were the only people on our boat and there was only one Zodiac ahead of us so we expected to have the Island pretty much to ourselves. As we landed we saw the camp sites of people who had kayaked out from Tobermory. That would be a nice adventure. Unfortunately, a large glass bottomed tour boat had stopped off shore and was transporting people to the island so we shared “our” island with several dozen other folks. We walked north towards the light house which is a very nice walk. The Flower Pots are quite amazing limestone formations from when the lake level was higher. The light house keeper’s house was interesting and included many historic pictures. We had a nice lunch and snooze at the water’s edge. The squirrels were very used to humans and were fearless in their quest for food from our backpack when we left it on the ground for a moment.

To High Dump – The Thorncrest shuttle met us at 9 AM above Little Cove, as arranged, and drove us to our starting point, at the end of Crane Lake Road. The trail seemed to be a logging road and now perhaps a snowmobile trail. The exposed rocks had many scratches or gouges that seemed to be caused by metal. This stretch of trail is a nice shaded walk in the woods. We met a party for each car that was parked at the end of the road. Once we accounted for all of the cars we expected to be alone. The first person we met was a fellow who was running with a pack on his pack and a smaller pack on his chest. He had run from High Dump, our destination. (Dump, in Canadian logging country, is a place where logs were slid down the cliff into Lake Huron, where they were gathered into rafts and transported. Dump does not mean a place for trash as it does in the US.) This stretch of trail is gently rolling but more down than up. The final pitch down to the camp site was quite steep. A rope had been installed to make the climbs down and up a bit easier. We started walking at 9:45 AM and were at camp by 2:30. 8 Kilometers.

At the bottom of the pitch there was a sign but no map of the campground. We just wandered around until we found site number 8 for which we had the reservation. All the sites have large wooden platforms. This is good, because there is little smooth, level ground. The limestone is exposed everywhere. We had the whole campground to ourselves. We enjoyed the “beach” which has NO sand. It is made up of limestone rocks from 3 inches to 30 feet in diameter. We waded and rinsed and then read our books in the sun, enjoying the sound of the waves in the background. Norm went back to the tent to get a snack and found squirrels attacking our packs. We kept the food with us down on the beach. We filtered water out of Lake Huron.

We enjoyed Backpacker’s Panty (blue pouch) Hawaiian Chicken, which has no freeze dried taste. After dinner we hung the food on a bear pole which was provided by the park. It has a nice pulley system. This avoids the hassle of finding that perfect tree with the limb that is low enough, yet high enough, and long enough to keep the food safe from the bears or other varmints. We fell asleep about 9PM but then woke up later and took a walk down to the beach to see the stars. It was very clear so the star viewing was excellent, with the Milky Way, a satellite but no falling stars. We then went to the outhouse by flashlight. We hadn’t memorized the route so finding it in the dark was a humorous challenge.

On to Storm Haven – We enjoyed a pretty sun rise but then nothing but cloudy skies. We were walking by 8:30. The Bruce Trail from High Dump all the way to Little Cove is very rugged. The lime stone is exposed everywhere and is rough. It demands a great deal of attention to choose your footing. There are endless short descents and ascents, many of which are steep. This trail is more rugged than any hikes Norm had done outside of the Grand Canyon, including trails in Georgia, Arkansas, New Mexico and along the Pacific in California. Bonnie first cracked her hiking stick and then broke it at the worst possible instant (of course). Fortunately, she didn’t injure herself when it broke, but it was supporting much of her weight at the time. We learned that once a stick is weakened it should be replaced immediately. We found another stick right away. We saw only 2 backpackers but we saw several day hikers from Cyprus Lake Campground. There are many overlooks where you can see the limestone cliffs both to the east and west. We always like the pictures which show “We came all this way.” We wondered at the trees which grow out of seemingly solid rock and at many strange angles with bends for seemingly no reasons. A sign at Halfway Dump indicated only 2 km to go. We thought it meant 2 km to Storm Haven, but now I believe it was 2 km to the trail head. It was actually over 4 km to Storm Haven. The misunderstanding that we were “almost there” made it seem even further. With about 2 real km left, it started to rain. We put on our slickers and put plastic bags on our packs and then, of course, it stopped. In total this day was 11.4 Km or about 7 miles.

The pitch down to Storm Haven is made easier by some nice wooden stairs. The bear lines and the out house are at the top of the stairs. All the rocks at Storm Haven are flat. Everything is horizontal. At High Dump everything was basically round. One wonders what forces cause these differences. We found our reserved platform and set the tent up immediately. It then started to rain again so we tossed the packs into the tent and climbed in behind them. It felt good to be done for the day and to be off our feet. It stopped raining long enough for us to have Stroganoff for dinner, hang the food on a bear line, and visit the outhouse. We saw a single fellow at another site and a couple frolicking in the lake with their air mattresses. We went back to the tent and read and fell asleep. During one of Norm’s nocturnal walks, he saw some familiar items from his “snacks for today” bag, which he had forgotten to put in the bag on the bear line. Some local varmint must have enjoyed his snacks including the last of the chocolate.

Short walk to Cyprus Lake – Camping on the Bruce Trail is only allowed in official camp grounds, and we were lead to believe that penalties were heavy for infractions. There are few camp sites in this stretch of trail so we had to make a compromise. From Storm Haven to Little Cove is 17 km (over 10 miles) and we didn’t want to have any day that was quite that long. A campground at about 162 km would have been nice. The compromise we selected was to have a very short third day. We hiked only about 4 km (2.5 Mi) into Cypress Lake campground.

We awoke to continued rain complete with thunder. We rolled over and went back to sleep. Norm eventually went up the stairs to retrieve the food from the bear lines. It had stopped raining and there was some blue sky. We had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. As we reached to the top of the stairs, it started to rain one last time. We ducked into the out house and waited it out. We put the plastic on the packs again, just in case, and started walking about 10 AM. The tree roots, which are exposed on the trail, were quite slippery and even the limestone was more slippery than when dry. We had to watch our steps even more carefully than on the previous days. The trail took us down to beaches twice. It is tough walking on all the loose limestone rocks, since they tend to act like big ball bearings when they move. On the beach there are no trees, so the trail blazes are painted onto boulders or are on short posts. All of the Bruce Trail that we walked is very well marked with 2 inch by 4 inch white blazes that are otherwise on trees. There is almost always at least one blaze in sight. Even where there is not a blaze, there is little doubt about where the trail goes. There are few side trails and the forest is so dense there is little temptation to leave the trail. Again the trail includes many ups and downs. We started to ask ourselves, “Is this descent really necessary?” The day brightened and eventually we could see our shadows.

On the third beach section we were pleasantly surprised to find a sign for the Horse Lake Trail which took us to the Cyprus Lake Campground. We were even more pleasantly surprised that this trail is smooth, level and soft. What luxury. Once in the campground we found no signs or maps directing us to our reserved camp site. We had to impose on another camper, who had a map, to find our way. We were close to our site and had not walked far out of our way. We hung out all of our wet stuff including clothes and the tent. As soon as Norm hung out an empty food bag to dry there was a squirrel sniffing around it. Again we took our food with us everywhere we went. We were visited by a beautiful butterfly that hung around for several minutes and a few pictures. We split a tuna salad for lunch, and found evidence that varmints had gotten into the food that was on the bear line back at Storm Haven. (Actually there were not actual poles at Storm Haven. There was a line stretched between two trees and separate pulleys down from this line. Perhaps the varmint crawled across the horizontal line to our food? Perhaps we should not have pulled the food all the way up to the horizontal line? Good thing we brought enough food to share.) We cleaned up in the nice bathrooms and then went for a dip in Cyprus Lake which has real sand. We enjoyed freeze dried chicken breasts for dinner. How amazing are those things? At first they feel like graham crackers, but after 10 minutes in a little boiling water they become real chicken again! We tied the food up in a tree over a neighboring campsite. We found some fire wood and enjoyed a little fire. We never saw a camp ranger.

Long Walk to Little Cove – No intruders in the food this time. Walking by 8:40. Marr Lake Trail is more rugged than Horse Lake Trail. We were plagued by flies. They definitely didn’t care that we had Skin So Soft on. We had to put our long pants on and keep long sleeves rolled down. There is some private land in this stretch and we crossed a road for the first time in the trip. There were some lakes on the map so we could better judge our location and progress today. We had lunch at the halfway point. The middle of the day included a stretch where the walking was much easier. There is an especially pleasant part that runs through a limestone gap. We saw a large hole that would allow someone to climb down into a limestone grotto overlooking the lake. The climb looked pretty tricky so we just looked. Next to the hole there was a post with a number 8 on it. Attached to it was a special punch. There was a card with several punches in it. Close examination indicated that you could possibly win various things if you could get various numbers of punches, from presumably multiple locations. We laughed when we saw that second prize was 4 tons of, guess what, limestone! Anyone who has walked the Bruce Trail has seen enough limestone for a life time.

We took the side trail to the sink hole. It is about 60 feet deep and over 100 feet across. We took a short nap on the ground cloth. We only saw day hikers today. We saw three loons pretty close up near Loon Lake. We were stopped when we saw a huge poodle come bounding out of the woods. It looked out of place with its traditional hair shaping. It was followed by a party of four. We met a mother and son who hike on the Bruce Trail every year. As the day wore on Bonnie started to suggest that they need to build bridges across more of the down and up places. She even threatened to wait until a bridge was built before she would cross one such place. The closer to Little Cove we got, the happier we got. There were a few people there on the beach when we arrived. One took the traditional “We did it” picture and we walked up to the waiting car. This day was 14 Km or almost 9 miles.

We arrived back at our hotel and found a very different Tobermory. The crowds were gone and already some businesses were closed for the winter. We celebrated our hike with a wonderful whitefish dinner at the Princess Hotel. We gave each other foot massages, watched Peyton Manning play football and fell asleep.

Lost Coast - Northern Coastal California

2009-05-11T17:18:00.000-04:00

Jerry and Norm

April 24 - May 1, 2009

Resources

The Hiker’s Guide to the Humboldt Coast, Bob Lorentzen, Bored Feet Press

The Hiker’s Guide to the Mendocino Coast, Bob Lorentzen, Bored Feet Press

Both books include maps.

Trails of the Lost Coast Map, Wilderness Press

King Range National Conservation Area Lost Coast Trail Map – BLM Arcata Field Office

Tide Tables (we used Shelter Cove) - http://gofishingforum.net/

BLM Website for Lost Coast (including shuttles) - http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/arcata/kingrange/index.html

Note – We also did this hike in 2004. We did it one week earlier this time. The weather was much cooler this time. Since we were familiar with the route and the sights, we planned to minimize some bad spots and maximize our favorite spots.

Friday April 24, 2009 – Getting There – Left home at 6:30 for a 9:00 flight. Long luggage line at NW or is it Delta? Breakfast at McD’s. Long walk to the very end of the terminal at Gate 78. Had to hustle. Oh, flight now scheduled for 9:23. Had aisle seats across. Uneventful flight. Landed at 11:40. Poor signage within the airport to find the rental cars. They are far away from the terminal at the end of the air tram. Long line at the Budget desk. Finally, driving by 1:30. We missed the exit for the REI store where we planned to by the butane/propane gas for our stove. Jerry pulled off the freeway and got directions to a sporting goods store that had gas at the next exit. We at lunch at that shopping center too. Traffic was awful for about two hours after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. The last three hours were OK. Highway 101 to Leggett and then turn left onto Highway 1. Go South to mile marker 90.88 and turn right. The road into Usal Creek is rough and rougher than 5 years ago. Took it slow. Parked the car at 8:00 PM. We set up the tent, just in case, but went to sleep in our bivy sacks, hoping to prove to ourselves we wouldn’t need the tent. We heard voices and saw lights late into the night. We were later told the park is party headquarters for kids from Fort Bragg. Norm moved into the tent at 4:00 AM to see it if was any warmer. Yes, it was.

April 25, 2009 – To The Light House And Beyond - Both of us woke up with moist sleeping bags, evidently from condensation within the bivy sacks. Between that and the forecast for 30 something degree nights all week, we decided to leave the bivy sacks and take the tent. Nuts! We packed up and moved the car as we had been directed. Jill, the shuttle driver, was on time at 7:30. She said she loved to come over to Usal, that it was her playground. She drove faster than we had, do I guess it was her playground. She warned that we might get motion sick due to the winding roads. Norm eventually moved into the front seat, took some medication, and asked Jill to slow down and even stop once. She was very cooperative and compassionate. Norm eventually fell asleep. We picked up BLM Bear Cans at the store in Petrolia and arrived at Mattole River at 11:30. Jill took our final three day’s food to the Shelter Cove General Store which is on the hill above Shelter Cove. Jill provided the excellent King Range National Conservation Area Lost Coast Trail Map. It clearly shows the areas with tide issues and gives the hiking distance between all major land marks down to the Needle Rock Visitor Center.

We were walking in just a few minutes. It was very WINDY, from the Northwest. We were very happy we had decided not to walk South to North as we had originally planned. As the next few days developed, we became happier and happier about that decision. Everyone we met mentioned the wind. We stopped at the light house for lunch and were soon joined by The Couple in Black. They were friendly and shared their names but we forgot them. They were 20 something, from Portland, and were going all the way to Usal on the same basic schedule as we were. They didn’t have a map for the lower half, so we shared ours. Later, a larger group of younger people arrived from the south. We skipped a nap we were contemplating and headed out. Soon, we met adults who were probably the chaperones of the young group. We also met a farther, son, and grandson. Nice to see them hiking together. We managed to find several stretches of trail above the beach, which we missed five years ago. We soon heard and saw dozens of sea lions sunning on some large rocks. We saw several creeks falling down the hillside. There are small creeks all along the route all the way to Shelter Cove. It is not necessary to carry very much water. We saw the first of four cabins which are very near the ocean. They made us wonder about who owned them, how long had they been there, how does one get to them, and how often are they used. We also saw the first of many driftwood shelters. They must have been made by previous backpackers for shelter from the wind. Most have some nautical ropes or floats incorporated. This one was partially roofed. It was too soon to stop so we just looked through it.

There is a tide issue in the stretch beyond the light house but the tide was going out, so all points were passable for us. We wanted to camp beyond the final tide issue, so we needed to get to Randall Creek. The guide book indicated we would see Reynolds Rock at or before we arrived at Randall Creek. We didn’t know what Reynolds Rock would look like but we guessed it would be more prominent than all the others. We never saw such a rock so we overshot Randall Creek. We became sure of that when we got to the clearly marked foot of the Spanish Ridge Trail. (Note - The guide book indicates that the Spanish Ridge Trail starts 250 feet beyond Randall Creek, and that at 10.5 miles another spur climbs Spanish Ridge. We believe that the currently mapped and marked trail corresponds to the guide book’s “another spur”, and that the Spanish Ridge Trail is no longer marked at 250 feet beyond Randall Creek.)

Jerry walked back a quarter mile to the last small creek/ravine and found two flat spots. The Couple in Black took the other one. We were somewhat out of the wind, but gusts would blow the tent away, even with a pack inside. Norm crawled in to hold it down. He got comfortable and dozed off. He basically stayed in the tent until Jerry got ready to retire for the night. We should not have even put the tent up, until we actually intended to retire. The wind gusted all night. We eventually were wearing every but if clothing we brought; 2 shirts, sweat shirts, rain jackets, rain pants, stocking hats, gloves. This was required on every evening but one.

April 26, 2009 – Crossing the Flats – Awoke at 6:00 and were walking by 7:30. We planned the trip around the notion that we wanted to arrive at the foot of the Shelter Cove hill early in the morning instead of mid afternoon as we had last time. This meant we had some discretionary time, so we dropped our packs and hiked up the Spanish Ridge Trail for about 45 minutes, until we could see back to the beach again. It is open and grassy and very pretty, with nice views down the shore. After, heading south again, we met a fellow with his dog going north. He mentioned the wind and said “Nothing to block it but Asia”. Asia wasn’t blocking much wind for him or for us. We enjoyed seeing the shore at lower tide. The kelp sparkles in the sun, as the waves move it back and forth. We stopped again at Oat Creek to shave and clean up, and basically hang out. It was sunny and we had a nice rest and stayed for lunch. The Couple in Black had not been stirring yet when we left our camp but they passed us at Oat Creek. We passed them again at Kinney Creek. We saw several snakes cross the trail today but no rattle snakes. Lizards too. We also saw the very sad sight of a dead whale being flopped about by the surf. Sad Sight. Almost the whole day was on trails above the beach. The trail goes pretty high at one point. Passed three more cabins/homes at the foot of the cliffs. Two can be accessed by road and one by plane. The first was occupied but we did not see a vehicle. The road to these cabins would demand a vehicle with plenty of ground clearance.

We camped in a big driftwood shelter just beyond the landing strip for the third house at Big Flat. The Couple in Black took a shelter down a bit further. Water was readily available from Big Creek. We were nicely out of the wind this time. We had vivid memories of this stretch from the first trip and they didn’t match up very well with the actual trail today. Funny how that works.

April 27, 2009 – Getting Close to Shelter Cove – Awoke 6 AM. Walking by 7:30. We wanted to hustle through the first 4 miles which have the tide issue. It was about low tide when we started so we were not exactly racing the waves. The road above the beach ended too quickly and we were walking on the cobbles and in the sand for most of the day. We saw into a few tide pools with star fish and saw all the kelp on the beach.

Jerry claimed he saw a sea lion but it never appeared again. Norm offered a dollar if the sea lion appeared again. Jerry kept talking about him but “Fred” did not reappear. Eventually Norm charged Jerry $3.00 for repeated references to Fred. Ironically, we saw about 30 real sea lions down the shore a little ways. We then even saw one up on the shore. He was very close to where we were walking and actually startled us as we realized that he was not just another piece of driftwood. He seemed healthy and contented. Tossed sand occasionally, maybe to keep the flies off?

It was cloudy and the wind was not as strong. We made good time over the first four miles. We took longer breaks after that. We wanted to camp at Horse Mountain Creek which is 1.9 miles from the foot of the Shelter Cove hill. We stopped one creek too soon, but walked further down shore without our packs. We found the sign for the Horse Mountain Creek trail and once again knew we had stopped at the wrong place. We went back for the packs, and dropped them at the foot of the trail. We walked up the H.M.C. trail for about 40 minutes, then back down and then carried the packs over to the actual creek. We found a small shelter there and set up camp. There was a much more deluxe shelter on the south side of the creek but when we arrived another party seemed to be camping there. They eventually left and we went over to check it out. It had a roof and multiple rooms. Jerry was convinced there was wild life (mice and snakes) living in it and that the roof would collapse, so we didn’t move in.

We played ‘tag’ with a party of 3 or would it be 4 today? The couple had their nine month old daughter with them. We couldn’t imagine it, all the extra stuff, giving the baby the attention it needed with little hesitation…

We saw the Couple in Black pass us and go on toward Shelter Cove. Norm was convinced they got a warm, dry motel room for the night and would be having bacon and eggs for breakfast. He tried not to think about it.

April 28, 2009 – Up the Hill and Out the Hidden Valley Trail – Awoke at 6:30. Jerry’s efforts to level out the area under the tent were only partially successful. Norm’s area was on a sideways slope and he had trouble staying on his mat and out of the side of the tent. We had kept water in the bucket and found a mouse floating. We shaved so as not to discourage anyone from giving us a ride up the hill.

We were walking by 8:00. The footing was not as loose as some other parts of the beach. It seemed that the beach was made up of very small gravel instead of actual sand. We reached the Shelter Cove parking area by 9:30, used the flush toilet, and headed up the hill. We walked about 2 of the 3 miles to the store before Greg picked us up. We bought him coffee at the store. The clerk didn’t seem to know much about our food being there or having the bear cans picked up, but she lead us to where the FedEx pickups are made and our food was there. She agreed to let us leave the bear cans as long as someone from the shuttle was going to pick them up. We bought some snacks and tossed the 3 days of trash we had accumulated. As we repacked with the new food, a young fellow engaged us in conversation. He lived near some part of the Lost Coast Trail and had hiked parts of it. He gladly gave us a ride for the last one plus miles to the Hidden Valley trail head. He is a local musician and says they band has steady work. They also do some fund raising for the local communities. He said this is a great place to be poor. We tipped him a few dollars for the ride. Nice fellow.

We were surprised to see the sign indicating that this part of the trail required bear cans. We had left ours at the store so there was little choice but to get through this section today. Because we had been given the two rides, it was now possible to get beyond Nick’s camp site where we had planned to stay, and get to the state park boundary. We would need to drop our packs for a few minutes and hike into Nick’s to get water. We had lunch on the park bench at the top of Chemise Mountain. Very nice panoramic view of the coastal mountains. We extend our thanks to whoever carried the pieces of that bench all the way up there. There is a huge climb at the beginning of this stretch of trail and then it’s up and down until you reach the state park boundary. This stretch has some nice views of the ocean but no views of the coast looking south. Eventually there is a view looking back north and of Shelter Cove. The hike into Nick’s (taking the second trail, not the first) to get water is about ¾ mile but seemed quick without the packs. We reminisced about our night at Nick’s on the previous trip. We saw lots of dog sized scat and lots of elk scat. Nothing that looked like bear scat.

We were done by 5 PM. We arranged some bricks and boards from the fallen down house and made a decent camp site. That house would have been the only private house with an ocean view for about 30 miles. We wondered what had kept it from being completed. The Couple in Black walked past as we got dinner ready. It got quite cold on the hill top so we walked down the trail a half mile just to get warmed up. With 6 miles of Hidden Valley, 2 Miles on the beach, 2 miles on the hill and 1.5 miles over/back to Nick’s we had an 11 plus mile day. Satisfying but not a killer.

April 29, 2009 – Needle Rock and Bear Harbor – Awoke 6:30. Things a little damp but not wet. I hate to carry a wet tent all day. Walking by 8:00. Our favorite place on the Lost Coast is Bear Harbor so we only had 5 miles to hike today. We could stop often and long and enjoy the wonderful views of the coast to the south. Dogs greeted us at the “house on the left”. One didn’t even seem to be tied up. Wound down to Whale Gulch where we again found the huge laminated beams, 40 feet long by 5 feet wide. We speculated on how they got there and what their purpose might have been. Jerry guessed they had been lowered from a helicopter for use in a bridge over Whale Gulch Creek. Neither seemed very likely to Norm, who thought there used to be a logging road in from the North and observed the creek is currently crossed with the help of a single 2x4. (Later, the Park manager told us that Jerry was actually correct on both counts. The local people had objected to the bridge for some reason and so the beams had never been put in place.) We soon arrived at the mown paths of the state park. The Couple in Black was camped at the first picnic table. There was a field full of pup tents, but we never saw the probable occupants. We then came upon a very industrious team of young people from the California Conservation Corps who were making trail improvements. We thanked them for their hard work. The next picnic table was near a creek so we stopped for a snack, and Jerry cleaned up. About 45 feet away an elk was lying in the grass chewing its cud. There is an elk herd in the park and they must be very used to people. There was a wonderful ocean view but we didn’t see any whales swim by.

We moved on to the visitor center, registered, paid for two nights and watched the ocean from the front steps for a while. We headed down the road toward Bear Harbor. Our memory of the road was that is was straight, level and exposed to the sun. This is one short segment like that just before it ends but the rest is rolling, winding, and partially shaded. Memory is a funny thing.

No one was at Bear Harbor when we arrived so we took ‘our’ north most camp site. We set up camp and went down to the beach. There were three kayakers who had been out diving for abalone. We spent the afternoon amongst the big rocks watching the tide come in and talking about spiritual things. It was sunny but still cool.

Norm went off to get water for dinner/breakfast and saw the Woman in Black near the creek. He asked if she was getting water but she said she was picking nettles. Norm asked if that was a good thing. She laughed and said you can eat them if you cook them first. The Couple in Black were camped on the far side of the big creek. We prepared to have our normal freeze dried dinner except that this package of chicken and dumplings had a far more complex “recipe” than normal. It required simmering the basic chicken, peas and gravy and then 12-15 minutes of simmering after the dumpling mix was put on top. We don’t carry enough gas for that duration of cooking and our narrow Jet Boil stove wouldn’t have worked very well for this dumpling simmering anyway. We just put the dumpling mix away, and made up the chicken and gravy with the normal “dump boiling water in the pouch, stir, and wait 10 minutes” recipe. It turned out OK and we supplemented it with snacks. Better make it a point to read each freeze dried meal package next year. An elk walked right past our camp, and down the trial into the forest. We gathered some fallen wood and made a fire. Played Trivia by flash light.

April 30, 2009 – Tide Pools, Redwood Trees and the Ghost Town – We intended to hang around for low tide which would ‘peak’ at 10:40 so we slept in a little. We arrived at the beach at 8:15. There was not much to see, until we started to look more closely. Something that just looked like sand on the rocks turned out to be hundreds of individual little animals that cling to the rocks, get covered with sand, and close up when the tide is out. We could see the ones that were still under water and thus open, then we could see them everywhere. As we hung around, and the tide went out, we could get further out amongst the rocks and we found tide pools with sea anemones, star fish, crabs and a 7 inch red chiton. Norm even thought he glimpsed a sea otter, but the photo is inconclusive. Great fun for boys from the Midwest.

We were walking by 9:40. The CCC team was ahead of us trimming weeds and pulling a huge stump. We thanked them again. Based on the volume of droppings we were following a couple of elk up the trail. Saw our first big Redwood trees. Wow. There is a big climb at first, then a rolling section, and a big descent into Wheeler. There are two amazing redwoods with side limbs that are bigger than most normal trees, as you reach the valley floor. This seems to be School Marm Grove. We had lunch at the first creek crossing and the poked around at the second creek crossing. There is a large metal frame attached to the ground at the creek and a foundation to the west of that. There are several open “home sites” but no physical evidence of the 30 plus homes that made up Wheeler. We tried to imagine the school house, the community and life there. What was it like to be so isolated and with the same 30 families for 10 years? Would there be any privacy? We stopped again at the beach. Saw a crab pot in the river. Took a short nap on the driftwood logs.

Walking again by 2:40 with four plus miles to go. We didn’t expect to finish until about 6:30. There is a huge climb as you leave the beach. A few more foundations are there. There is a rolling stretch and then another big climb before the long, steep descent into Little Jack Ass Creek. We actually got in before 6:00 PM.

The prime camping site on the beach was occupied, but it was starting to rain and we hadn’t seen the other two sites that the guide mentions so we took a secondary site on the beach. It was around the corner of the cliff from the primary site. We were out of sight and we never saw the other fellow. Perhaps he did not even know we were there. The Couple in Black made a site in the grass between the main trail and the beach. Our site was on an elevated place right next to the cliff. We were somewhat concerned about being dry at high tide at 3:40 AM. Checking the tide tables indicated that it had been an even higher tide a few days ago, which would have eroded our little hill away, so we thought we would stay dry. We put the tent up immediately due to the threatening rain and threw most of what we wanted to keep dry into it. We put on our rain gear and made dinner in a drizzle. As the rain picked up at 7:15, we went into the tent and played Trivia. When the rain stopped, we moved our food away from the tent. There was no place to hang it on the beach, so we put it under a big rock and surrounded it with smaller rocks. The surf is very loud there because of the cove shape. It sounds like a big gun shot every now and then. Norm happened to be up at 1:30 AM and saw that the tide was quite a distance from the tent and surmised we would have no problems in our location even at high tide. He slept a little better. In the morning we saw that the waves had come within about 40 feet of our tent but not nearly as high in true elevation.

May 1, 2009 – On to Usal and the Car – In the backs of our minds all day was the need to arrive in time for our “red eye” flight from San Francisco. Norm forgot the flight paperwork but we thought the flight left at 11:00 PM and planned backwards from that time. We thought we’d have time to clean up in Usal Creek or shower at the airport, and have a nice meal on the way south. We set the alarm for 6 AM, and awoke as planned. We packed and went up to the out house. Norm filled Mr. Bucket as he crossed the creek. The prime camp site was already vacant. We filtered water and had breakfast. Jerry found several ticks on his pants and jacket. As we were zipping our packs for the “last” time, Norm noticed he did not have his sandals. He immediately remembered where they were back on the beach, so he went to get them – 20 unplanned minutes. Then we headed south. We soon reached the other two camp sites. They are large, flat, well sheltered and even have fire rings. In the valley the trail goes through many tall weeds which were very wet, so we kept our rain pants on until we got to a more open section of the trail. Immediately, the trail headed up. The elk droppings continued but they were noticeably fresh. Soon we caught up with a female and two males. As we closed up on them, the female ran uphill off the trail. Excellent, just what we had hoped for. As we closed on the rear male, he just looked at us and chewed. He’d move a few yards, stop to bite off something new and then chew for a while, and repeat. His progress was not going to get us to our flight. We tried standing sideways to look bigger with our packs. Jerry had a stick. The elk didn’t seem impressed. When we edged even closer, the elk seemed to feel threatened and we thought he might become aggressive. Our tones became very conciliatory and we backed down the trail. Norm picked up some rocks to throw either at them or off to the side to get them off the trail, but we didn’t want them to become aggressive, so we never tossed the rocks. Jerry said he was running out of ideas and was ready to try anything including a whistle. Norm had a whistle that was quite handy, so we tried it. Three short bursts and both male elk ran up the trail. Jerry suggested that Norm just keep blowing the whistle in hopes it would drive them off the trail. It worked. We warily moved up the trail and peaked around every corner, but after about five minutes we became confident that we were finally past them. During the elk episode we covered about 50 yards in about 20 minutes. We were now 40 minutes “behind schedule”.

There were three more major climbs and descents. We snacked once and had lunch. Jerry found a tick that had “connected”. In the middle of the second of the three climbs the trail affords a nice overlook of the ocean. Jerry spotted whales. We saw only the spouting and brief glimpses of their backs but we saw them for several minutes so there was no doubt about this sighting. Seeing whales made the trip complete! As we completed the final major climb it started to rain steadily. We put on our rain jackets but our pants were already pretty wet from last night’s rain on the weeds along the trail. The last section of the trail is out in the open and winds through tall weeds, so by the time we reached the car our pants were soaked and we were ready to be done, and get into dry clothes. We both have water proof boots so we were surprised that our feet were becoming wet. Jerry suggested that perhaps the water had actually run down our legs into our boots.

We changed into our dry clothes in the warm car and headed up the dirt road out of the Usal Creek area. Norm found the flight paperwork. Not only were we 40 minutes “behind schedule” due to the sandals and the elk, the plane was supposed to leave at 10 PM not 11 PM. So much for a nice meal on the way. We had burgers from a drive thru. The signage to the rental car area in San Francisco was confusing and then the signage to turn in the Budget car in the Avis area was confusing so we arrived at our airport gate only 40 minutes before flight time. No time for that shower at the airport. Sorry about that fellow travelers.

Conclusion – We were very happy we had taken the local advice and walked North to South. We took one extra day to do this hike this time. We spent that time enjoying the wilderness on side hikes and longer rests. The extra day made the trip much more enjoyable. Climbing the Shelter Cove Hill in the morning was an excellent idea. Somehow our weather was warmer last time. Just lucky?

4 Day Grand Canyon Rim to Rim

2009-03-05T08:50:00.000-05:00

Basic plan – Drive to South Rim. Park Car. Take Shuttle to North Rim. Hike to Cottonwood, then Bright Angel, then to Indian Garden Campgrounds, and then back to the car. Reservations are required at all campgrounds and for the shuttle.

To the North Rim, Sunday September 3 2006
We happened to park next to a Transcanyon Shuttle and ate our lunch on a nearby picnic table. As we were eating, Chris, the driver, arrived. He invited us to put our packs on the van and then invited us to ride up to Bright Angel Lodge with him. Chris looks like Santa Claus. Summer job perhaps? At the BA Lodge we were joined by 9 other people plus another van full. In our van there were 3 people who had just finished their hike and were going back to their car. The rest of us were going to start our hikes the next day. Some people had reservations for beds at Phantom Ranch so they were going to travel very light and intended to get to the Ranch in one day. The rest were only going to Cottonwood on the first day. Some people had meal reservations at Phantom to compliment their Bright Angel Campground reservations. This took many calls to pick up spots from cancellations. We arrived at the North Rim at 5:30 and checked into our rustic cabin. We enjoyed the sun setting until our dinner reservation at the lodge. Lights out at 9. Norm too cold. Bonnie too hot.

Down to Cottonwood, Monday September 4
Arose at 5, prepared and ate oatmeal in our cabin. Caught the 6:15 shuttle to the trail head along with 7 others. The three fellows with day packs were going all the way to Phantom Ranch. The other party was a mother with her adult daughter, son and daughter in law. We saw them several times throughout the day. It was about 60 degrees at the top. We were first to start down and saw two deer almost immediately. Just before lunch another hiker drew our attention to a small rattle snake right next to the trail. We saw many lizards that would scurry away and then stop and do a few pushups. We enjoyed all the colors in the rock as well as the effects of the desert varnish. We saw a wrangler bring down an empty mule and then bring a (presumably injured) hiker back up. We met a strung out party from NY and California; all ages and sizes. We met a volunteer from Tennessee with a ranger shirt. Her job was to assist hikers and keep them from doing anything dumb, like hiking down further than they could hike back up. We passed her later as she assisted a hiker. She gave us advice about the Roaring Springs side trail: “Don’t bother, there really isn’t a good view.” She also told us where we could access the creek if we needed it. She told us a little about Maverick, the gentlemen who is 79 years old and is crossing the canyon 79 times this year. We stopped for lemonade at the pump house and added water to our bottles there. The mother and daughter-in-law caught up with us there. The mother was packless. Evidently her son was carrying his and her packs down. She had been stressed by the heat. The daughter-in-law waited with her for a while and then went back up the trail to assist her husband. By the time they got to camp at 6pm, Mom had her own pack again and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

We made good time to the Coconino lookout and to the tunnel and then slowed somewhere in the Redwall. We rested in the shade several times. We stopped for lunch way down in the Bright Angel Shale at about 11:30. We arrived at Cottonwood at about 2:30. We walked past several sites but dropped our packs at No. 6 due to the excellent shade. Bonnie was very ready to be done for the day. We took a very refreshing dip in the Bright Angel Creek with many others who were camping at Cottonwood. We rinsed our clothes. We took a nice nap on the picnic table at our campsite. We were pretty happy with our new Camelbacks. Bonnie had the beginning of trouble with a few of her toes which eventually turned black. We had the amazing freeze dried chicken breasts for dinner. They start out like graham crackers and then turn back into real chicken.

Down to Bright Angel CG, Tuesday
Up at 5am with the alarm. On the trail by 6:45. Saw two more mule deer just out of camp. First stop, Ribbon Falls. We left our packs near the main trail. We had the falls to ourselves for about 20 minutes. It’s really a beautiful and unique place. Guys from Texas and NY joined us, and we took their pictures in the little cave in the travertine. We sent via e-mail. After hiking each hour we rested for 15 minutes. We had lunch under a rock overhang which gave us needed shade. Bonnie enjoyed the complex make up of the rock with schist, granite, mica, etc. As the temperature increased, the day got long. Norm kept looking for the bridges and Phantom Creek. We ran out of water just past where Phantom Creek joins Bright Angel. We found a shady spot and were happy to have the excuse to get wet in the creek. Norm filtered about 2 liters and drank as much as he could stand. People told us we were just about to camp but we were happy to take the break.

We were equally happy to have a lemonade and a cool tea once we reached Phantom Ranch. What a busy place with hikers, mule riders, and river rafters coming and going. Took Bonnie’s picture under the thermometer near the campground bridge. It read 120 degrees. We took site No.3 on the creek side of the trail and spent the rest of the afternoon soaking in the creek. We had Pad Tai freeze dry dinner. We will try not to buy that again. Too many competing tastes and too spicy. After dinner we walked down to the boat beach and put our toes in the Colorado River. It was running quite brown and so there was no temptation to jump in. We then went a ranger talk about bats. It was humorous and interesting. Of the 38 species of bats in North America, 36 eat bugs. Great. The other two each fruit. None drink blood. We had seen 3 dead or dying bats on the trail. We went to bed about 8:30 but slept poorly due to the heat. Neither zipper on the tent would go past half way so we were completely vulnerable to bugs, but had fortunately no problems. Time for a new tent.

Up to Indian Garden, Wednesday
Arose at 5am and were on the trail by 6:40. First two miles are up and down and sandy. The trail gives up all the elevation you gain. We were passed by the “Bat” ranger from last night’s talk. We passed him as he stopped to help some other hikers. We took a refreshing break in the shade next to Pipe Creek. Bonnie soaked her bandana. We were in 100% shade until 8:45 and then in and out of the shade all the way up to IG. Again we stopped for 15 minutes after hiking each hour. The middle third of the trail is swithch backing through the schist and granite. Seeps in the schist supported pools with tadpoles. As we broke into the Tapeats Sandstone, we rejoined Pipe Creek and enjoyed the resulting plants, trees and birds. We took a 45 minute break, and might have even napped a bit. Flies make a decent nap difficult.

We met the “Bat” ranger. He was coming down but he had never passed us on the trail. He got a chuckle from our quizzical looks and explained that he had come up an old trail along the old pipeline over by Plateau Point. He says some climbing is required.

We were into IG by 11:20am. Few sites were occupied at that point. We had lunch at our shady campsite. Bonnie washed her hair. Norm walked out to Plateau Point. With no pack and on level ground, it seemed like quite a short hike. It got cold and windy and rained big drops for just a few minutes. Nice pictures of the morning’s climb as well as Horn Creek Rapid where Norm’s raft flipped in 1994. Definitely worth the walk. Bonnie was alarmed by the weather change and pulled some of the gear back under the shelter.

Didn’t see very many people on the trail today. The first couple seemed to have a day on the beach in mind since they were carrying a patio umbrella. We passed three women who were soaking in Pipe Creek. They asked if hysterical laughter was a sign of heat stroke. Caught up with a young woman who clearly had a “bad” knee. Her friend was carrying both packs. We still couldn’t keep up with them. The three hysterical women arrived in camp at about 4:30. Two of them had some of the third woman’s gear. They were still having a good time. They all collapsed and fell asleep by 6pm but then woke up about midnight and made dinner.

We had Chicken Teriyaki with Wild Rice but Norm wasn’t Wild about it. Bonnie shared an orange to improve the meal. Nothing is as good as an orange in the desert. We shared Norm’s melted Toblerone Chocolate for dessert while we played Trivia. We took a walk around the campground, and enjoyed the cooler temperature. Due to the rain we hung the packs inside the shelter instead of on the varmit-proof hanger. Norm spotted a mouse in the roof beams but in the morning there was no sign that the mouse had bothered the packs. All of the food and garbage was in the ammo boxes provided by the NPS. All three campgrounds provided ammo boxes.

On to the South Rim, Thursday
We awoke to overcast skies. We hoped for the overcast to stick around but not yield any rain. We started playing “tag” with a younger couple from Austin TX. We took each other’s pictures. We saw many day hikers with a great array of clothing, water and food supplies or lack thereof. We met a young couple who were dressing in black and who had no food or water. They were already beyond Mile-and-a Half House. They assumed there would be a store at Indian Gardens. We encouraged them to turn around soon and Bonnie gave them her plastic bottle with some water.

Norm had just mentioned jokingly, “When we meet the Grandmother from India carrying a baby, we are almost at the top”, when we met a middle aged couple from India. They had hiked all the way beyond Three-Mile House, in street shoes and long pants but they did not have a baby. We rested just beyond Mile-and-a-Half House. Norm looked down the side of the slope and saw two, unopened one pound cans of Spam. He imitated a girl saying “I just can’t carry them any farther.” Bonnie pointed out that no girl would be carrying Spam, so they must have been abandoned by a guy. We had a good laugh. We passed a group who was doing trail maintenance. We thanked them. We met another volunteer in a ranger shirt, who was hiking the trail to assist and to keep people from trying to do more than they could actually do. We suggested he look for the couple in black. They eventually caught up with us and passed us going up. They had wisely turned around soon after we met them the first time. Near the top we heard, “Why is the trail muddy. It hasn’t rained.” Thank the mules for that. We met a total of five mule trains, all at spots where it was easy for us to get out of the way. We spotted the petroglyphs, up on the left before the second tunnel. We reached the trailhead sign which is a mandatory photograph, but there was no one there to take out picture. Bonnie heard voices above and she asked a person to come down and take our picture. We got our picture, but it started to rain right at that moment. We hustled up to Bright Angel Lodge before we got too wet. We looked for Rim-to-Rim T shirts but couldn’t find them in our sizes.

We ran into the Austin couple at the showers near the Mather Campground. Norm gave Bonnie 4 quarters for the shower. Too bad the price had gone up to 6 quarters. We had lunch in Tusayan and were on the highway by 3 and down to Phoenix by 6:30.

California - Lost Coast

2008-07-28T20:14:00.000-04:00

California Coast - Lost Coast Trail

Jerry and Norm

May 1 – 6, 2004

Resources

The Hiker’s Guide to the Humboldt Coast, Bob Lorentzen, Bored Feet Press

The Hiker’s Guide to the Mendocino Coast, Bob Lorentzen, Bored Feet Press

Both books include maps.

High & Low Tides, Lost Coast Trail Transport Service, Roxanne@saber.net or http://gofishingforum.net/tide.pl?location=Shelter%20Cove%2c%20California&state=CA&lat=40.0333&lon=124.0667– Note, there are points where passage is much more difficult or impossible at high tide, so tides must be included in your planning.

Trails of the Lost Coast (map), Winderness Press

Other Lost Coast information including information on bear cans, shuttles, permits, trails, camping, etc. at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/arcata/kingrange/index.html

We arranged to be picked up by the shuttle at the Usal Creek in the Sinkyone State Park. We flew to San Francisco, rented a car, and drove north about four hours to Leggett where we left 101 and went towards the coast on Highway 1. We enjoyed the giant redwoods including the Chandelier Tree which is so large that a car can drive through it.

Day 1 Shuttle, Mattole River to Randall Creek – Roxanne picked us up at the Usal Creek as scheduled at 7am. We put the car in a shady spot at the foot of the trail. Roxanne drove the winding roads up to the Mattole River. She stopped at the DNR where we got our permit and borrowed our Bear Cans to protect half of the food. She agreed to drop off the other half of our food and pick up the Bear Cans in a few days at the store above Shelter Cove. What service! Roxanne told us about life in Shelter Cove with her three sons and life as a shuttle driver. Driving in the coastal mountains on the winding roads requires new brake pads and shoes every 3,000 miles. This cuts into the shuttle profits. Due to the mountains and the curving roads, the trip was over four hours.

We were walking by 11:45. We took a slight sort cut and so we did not head directly for the beach. When we got to the beach we saw signs of sea life immediately in the form of a sting ray on the beach. We had lunch before we reached the light house and enjoyed the first of many sea lions frolicking in the surf.

We walked in black sand all day. Along the way we saw mammoth stumps which we assume must be redwoods based on the size. We stopped at 6:30. We walked beyond the tide issues at Sea Lion Gulch and actually further than we had planned. The camp sites at Cooksie creek, where we intended to stop, were occupied so we kept going to Randall Creek which made it a 8.7 mile day. The good site at Randall Creek was also taken but we found a workable site back up the creek a little way. After we set up our tent we found out there would have been nice spots up on the bluff, where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. In hindsight, I’m not sure why we didn’t just find a spot on the beach.

Day 2 – to Big Flat and Shipman Creek -Soon after leaving Randall Creek the trail left the beach and went up. This well packed soil was easier walking than the sand. In the morning there was picturesque fog floating above the ocean. The meadows we crossed were filled with bright yellow California Poppies which were beautiful. Later we saw hundreds of white morning glories. There are huge piles of driftwood including many large logs and stumps. People have used the driftwood to make camping shelters right above the beach. The trail comes pretty close to the shoreline and you can see the waves crashing onto this drift wood. Beautiful. We crossed several creeks either by stepping stones, climbing over dead trees or just wading. The most surprising things of the day occurred at Big Flats, where the trail leads up to an actual landing strip. We know it is actual because we had to get off the strip when we saw a plane coming down right at us! As we left the Big Flats area we passed a couple of nude sun bathers. Bottoms Up! There were several other people there, properly clad, and there is a large house at Big Flats.

We found a nice campsite among the old logs at Shipman Creek, making the day about 10 miles. We made a small fire from driftwood and saw whales swimming by. Again we were between tide issues as planned.

Day 3 – On to Shelter Cove and UP to the Hidden Valley Trail - We awoke to a cool and wet world due to heavy fog. We walked all the way to Shelter Cove on the black sand beach. We saw hundreds of seals floating in the water, star fish on the shore and whales passing by. We took pause (or would it be paws) when we saw clear bear tracks in the sand. They seemed to be about six inches across and about eighteen inches apart. I guess the bear cans were worth the trouble. There were a few more creek crossings. The final stretch is open to vehicle traffic so there were tire tracks. We saw only one vehicle. We also saw a dedicated young surfer who was carrying a surfboard and a back pack evidently bound for Big Flats which is reputed to have some good waves. That’s about a 10 mile walk.

We reached the first Shelter Cove parking area at lunch time so we ate and napped on the beach before starting the climb through civilization. We then walked up the road, and at the first intersection we hitched a ride “to the store”. To our horror, the truck took us downhill not uphill. He took us to the only store he knew of. When we asked about our food at the store, all we got was very blank stares. Wrong Store! We started walking back uphill again. There wasn’t much conversation. Luckily we hitched another ride in another pickup and this time we made sure we would get dropped off at the right store. This store had the door on the left as described by Roxanne and our food was waiting for us. We left the bear cans so Roxanne could return them for us. What service! We had some cool snacks and drinks and started uphill again. That is one long hill especially in the heat of the afternoon, exposed to the sun. We failed to hitch a ride on this leg. The road is quite steep so it discourages drivers from stopping. We were relieved to get to the shade of Chemise Mountain Road which led us to the Hidden Valley Trailhead which is clearly marked. After another few miles we settled on a campsite on the saddle of a ridge. It turned out to be windy as the evening unfolded. We didn’t find the site until 7:30. That is one long day; probably 13+ miles.

Day 4 – To Bear Harbor - Being away from the shore, we awoke to a dry tent which was nicer and lighter. We were on the trail by 8:30. We began the pattern of giving up and then working to regain elevation; down, down, down. There are breathtaking views from the high elevations of the shoreline going south. We passed a home site that had only been started, with steel beams, a roof and floor but no walls. Things like that always cause us to ponder the story of the place and the people. About lunch time we approached Whale Gulch and passed a huge beam. It made us wonder about the story of the beam and how it could have been transported to that location. It didn’t seem possible to get there with any sort of vehicle. We met a Boy Scout troop going north. We lunched in the shade near the creek in Whale Gulch. We walked through our first big redwood grove. A short walk brought us to the Needle Rock overlook and Park where we napped on a picnic table, and then walked down a gravel road to the visitor center. There we were welcomed by the resident volunteers who gave us iced tea, advice on ticks and information on abalone. One can volunteer to live at the visitor center for a week or two. It is a quaint cabin on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. What a spot!

We walked on down the road to Bear Harbor Campground which can also be reached by car. We set up camp and walked down to the harbor. There are huge (Cluster Cone) rocks where the waves explode. We climbed on the rocks for a couple of hours enchanted by the sights and sounds. We learned that the next day would be very special due to an extremely low tide that would allow easier access to the abalone which live below the water line on these rocks.

Back at camp we saw elk hanging around the out house. There were beautiful calla lilies growing in the stream. We made another driftwood camp fire.

Day 5 – Wheeler and the Jack Ass Creeks - We hung around to see the abalone harvest and hundreds of starfish, which were exposed by the low tide. We couldn’t see either of these sights in Michigan or in the Grand Canyon.

On the trail by 8:30. The plants along the trail were very wet and so were our pants within moments. Don’t you hate that? The trail stays away from the shore and deep in the woods where we saw many very large redwoods including those in Schoolmarm Grove just as we reached Jackass Creek and Wheeler. Wheeler looks like a town which could happen but in fact it is a town that already happened. It is abandoned. You can see where the streets and individual home sites were. We had lunch by the creek and napped on a picnic table. The rest of the Lost Coast Trail has the pattern of a steep and long climb, some relatively level travel, and steep a descent to a point where you can access the ocean followed by another steep and long climb, then repeat. Our final descent was steep and down to Little Jackass Creek which we reached at about 3:30. 9 plus miles for the day.

We occupied a nice site on the beach with some benches and an outhouse near by. We saw whales jumping and breaching. Eventually two fellows set up a camp on the black sand beach (our beach). We chatted with them. One fellow seemed to have a superiority complex somehow related to his knowledge of the ocean from sailing and from being a California resident. I talked about the tides and the tide schedule. Even with all his knowledge he didn’t have a tide table or seem to know why he might need one on this hike. Score one for the bumpkins from Michigan. We found our first ticks tonight.

Day 6 – Back to the Car - As we left camp we saw a deer near the outhouse. Not sure where they came from but two fellows took our camp site before we were even over the first hill. We saw many slugs but even from the high points we saw no more whales. The trail is up and down including descents into Northport, Anderson and Dark Gulch. We started to say we “must be about an hour from the car” much too early. That really makes the day long. At Dark Gulch we wanted to take a break but did not find any trail to the beach or any camp sites. After Dark Gulch we had a rest stop on a high point and were joined by Kevin who was hiking North by himself. He had been on hikes for some months now. His only food was porridge so he was happy to take some of our extra food off our hands including steak bites, M&Ms and Gorp. He was marginally equipped. He had been to college and was married but seemed to be out trying to “find himself”. This part of the trail has its own wild flowers. We saw Foxglove plants taller than we were. Eventually the trail started a winding descent to the Usal Creek area and right back to our car. We cleaned up in Usal Creek and drove to Leggit for iced tea and ice cream, and then on to Willits for a motel and our traditional steak dinner at the Purple Thistle. Due to some long days we finished a day early. On day 7 we drove back to San Francisco and visited Pier 39, had fresh sourdough bread and rode the cable car to China Town. We have done four total hikes outside the Grand Canyon and this is our favorite of the four.

Grand Canyon - Nankoweap Trail

2008-07-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

Jerry, Jim (first GC backpacking trip), John, Norm

May 25 - June 2, 1997

Research for this trip included the Sierra Club Hiking the Grand Canyon, a description provided by the National Park Service with our permit and the on-line trip report written by Bob Ribokas. The basic plan was to hike to the river in 2 days, explore down there for a couple days and hike out in 2 days. As noted below, younger hikers could probably cover this ground in less time.

Getting There

Everyone flew TWA through St. Louis except Norm who had a frequent flyer with Southwest. He arrived later, but this gave the other fellows time to rent the van and eat lunch. We headed out of Las Vegas immediately, and stopped at KMart in St. George, Utah to get LP Gas and water. We needed 3 gallons per person. One for before and after the trip and 1 for the first day and a half of hiking down, and one to cache for the final day out. We couldn't figure out how we would carry the extra gallon, but decided to strap on an extra stuff sack on the outside of our packs and carry small bottles in there.

As usual, we arrived at the rim just as the sun set. We were again awed by the Canyon. Jerry assured Jim it would be fun. We then got back into the van and backtracked to find a camp site. All of them at the rim were taken. At about dark we found an excellent site with good smooth tent sites. Our levels of hunger varied so we did not cook a regular meal. Jerry and Norm were not tired so they went for a walk up the road. It was so dark they could hardly find the camp sites on the way back. It was probably about freezing based on how we felt in the morning but none of the water was frozen. We all had to sort through our stuff to organize and minimize. We left all the year old, and heavy 4 person meals in the van.

Down to Tilted Mesa

As we parked at the trail head, two men struck up a conversation. They had hiked down the Nankoweap trail. We were organizing our extra water and the fellows told us the dripping spring was running. We promptly each removed a liter bottle or just dumped out a liter from a canteen. We were feeling the weight of the full packs and the extra water.

There is no road to the official Nankoweap trail head. You must hike down National Forest trail 57 which was well marked, complete with a check in box. It was quite up and down, and more demanding than the trail guides indicated. The trip definitely starts right at the car; not at the Nankoweap trail head. Trail 57 goes up to a point which is higher than the car, and then down. It climbs up onto limestone, and descends through the Coconino and Hermits, although they are pretty well covered with the pine forest. There are some excellent views to the Northeast. You could probably see all the way to the Vermillion Cliffs and Page on a clear day. There is an alternative and starting at the north end of NF trail 57 is more demanding, but it provides easier and quicker access to the North Rim stores, and restaurants. This trail is demanding enough that we took our first long Out of Pack Experience (OOPE) before even reaching the Nankoweap trailhead. We ended up under a large pine tree with some sort of sign. It was perched next the edge of the rim, with nice sloping hill toward the canyon.

At the Nankoweap trailhead we ran into a lone hiker who had split up from his partner. They had been bushwhacking and he decided it was too hard so they split up. He was pretty well bushed, and could not seem to find and stay on trail 57 back to the rim. John had to lead him a little way to get him started. The trail through the Esplanade was a quick descent (seemed quick going down anyway). Jim seemed to enjoy it at this point but asked if we had done anything like this on the other trails. It is much like the other trails in the steep cliffy layers. (Much later we learned this pretty much “pegged his adventure meter” and he wondered what he had gotten himself into.) Once we were into the red layers of the Supai, the trail basically stayed at the same elevation, not to be confused with the trail actually being level of course. This part of the trail contours around following the Supai. It contours and contours, and contours for about 7 hours. After rounding Marion Point we found the dripping spring. It was dripping at a rate that might have given enough water for a couple people if they wanted to take a long, long rest there. We didn't have the time required to wait for a liter for each of us. It was truly just dripping.

Soon after leaving this disappointment, a new water plan became clear. We would not be able to cache 2 liters per person at Tilted Mesa, rather we would have to use all we had to get down to Nankoweap creek and we would have to carry that much back up for the two days it would take us to get out. Oh, well, at least most of the food would be eaten by then. The whole 7 hours was "near the edge''. Norm looked for those few spots which were shaded, not near the edge and also wide enough so Jerry would be comfortable. Fortunately, there were enough of these spots. Norm started to read the trail description at the rest stops but it sounded more alarming than informative so he just put it away and did not read any more that day.

We all remembered that the ''scary spot'' was up ahead somewhere after Marion point. We didn't discuss it. Then, we saw it. It does drop off to the right. The trail does hug completely up to the cliff wall on the left. Fortunately, the cliff wall is not strictly vertical, and there is room to lean away from the abyss, and there are some rocks to touch on the left. The exposure is only about 15 feet long. Norm did not stop until we were well past it. We all relaxed a little knowing the worst was finally behind us. Norm recounted what he had read about the horse thieves bringing horses up this trail and the crazy notion of the Park Service herding deer from the North to South rims on this trail. We all got a good laugh on both counts.

We had planned to stop at Tilted Mesa to camp and knew when we got to the two little cliffs with the trees we would be almost there. At the first one, we removed our packs to make it simple to get down. With four of us it was simple to station a person at each level and just hand them down.

No rope required in for this trip. Soon after the first cliff, we found an excellent, large, flat camp site with about 300 degrees of panoramic view. We lost the trail here, took off our packs to make it easier to explore. By the time we found the trail we had all concluded this was too good a camp site to pass up. Altitude wise we were just above the south rim and could still see the Navaho reservation land. Norm looked for the Horse Thief Trail, hoping we could take it to or from Kwagunt Creek on our “rest” day. It was not obvious where it would be, but it was obvious that it would be very demanding, and very exposed to the sun. That option didn’t seem very attractive. Jerry made lasagna and corn. We played about 5 pages of trivia. Jim and John set up a tent, and Norm and Jerry slept under the stars. It was cool so they wore about all of their clothes and wore scarves on their heads. We all slept well after the strenuous day.

Tilted Mesa to the Creek and to the River

Norm and Jerry awoke to a beautiful, red sun rise. We hit the trail at 7:15 expecting to get to the second cliff quickly. By the time we were into the Red Wall, we started to think Nankoweap the trail must have been changed since Bob Ribokas's trip. We did not encounter a second cliff with or without a tree. The descent started off in the shade which made it more pleasant.

This stretch is about 97% DOWN. The trail seems much better than the 1992 National Park Service description. Indeed there have been trail improvements. No scree slopes. There was clear evidence of steps being cut into the shale, and stone steps being placed into some steep places.

We wish to give a huge THANK YOU to the park service or the volunteers for this work. The constant DOWN was hard on Jim's knee so Jerry and John took some of his load. Jim took it slow and steady and we enjoyed the morning. Jim lamented that he had hoped it would be possible to shuffle down the trail, but it was too steep and too rugged for shuffling. As we came through the Muav, we could see the trail on the edge of the drop offs in the Bright Angel Shale. Eventually we could see and then hear the water in the creek. We were not empty but were getting pretty low on water in our bottles. As we neared the creek, John counted eight people going up the creek past were we would meet it. River runners we assumed.

We reached the creek and John immediately started pumping right after he took off his boots and soaked his feet. Norm changed into sandals and went for a wade. Jim and Jerry also enjoyed the creek. We sat under the shade of a huge cottonwood tree and had a leisurely lunch, then napped, shared weight loss theories, and bathed. It was an Oasis in the desert. Norm predicted that Jerry would become bored within an hour or so, but we stayed for about two and a half hours. We even considered eating dinner there before going for the river.

Two more people walked up the creek and we learned they were college students ''suffering for science", studying geology. They had two motorized rafts and a cook. The tied up at various points along the river to study. The young ladies in the group did not seem to appreciate the ''king'' on the expedition, based on the comments we overheard.

We eventually started down for the river. Norm and Jerry waded in the creek in their Tevas. John and Jim stuck to the trial in their boots. Norm learned that hiking in sand is fine in boots. Hiking in the river is fine in Tevas or boots, but hiking in the desert in Tevas is the pits. The sand gets under the straps and is like sand paper on the skin. After making it about two thirds of the way, Norm and Jerry put their boots back on and we stuck to the trail. The walk to the river is very pleasant, and late in the afternoon we had plenty of shade. Much of the trip is through the Muav layer with its nice horizontal layers and ledges. (We had already been through the Muav on the

North side of the creek but there seems to be a fault where the creek is since the same layer is lower on the South side of the creek. We could see the wall of the main canyon ahead where Nankoweap creek empties into the Colorado. We could not tell how far away it was. Several of the geologists caught up with us as we neared the river. We asked one pair how far it was to the river. One said, "farther than it looks. The other said ''not too far, you came down the Nankoweap trail, right". Sort of half empty, half full. They were both right. The young lady geologists told John and Jim that we were an inspiration. It was exactly what a young woman had told us in 1995 at Deer Creek, so John thought is was a gag Jerry had set up, but it wasn't.

Instead of just following the creek to the river, we got out when we saw a clear cairn. The trail led us over the desert, through the tammies and to a large, flat, campsite right next to the creek.

There were benches made of drift wood and flat rocks for cooking. Getting from the cottonwood to the river took a couple of hours with a couple of long OOPES. John and Jim had Spicy Chicken which increased their desire to hydrate. Jerry and Norm had pasta primavera which was excellent except for the noodles which remained crunchy. Freeze Dried Recipe - The water must boil, and the stuff must be thoroughly stirred. We had enjoyed the rest at the cottonwood so long that there was little light by the time dinner was done. The sounds of the creek and the river muffled the snoring.

Little Nankoweap, the Green Tarp, the Granaries

We awoke in the shade of the eastern wall. Jim and Norm did some laundry in the river, where they could use soap. Jim was amazed at how cold the water is. It hurts. Jim, Jerry, and Norm took a side hike up Little Nankoweap canyon. It is narrower and has several spots where it is blocked with chock stones. They had fun climbing over these spots. Jim felt he was straining his knee so found a nice notch in the rocks with shade where he could just relax. Norm and Jerry went a couple chock stones further. As always we could not quite figure out how we had gotten up a couple places and had to find new routes down. In hind sight, it would have been a good idea for all four of us to plan to spend the day up there. It is narrow and windy enough that it would be easy to find shade all day if one is willing to move now and then. As we ran out of water we arrived back at camp, which was now totally exposed to the sun, and the temperature seemed to be at new highs. John had rigged the green tarp in a tree so it gave enough shade for all four of us if we worked at it. We lunched and read and napped. When the sun had moved enough, John flipped the tarp within the tree and we had shade for another hour or more. When we decided that the granaries and the trail up to them was mostly in shade we hiked off to see them. Jim stopped at the bottom and waited in the shade of a boulder. There were no boating parties climbing, so we had the trail to ourselves. As we climbed we saw a motor rig near our camp site. It seemed to be sitting in an eddy waiting for something. It would move slowly down stream and then pause. We learned later they were fishing. This boat beached a quarter mile down river from the main Nankoweap beach. The granaries trail is steep, and worn, but we made it. John and Jerry did not like the exposure right at the top so they stopped short. Norm went all the way up. As we walked back to our camp, we begged some water from the geologist's cook.

Day at the beach, and in the sun in Nankoweap canyon.

During breakfast John prepared Norm a surprise birthday party. He made a ''cake'' by stacking two granola bars and inserting a candle. He then blew up a balloon. As he walked and sang happy birthday, the cake fractured, the candle fell over and popped the balloon. We laughed a long time over that. Norm really appreciated the thought and John carrying that stuff all the way to the bottom of the Grand Canyon! As planned we hung around camp until the sun reached us. We did not want to squander the precious shade. We read, and pondered the river. When the sun reached us we walked over to the nice sandy beach and bathed. It felt good to get cool (boy that is an understatement), and clean. We then climbed under the shade of the tammies for a nap. Before heading back to camp we took one more dip. We watched several boat loads of river runners climb up to the granaries. It was nice we had the trail to ourselves the prior day.

We hiked back to camp, picked up our packs and headed up Nankoweap creek, headed for cottonwood camp again. We were in the heat of the day this time, and later we learned that it was probably about 100 degrees although we didn't even consult the thermometer John was carrying.

We went slowly and enjoyed every bit of shade we could find. There was precious little of it. At the first spot under a boulder, we had lunch. John gave Norm his birthday present which was a can of spray Cheez Whiz. Boy, did it taste good on Jerry's bread sticks. Norm shared it, of course. We left this spot and were back into the sun. After about an hour we finally reached the second shady spot, which was between two leaning boulders. Jerry is normally nervous about being under boulders but he did not argue about this bit of shade. At one point Jerry and Norm stayed in the creek bed while John and Jim followed the trail. They found the grapes referred to in the write ups. Eventually we got back up to the target area. Just before we reached the cottonwood camp, we spotted a larger and flatter camp site we had totally missed on the way down to the river. It was shady and welcome, with a large dammed up bathing pool. We grabbed the spot, and John filtered water into every single bottle (8 Gallons). We read and napped and recovered from the hike in the heat. Norm hiked around a little to see if he could find the foot of the horse thief trail. No Luck. Jerry gave Norm his second birthday gift; a gourmet salted cracker and pretzel snack mix. It tasted good with the Cheez Whiz. Jerry kept what was left. Both John and Jerry had packages of beef stroganoff. Jerry still had not made up the Raspberry cobbler so Norm was going to get to carry it back up to Tilted Mesa. We ran into the geologists again and learned they were moving down to Kwagut Creek the next day. Suffering for Science – Right? After dinner and in the cooler evening shade we took a walk up the creek. John chatted with a couple of young fellows were going to find and take the Horse Thief Trail over to Kwagut the next day. They had come all the way to the creek from the rim that day, so perhaps they could do the Horse Thief Trail. We played trivia by flash light.

As we played we noticed something darting around. Norm eventually caught it in the flash light. It was a mouse. It seemed pretty used to people since it was not intimidated by us or our flash light. Jerry and Norm hung their packs on tree branches, and John and Jim hung their food in stuff sacks. We could only get 5 out of 6 trivia questions correct, so we settled for that and went to sleep. The clouds cleared so we were confident it would not rain, and we would not need the tent.

Satisfying Climb to Tilted Mesa

Jerry awoke first and as per agreement did not delay in getting us going. We wanted to get as far in the cool of the morning as possible. Norm found the mouse inside his pack when he unzipped it. Even when exposed, the mouse did not seem too alarmed, and hung around for several seconds. There was a small new hole in the Granola bag but nothing else seemed bothered. We filled every bottle again, and were off by 6:30, about 45 minutes early for us.

The trail was UP immediately and pretty constant, except for the short level parts in the Bright Angel Shale; pretty much as we had remembered it from the trip down, except maybe steeper. We again appreciated the trail improvement work. Norm said Thank you on every step in the most improved sections. There were few points where we had to give up any elevation or progress toward Tilted Mesa. After a short time we were in the sun again. We took advantage of many seemingly small spots of shade under tiny trees and overhangs. Both Norm and Jerry called for OOPEs to clear their heads. We were not scrimping on the water, because we knew we needed it to be healthy. As we neared the top of the Red Wall we looked for the trees, then the branches, and then finally the leaves on the branches. Because of the way the layers are eroded we ended up going through the process three times before we were finally up on Tilted Mesa. It took only 4 hours. The 120+ training trips up the big hill in Michigan had helped after all. As we entered the Supai, Jerry spotted a wonderful shady spot, so we stopped there. We knew the Tilted Mesa camp site was very exposed to the sun, so we were happy to find this spot. It was probably the one we had intended to reach for camping on the way down, but had stopped above at the larger, more level site. We ate lunch, drank plenty, napped, and read. We shared the last orange any of us had, and finished the Pringles and the cheese. Norm got out the map and compass and tried to identify all the major landmarks he could see. We were in the over flight zone, and while we could hear the planes they were not too bothersome. John recounted his conversation with the young fellows at cottonwood camp. When he told them our goal was only to reach Tiled Mesa, they asked what we would do the rest of the day. John told them we would rest, and so we did. We stayed there about 4 hours, and then slipped one by one up to the camp site. When Norm arrived, John and Jerry had already erected the tarp for shade and Jerry was enjoying Norm's birthday present again. Norm climbed up about 3 layers of the Supai to get a clear view to the river, down Little Nankoweap canyon. He realized that we could not see Marion point from the river, but did find the formation we had spotted. He could pick out the formations in the Red Wall which were directly across from the river camp site.

We were greeted and surprised by two women who were camped a little ways above us right at the first cliff with a tree. They only remained for a moment seeming to honor our solitude and treasure their own. We could neither see nor hear each other. We split a 2 man beef stew three ways, had corn and finally had the raspberry cobbler. (Jerry, the water really has to be boiling.) The beef was pretty chewy, but the corn was as good as frozen corn is. We were hungry later. We played trivia for a long time by flashlight but there was plenty of juice in Norm's solar flashlight. We again had to settle for 5 of 6. Norm promised to throw this third of the book away. As we enjoyed the stars there seemed to be airplanes everywhere, even 4 at once. We could also see lights moving on the Navajo reservation.

Contouring, contouring, NFS Trail 57

We awoke to another pretty sunrise on Tilted Mesa, and were on the trail early again. We seemed to surprise and perhaps awoke the young women who had their tents set up right on the trail above the cliff with the tree. We climbed up with our packs on which probably had much to do with being at the start of the hike instead of the end. Because of the early start almost the entire hike to Marion point was in the shade. We stopped a few times but made good time. We did not even see the ''dripping'' spring this time. (Maybe we should have'?) Norm kept quoting Bob Ribokas ''and in many places the trail is only one food print wide". Jerry and John voted 2 to 1 that he should stop. We marveled at the person(s) who had done this trail in the mud. They had gone both up and down, based on the foot prints. Anyway, their foot prints surely made our walk more secure because of the great, stable stepping points they left. Norm got off the trail a few times, but remembered what Bob Ribokas had said about the trail going right through the bushes at times. Long pants are a must on this section. We gave up trying to look far ahead and find the trail. The trail will lead you to the trail, and there is little use of looking for it until you get there.

After Marion Point we were anxious to get past the scary part but we did not discuss it. Going ''up'' the scary part comes immediately after rounding a point, so you can not see it until you are crossing it. This seems better, as you don't build up extra anxiety.

After hours of contouring, we finally started back up through the Esplanade.

It had seemed so short going down, but seemed so long going up. Norm thought the spot with the rocks on the logs was near the top, but there was plenty of UP left even at that point. When we got to the NFS trail 57 we had a small celebration of Norm hooting and banging the trail head sign, but we knew we had plenty of ''trip'' left to get to the van. We stopped under the same shady tree to have lunch. We spread our mats and attempted naps but the flies drove us nuts, so off we went again. We were clearly low on water now. Norm innocently commented on the water he had washed with on Tilted Mesa thinking about how it would be nice to have those extra swallows in the canteen. John took mercy and shared an extra swallow from his bottle. The trail could easily go around the large hill but it goes directly OVER it, which took us over the limestone, and then back down to the van. Norm stopped to remove our card from the sign in box but it was already gone. He wondered what value these cards might have.

When we reached the van John had only a cup of water left, and Norm, Jim and Jerry were completely out. Jerry fumbled for the key in his pack. Norm was worried! Jerry eventually found it and we drank vast quantities of water from the van. John moved the van so we had a good view and we just luxuriated in the air conditioning and the soft seats and drank water for a while.

We got to the store/filling station near the North Kaibab Lodge, and bought some cold iced tea. We went into the National Park Campground for our showers. Norm had a whole roll of quarters for the showers so we all cleaned up and shaved. Jim made dinner reservations at the lodge. We had plenty of time before the reservation so we browsed, rocked in the rocking chairs and gazed at the canyon. We had steaks and prime rib, which we enjoyed immensely. We found no spots in the regular camp ground so headed back to the open camping in the National Forest. We followed a shorter road and ended up on the rim at a different spot. Darkness was falling as we pulled in. We guessed that the lights we could see from there were probably from Page. The mosquitoes were terrible, but we were not sleepy so we played trivia in the van. After turning in and about an hour of sleep, two trucks with radios blaring did a couple of laps through the campground. Jerry (and consequently Norm) did not sleep well after that. Jerry eventually left to sleep in the van. They both slept better from that point on.

Breakfast Buffet and Las Vegas

As per Bob Ribokas's recommendation we had breakfast at the Kaibab lodge. It was very handy and the food was fine. We all probably kept eating after we were no longer hungry. Its tough to turn down bacon after backpacking food for a week. Jerry and John took turns driving and we all took turns sleeping. We arrived at the Four Queens Hotel in Las Vegas at about noon but could not get into our rooms until 1PM. We had some pizza for lunch and Jerry dropped a lot of quarters into the slot machines. For supper, we had Chinese, which was very good. Norm made $30 last about 45 minutes at the roulette table, and the other 3 played video poker at several casinos on the strip. Jerry learned the value of doubling (value for the casinos, that is). We arose before 5 to get to the airport.

Backpacking Resources

2008-07-12T16:37:00.000-04:00

Books

Hiking the Grand Canyon, A Sierra Club Totebook by John Annerino

Grand Canyon Loop Hikes I and II, by George Steck, Chockstone Press

Grand Canyon Treks by Harvey Butchart, La Siesta Press

Maps

Grand Canyon National Park Trails Illustrated Topo Maps (waterproof, shows use areas and popular trails)

USGS Topographical Maps - http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/

Web Resources

GRAND CANYON Explorer - http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/ - This web site was created and continues to be maintained out of a labor of love with the Grand Canyon by Bob Ribokas. This is one of the best web sites I have ever visited on any subject! Follow the links to Hiking and Backpacking.

Grand Canyon Treks - http://www.grandcanyontreks.org/

Hit the Trail - http://www.hitthetrail.com/ - Dedicated to helping those planning a trip to Grand Canyon and the southwestern United States.

GPS Coordinate Converter - http://boulter.com/gps/ - convert from any of the three GPS formats into any other format.

GPS Coordinate Distance Calculator - http://boulter.com/gps/distance/

Grand Canyon - North Bass Trail and Merlin’s Abyss

2008-07-07T11:58:00.000-04:00

North Bass Trail and Merlin’s Abyss
May 1996

Flying and driving

Jerry and John arrived at Norm's EARLY. Norm wasn't prepared for this shock. Trina had coffee for the drive to the airport and muffins for the trip on Southwest Airlines. Southwest couldn't find Jerry and Norm in the reservation computers so the agent had to make them exceptions and then they boarded. That was the first moment of nail biting for the day. We had one stop and then a second to change planes. As we flew over the Grand Canyon the pilot notified us to look to the left and then mentioned the 3 passengers who would be climbing down into it. As we landed, the stewardess sang a song to the tune of She'll Be Coming ‘round the Mountain When She Comes." It's fun to fly Southwest. As we left the plane the copilot grilled us about where we had hiked and where we were going. He seemed to wish he could go with us.

Our bags came off quickly and we picked up the car. Norm was a co-driver this year since he made it a point to bring his driver's license. We grabbed a McDonalds on the way out of Las Vegas and only stopped in St. George long enough to buy LP gas, water and one bottle of peach water for Jerry at K-Mart. In Fredonia, we bought gas for the car, one more gallon of water, oranges, and a Bic lighter (which seemed to only get used once before it ended up “somewhere in the bottom" of Jerry's pack.) We were stopped on the highway by the National Forest Service to warn us about the fire danger restrictions. We had to stop at the Forest Service office to get a special permit to drive on their back roads. We had to promise we would not camp in the National Forest. The woman kept asking "Now you're not going to camp on us?" She insisted that she see our National Park back country permit. She didn't have her glasses and we didn't give her too close a look since the permit did not include the current date. This was the final moment of nail biting for the day. (Omit here the long story about how Jerry forgot two of his daughters were graduating from college this spring, and we had to reschedule the trip to dates not covered by our permit.)

Norm drove about 30 miles of National Forest dirt roads. Every time we turned onto a different road, it was worse than the last. When we passed through the gate into the National Park on Swamp Point road the tire tracks got very deep and the crown very high. Norm went slowly to assure the middle of the car was not over the crown. Norm even stopped once to verify he could miss a collection of embedded rocks. Jerry ended up behind the wheel and progress picked up. Jerry feels that greater velocity makes it possible to be airborne over the rocks.

At Swamp Point there but there was no swamp but were three cars but there were no people. We camped near the car. We had our first MREs of the year to avoid carrying the weight. We arrived well before sunset this year so we got our good view of the Canyon.

Top of North Bass Trail

We arose, had breakfast and finished packing. John had left many decisions until that morning. Being on the rim about to put the pack on for 7 days helped him decide to leave much in the car. We were on the trail by 7:30. The trail reminded us of the Hermit and the New Hance Trails. Our internet information and George Steck's friend reported exposure in the Coconino. We found none. Perhaps you find it if you go over to the spring. We had no need since we had bought all the water we could carry, and had used almost none of it. We did find some brief exposure while crossing open slopes of Hermit Shale were the ''trail'' was exactly one foot print wide. There was more brush here than we had experienced on any other trails. (We hadn't seen anything yet.) Norm enjoyed tracking progress by noting the changes in the rock formations. There was water in White Creek even above the Red Wall drop off. At the drop off we left the creek and followed the trail to the right, over three saddles just as the Sierra Club Trail Guide described. The Redwall scree is very sharp, and so were the bushes on these saddles. (We hadn't seen anything yet.)

After the second descent, we stopped for lunch. I think our legs told us it was time for a long break more than our stomachs told us it was time to eat. We all napped. We all tightened up during the long rest, so the next climb which was immediate was even worse. John followed the trail along the base of a cliff and then down endless, loose, steep switch backs down to the valley floor, and to the Muav. John commented that he would never have guessed the trail went across the bottom of the wall. Harvey Butchert calls that part of the trail ''unlikely".

Norm had provided John and Jerry with photocopies of pages from the Sierra Club Trail Guide, George Steck’s Loop Hikes II, Harvey Butchert's Grand Canyon Treks, some correspondence from the Internet and correspondence directly from George Steck including photographs of the point where we should exit. On this first day we referenced the pages on the North Bass from the SC TG. John had been able to find 7.5 minute topo maps in Phoenix, even though the National Geological Survey Office is out of them. He used his copy dozens of times to make sure we were where we wanted to be.

In the valley floor we met a lone hiker, who turned out to be out in front of the other four in his group. We met two of them near and two of them at the Muav pools. There were several pools, of all sizes and shapes. Some just about bath tub size. Jerry said he was looking for the hot bathes. The other guys laughed. It was only about 3 PM but we were about half way to Bass's camp which was our destination for tomorrow, so we stopped for the day. We waded and washed, and made coffee, and lounged, took our boots off, and made super (mashed potatoes and beef gravy), filtered a couple gallons of water with John's new filter, and generally enjoyed the beautiful spot. Life was good. Norm wasn't anxious to sleep on the ledges thinking about what it would be like if there were a flash flood. We moved up to a small sandy spot just big enough for the two tents right next to each other. Jerry slept under the stars (clouds actually). He and Norm slept fitfully. It sprinkled a little and the wind was up and down. They both woke early and went for walks until John awoke.

Kolb picture spot, wading, and Bass's camp.

We were on the trail again at 7:30. Jerry wasn't feeling too well but didn't complain. We started out going away from the creek to get around water falls in the Muav. There was a little exposure to get Jerry's juices flowing. Our thighs were plenty sore from the first day, and we were doing a little of the "old man shuffle". Eventually we rejoined the creek but there was no water. That made for easy walking. We rested where the creek bed descended into a deep chasm in the Tapeats. The trail led to where the chasm opened up below. We dropped the packs and spent about 30 minutes enjoying the beauty, and the coolness of the spot. We took the same picture the Kolbs had taken 80 years before with the bolder stuck in the top of the chasm. It took us two frames to get our picture. Strangely the water seemed to now go around the chasm. It was almost entirely dry but below that spot the creek had plenty of water in it. At some point we missed the fork in the trail. The other route leaves the creek bed. We were happy that we had stayed in the creek bed to reach this spot.

From the Tapeats we descended down into the Schist. By early afternoon we reached the Shinumo creek confluence. The joint flow made it much harder to stay dry when crossings and just as last year we finally gave up and just waded. We were so close to our destination, it would have been nice to make it with dry feet. We expected to reach Bass's camp just after the confluence, but we had to cross the creek 4 or 5 times and we stopped for one more long break. By studying the maps and book pages we understood that we had not missed it but were just not there yet. We crossed once more, went about 100 yards on nice ledges and entered Bass's camp. People had gathered lots of tools, cook ware, nails, etc and placed them on a few boards for viewing. It was sort of a crude museum. We waded and washed a little in the creek. About a dozen river runners came up to see Bass's camp. The river guide knew quite a bit about Bass. (Later John bought a pamphlet about the Bass trails which had most of what the guide said and much more, and contradicted the guide a little.) They only stayed about 15 minutes. We had MREs again and coffee. At Bass's camp and on at least two boulders we saw the following carved. WL Vaughn, Connor Texas, 5-17-1912. We don't know who WL Vaughn was, but 1912 is about when Bass sold out to the railroad and left the Grand Canyon. It was quite overcast again so we put up the tents. We slept right around Bass's camp.

A Day at the Beach

We awoke to find several nibbles at the packs. Jerry had a new hole in his pack. Norm had nibbles in a couple of zip lock bags. As planned, we found a place to hide our packs and just carried snacks and water and a few other necessities down to the beach. Actually it was up and down to the beach. The trail climbs about 600 feet before it descends to the river. This is required. Following the creek leads to a water fall with a very challenging climb. Without the packs it wasn't too bad. The footing in the quartzite was fine but the trail was almost indistinguishable since the quartzite doesn't wear down.

It was overcast and only occasionally sunny and warm. It rained for a few minutes 3 or 4 times, once for about 10 minutes. A boat pulled in to the beach. We were fearful that we would have to share the beach with a boat party. The oarsman asked if there was a waterfall near by. We waved him on down river. He left with few words and no smile. Jerry had brought sausage, crackers, and cheese dip to share. It hit the spot. Norm climbed around on the Schist for fun. John bathed quickly as one must in the frigid Colorado River. We shared the beach with the finches and squirrels. Norm laid down a cracker crumb trail to bring the boldest one quite close. Norm and John played trivia which put Jerry to sleep.

We could see where the recent man-made "flood" had built up additional silt on the beach. The tamarisk at the water's edge were clearly covered about a foot deep and the water marks were well up the beach on others. We could see silt trapped in the schist several feet above the current water level.

About 2 PM Jerry got so bored that he talked Norm and John into returning to camp. He said we would explore the creek route. On the way back to break the monotony, Norm drew the parallels between the series of projects Bass had in the Canyon and the number of Car Washes Jerry has. Norm told the whole Bass story and then some. After having a cup of coffee at our new camp just below the pack hiding spot, we ended up just lounging around.

Jerry went off to clean up again but found there was no good way to get down to the creek from this camp. We were about 40 vertical feet above it. Norm updated the journal. Norm and John made a Lemon pie with graham cracker crust. We could see the weather coming across the Canyon, and so we had everything covered and the tarps ready to cover us. It rained for only about 10 minutes. We had Lasagna for dinner. This site was away from the Bass artifacts and seemed more private. Due to the rain we put up the tents one more time. This was the only dessert we ate. We also did not eat any of the soups in the large meals for four. Next time we should probably just get entrees for four.

Up Shinumo Creek (Leaving the marked trails)

We had more nibbles on our packs and bags. Norm had tied most of his food up in a tree but something had knocked the bag down and gotten into it a little. John sacrificed a package of crackers which were pretty well beaten up into crumbs anyway. Through some unexplained accident we were on the trail by 6:45. John picked up some cactus needles as we passed through Bass's camp. They were not the last we would pick up. We reached the Shinumo/White confluence in good time without a crossing. By this point the trail was bushy, brushy and bothersome; lots of bushes, bayonet plants, cactus, trees, and dead limbs. We battled the brush and crossed back and forth. Occasionally we'd find a trail to go over a rock outcropping. Once we were off on such a trail, and it kept getting more and more difficult to follow and more steeply uphill. We'd follow it then lose it and then see another cairn and follow it and lose it again. It was steep and loose, and we finally go so high it didn't look like it was really going anywhere we wanted to go. We took a picture of King Arthur's castle from a point few people have probably reached. We wondered if the cairns were laid down as someone got lost and then used to get back down? At the creek we crossed and the going was fine but brushy. (We still hadn't seen anything yet.) We crossed many times getting wet up to our knees. George Steck's friend said they switched to Tevas but we wanted to keep the protection for our feet. Everyone's boots held up just fine, even though they were soaked 4 different days. It was pleasant to be near the water, in the shade of the cottonwood trees. We all found our way into cactus at one point or another. Norm had to take his pants off to get some out from inside. Jerry got a needle in his tongue by biting needles out of his hand. We took a long rest on some Schist ledges where there were some gentle water falls and pools. John used one to soak his cactus filled arm.

By lunch time we had reached the confluence of the Flint and the Shinumo creeks. George Steck recommended the log on the rope trick to get by the chockstone. On this day the flow was very very heavy and the log would have just floated back over the falls rather than catching on any rocks. The pool below the chock stone was probably chest deep, but we didn't try it. We lunched and napped in the shade next to the falls and the pool. After lunch we set out to climb the "nose" between the two creeks. We did not spend much time looking for a route. We started up a route on the south side of the nose. After doing it Norm was not so sure it was THE route. He said the climb "pegged his adventure meter". Some serious fingers and toes were required, and it was belly to the wall. John came back down without his pack to talk Norm up the last few yards. It helped. At the top of the nose we found the real route back down to the creek easily.

The rest of the day was brushy, bushy, and bothersome. As we hugged a Tapeats cliff on the left we found an Indian ruin. It was a semicircular structure build right onto the cliff face. What was left was about waist high.

We were striving to reach the Tapeats ledges which George Steck had recommended. We were expecting something like Deer Creek. By 6PM we were not there and we were beat and we found the only sort of flat, sort of clear spot we had seen for hours so we stopped. There was definitely no room for a tent so we each found our own flat spot. Our pants, socked and boots were all soaked so we all erected make shift clothes lines from plants, sticks or John's was a proper one made of line. Jerry cooked stroganoff which tasted great. No one was interested in Blue Berry Cobbler. Too bad; it's heavy. John did not have a sleeping bag. He had expected our normal hot nights and all he had was a poncho liner. It was cooler than expected but he wrapped up in part of his tent to break the breeze. Jerry and Norm were under a sizeable Tapeats overhang. We never did see any Tapeats ledges worth mentioning.

Merlin's Abyss and on around the elbow

We were on the trail by 7:00. Al1 slept just fine, but Norm had a dream about being responsible for some project in New York City politics. Probably a result of too much trivia before bed. About mid morning we found a beautiful 10 foot water fall. Jerry shared an orange. Fruit is a treasure in the canyon. When we passed the Morded Abyss junction we saw a flow of water, but it didn't seem to make much difference in Shinumo Creek. It was still knee deep.

Almost the whole day was again brushy, bushy and bothersome. We began knocking down dead sticks with our walking sticks. It made the walking a bit easier and let us get rid of some aggression on the brush. Norm leaned onto a bayonet plant which really drew blood. His pants were wet so the blood flow really looked bad. A few seconds of direct pressure fixed everything. We tried leaving the creek and going up into the dessert to avoid the brush, but the brush extended well up the sides of the Abyss and the footing was too steep to be enjoyable. Besides it was hot out in the sun. Back to the creek. This mirrored George Steck's experience. We tried hugging the cliff which had worked yesterday but we ended up going up higher than we needed and then getting pinched out anyway. The best option turned out to be hugging the creek edged and just wading when it became difficult.

About mid-afternoon we had reached the Muav and rested on some nice level Muav ledges. We filtered some water because we were running low in our canteens. Jerry only filled Mr. Bucket up half way because he didn't want to carry any more water weight than we had too. Soon after that we were challenged by a series of huge chockstones. We found ways over and around them, but above them there was no water in the creek. This was a surprise based on what we had read. Without water in the creek we made excellent time. We might have stopped along there somewhere if we had water enough for supper, but... Eventually just about at the junction with the Northwest trending fault we found a trickle of water again. Soon after that while scrambling up a slope of rocks we climbed up into the perfect camping spot under a huge Redwall overhang. Again we were soaked so we found places to hang our clothes and dry our boots. We knew water would be scarcer ahead so we all cleaned up to one degree or another.

Norm was bending over to arrange his sleeping pad and bag and his pants split right down the back seam. He didn't try to mend them assuming the stresses would just break his mending. Jerry remarked that he still had some clean underwear or socks and Norm remarked that he had some washed. John asked if this was a Can You Top This contests so Norm just congratulated Jerry on his fine planning. We had Turkey Supreme. Played Trivia by flash light.

Redwall Chockstone, Supai Cliffs

On this day we studied George Steck's notes and those of his friend. We hoped to get all the way up the NW trending fault and to the spring in the Ponderosas by evening. Norm said he hoped there were some markings on this part of the route. He was to be disappointed.

The first part was wonderful. No water in the bed; just routine bolder hopping. Eventually we reached the Redwall chockstone described by George Steck. We quickly found the hole between the rocks we had to "chimney" through. The hole was about 8 feet from the ground with poor holds on the wall. Jerry bent over and Norm stepped on his back, twisting his heavily cleated boots into Jerry's flesh. Norm found his way up quickly and easily with Jerry's help. John climbed it without assistance, with Jerry only spotting. Jerry tied the packs onto the rope and John and Norm pulled them up. John and Norm then put a loop in the rope and lowered it through the hole to Jerry. He used the rope to get to the Chimney move and came on through.

Above the chockstone we found the little waterfall George Steck had mentioned. It was flowing pretty well, and we filtered water to top off our bottles. We rested there for a while. The remainder of the Redwall was uneventful bolder hopping because it was quite a gradual incline. The Supai was quite a different story. We couldn't tell from George Steck's narrative or map exactly where we were supposed to leave the water shed. When we saw a few possible exit routes, staying in the water shed always seemed better so we staying in all the way up to the beginning of the Hermit Shale. George had described 10 foot cliffs which were hard. We were finding cliffs which were hard, but they were much more than 10 feet. At the first one, there was no route on the right, but with a boost it looked like a route on the left.

We found a dead log and propped it up on the left. Norm went up first and kept going to make sure we could get over the other obstacles above. He was gone a long long time. He had climbed up to the next huge obstacle. He worked his way to the right looking for a route out of the water shed. When that option pinched out, he worked his way back to the left and found himself above the huge obstacle. To see that this would not be the end of the line he went even higher. It looked like the Promised Land with a clear route to the top of the Supai. He went back down to tell John and Jerry. He kept getting cliffed out. He couldn't figure out how he had gotten up.

John and Jerry got the packs up without Norm. They were waiting at the bottom of the huge obstacle for Norm. He explained he couldn't find his way down so they tried to throw the rope up to him. It was so high they couldn't get the rope up there. Norm just had to find a way down. Jerry and John could see a way about half way up and Norm could get half way down, so they talked him the rest of the way. It was not the way he had gone up but it worked.

Norm lead Jerry back up with the rope. They lifted the packs as John tied them on. It required about 80 of the 100 feet of rope. After all the packs were up, Norm went part way down to lead John up the unobvious route. They were able to climb up the next few levels with the packs on, but eventually came to one more point where the packs had to be lifted. John climbed up to see that it was not a dead end, and after 4 tries Norm threw the rope up, and then climbed up to help lift. John teased Jerry that there was a nice underwear puddle up there where Jerry could soak his last pair of clean shorts just like last year.

After this last lift they reached the end of the Supai and left the watershed, and entered the real brush. (Now they encountered real BRUSH. Over your head BRUSH. Sleeping Beauty Do Not Enter BRUSH. Br'er Rabbit Briar Patch BRUSH. It grabs your pack and doesn't let go BRUSH.) They climbed, crawled, clawed through this for about an hour trying to get to the top of the Hermit's Shale to find some ledges which could be followed around to a break in the Coconino. They finally reached the ledges but they were not level and were not long enough to follow anywhere. It was getting dark, and the only spot in sight where they could sleep was an exposed saddle in the shale. They beat through more brush to reach the saddle just a little before dark. Jerry amazingly chose to sleep right on the spine of the saddle where rolling the wrong way would take him down a steep 40 foot hill. Norm slept across the spine with his feet a little lower than his head but his waist higher than both, and propped against a rock to keep from slipping down. John found a cozy patch amongst the bushes. We had little water so ate canned meat instead of a freeze dried meal. Norm was not in the mood for trivia even though Jerry thought we should do at least one page. We were not sure we were on or could find George Steck's route any more. We were not sure we could find the Ponderosa Spring, we had little water, and did not see the breaks in the Coconino or the limestone necessary to get out to the rim. Life did not seem good. The moon was out and we were completely exposed to it. The breeze came and went. We did not sleep very well that night.

Ponderosa Spring, Breaks in the Cliffs, Back to the Road

In the morning we had a little coffee, one of Norm's oranges and life looked better. During the night Norm had split the seat of his pants horizontally, so Jerry applied a generous portion of gray tape.

We could see a nice stand of Ponderosa about where George Steck had said it would be, so we set off down the hill to get water and then think about how to get out. We wore our gloves today, and wondered what was wrong with us yesterday for leaving them in our packs.

It required more bushwhacking but we reached the Ponderosa and the spring was running nicely. We made coffee and had a second breakfast. We cleaned up a little and did a page of Trivia. We got all six on the first try and put the book away. We could refer to George Steck's narrative. Life looked good once again.

We headed toward the place where the Coconino break was supposed to be looking for the Easter Island head George Steck referenced. In the Grand Canyon you can find lots of Easter Island heads if you are looking for one. Eventually we found a likely break complete with a nice Easter Island head, so we climbed toward it. The shale was loose and steep and the BRUSH was as bad as described above, so progress was slow and painful.

On one break we applied gray tape to our pants legs to afford further protection. Norm tried to lead again but the brush tied him up so badly his claustrophobia kicked in. Jerry told him to take a break when he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Norm followed the rest of the day. Working our way up and over we crossed two more flows of water. They made it possible for grass to grow on the slopes which looked like excellent climbing, but

the water made the brush even looser and more slippery.

When we neared the Coconino we were looking forward to a nice break on some horizontal, flat, firm ledges. Norm stopped on one that John and Jerry found too slanted and too narrow for relaxation so we only stayed a few minutes. Unfortunately the Coconino afforded no level spots and so we just scrambled through it and back into the brush in the limestone scree. The footing improved in the limestone and we saw a few hints of tracks. They lead us to a wonderful level, firm spot on top of a limestone cliff, where there was a great view and plenty of shade for lunch and for a good long nap.

Then back to the brush. John was referencing George Steck's notes and maps and was working us toward the east. We saw some nice breaks in the Kaibab cliffs and worked towards them, then John noticed that the sun was shining on a cliff face just above us where it seems unlikely and he used this insight to locate a slot in the Kaibab. This exit worked just fine, and saved us over an hour in the brush. Praise God. Norm said "John you're my hero." We reached the rim and were so exhausted; we didn’t take any of the normal “end of the trip” photos or last looks. We just kept walking.

The walk back to the road was supposed to be three quarters of a mile but it seemed to take forever. The way was clear because the big pine trees had pretty much shaded out all the brush. When we finally reached the road John volunteered to get the car. Norm worked on the journals and Jerry nursed his blistered feet. We really wanted to get some ''normal'' food and clean up so we drove to the North Rim lodge area. We ate in the snack shop just before it closed, and then found an uninhabited camp site in the camp ground.

Breakfast, Peggy Sue's, Showers

We awoke before most of the operation was going. The showers required $1.50 in quarters and we didn't have enough for even one shower. The store wasn't open yet so we couldn't get change. We cleaned up a little in the sink, and went to breakfast at the North Rim Lodge. After breakfast we shopped just a little, called home and decided we were clean enough to get on the road. We stopped at the National Forest headquarters store and bought some posters. Then we went to St. George K-Mart to replace our damaged clothes and to Peggy Sue's for lunch. We arrived in Las Vegas about mid afternoon and enjoyed the shower immensely. Norm lost the coin flip and had to sleep in the hide-a-bed so he got the first shower. After losing a little at Keno, Video Poker and Roulette we had dinner at Denny's and retired.

Postscript

This trip beat us up more physically than all others combined. We had scratches all over our arms and legs. The scars on John’s legs led to friends to wonder if he had knee surgery. After this trip Norm made Jerry and John promise that if he ever suggested another trip that was not in the Sierra Club Trail Guide they would "just say no." George Steck warned us about brush but we totally underestimated what he meant by brush.

Grand Canyon - Thunder River, Deer Creek, Kanab Creek, Indian Hollow

2008-07-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

Thunder River, Deer Creek, Kanab Creek, Indian Hollow

Jerry, Norm, John

May 20 to May 30, 1995

Following is the log of our backpacking trip. The route was described by George Steck in Grand Canyon Loop Hikes 1, chapter 5, with the exception that the route down through Cranberry Canyon was replaced by the Thunder River Trail. This decision was made due to the exposure Mr. Steck describes on the Cranberry Canyon trail. We followed the Thunder River Trail, Surprise Valley, and Deer Creek trail markings down to the Colorado at Deer Creek and then began to fully depend on Mr. Steck's book. The Warning in the beginning of the book includes the following; ''For some newcomers to the Grand Canyon outback who are otherwise experienced backpackers and who may run marathons, these may be the hardest hikes they have ever made." Mr. Steck had planned and led an 80 day hike from Lee's Ferry to Pierce Ferry. We were disappointed that we could not seem to keep his pace. In retrospect, we now know why.

We had photocopies of the relevant pages of Mr. Steck's book, portions of the critical Kanab Creek Quad maps, and a copy of the waterproof, ''trails illustrated topo map". We used the Kaibab National Forest map to find the campsite, and trail head.

Day 0 - Flying/Driving to Grand Canyon

Jerry and John picked Norm up (a little late) and dropped him off at the American desk before parking the truck. Each of us took a different airline, due to frequent flyer tickets, and fares. We all arrived in Las Vegas within about 45 minutes. John had the closest call with his connection in Minneapolis due the late departure from Detroit. Luckily all of our packs made their appropriate connections and we were equipped to go. Norm made the Hertz reservation but forgot his driver's license while downsizing from his wallet. Jerry rented the car with John as an approved driver. John thought it was unusual for normally organized Norm to forget such a fundamental item. Perhaps Norm just didn't want to drive? The next few hours were a mix of shopping for last minute LP gas, food, supplies, and driving. We ate a Cheeseburger at Peggy Sue's on the way. Norm asked to have his water bottles filled. The waitress graciously cooperated, but Jerry and John said they were embarrassed.

Jerry drove the final leg through the National Forest. There were deer and cattle on the roads, but we missed them all. We arrived at the campground and hustled out to the rim just as the sun was setting. We assembled our tents, and ate some snacks after dark. John had the lantern working.

Day 1 - Thunder River Trail on the Esplanade

We left camp at 8:00 after organizing our packs. Oatmeal. We were through the difficult vertical stuff by about 9:00. That left us on the relatively level Esplanade all day long. We joked that this was the Energizer Bunny Trail because it keeps going, and going, and going. Most of the distance is dictated by the need to skirt all of the tentacles of the Deer Creek Drainage.

We stopped many times, and drank lots of water. We asked ourselves ''what is it that we forget from year to year? How hard this is? How rugged it is in the Grand Canyon? How much water is required? How hot it gets? Jerry again showed his talent at locating shade in the desert. During our descent and in the early afternoon we saw 2 men from the campground. They were taking day hikes around the Arizona, Utah area. They were from British Columbia.

We finished at the edge of the Esplanade overlooking Surprise Valley. The last few hours of the hike were made interesting by the shapes that the eroded Esplanade takes on; hamburgers, flying saucers, meat balls, Oreo cookies. After we set up camp, a group of 4 hikers selected a camp site just below ours without probably not even knowing we were there. They must have been coming up. We had just enough water for supper, breakfast and to get to Thunder River. We gladly ate one of our MRE's. They were the heaviest suppers we had. They got rave reviews all around, except for the fruit, which was pretty tasteless. We retired at 8:00 when it became dark, and slept under the stars.

Day 2 - Thunder River and Deer Creek

Granola. While eating breakfast we were again struck by the number, variety, and beauty of the flowers in and around the camp site. The descent to Surprise Valley was reasonably easy. The trail was well traveled. We were in the shade most of the way.

As we descended we could really see the angle of repose of the rock in Surprise Valley and we could see how the slump theory had come about. It really makes sense when you see the rock in the valley. We stayed on the Thunder River trail until it met the trans-Surprise Valley trail. We went off the trail a little and dropped our packs in a dip, behind a bush. We took Mr. Bucket and several water bottles, and our soap. Without our packs the trip to Thunder River was a breeze. We heard the falls before we could see them, and even though Jerry and Norm had seen the falls in 1994 on their rafting trip, all of us were impressed with the amount of water which comes out of the cliff at Thunder River. We went down below the head of the falls just a little, where we could snag buckets of water for bathing, and to take with us for drinking. We were in the region where the spray falls, so we remained cool even though we were fully in the sun. We had Thunder River to ourselves and stayed for about an hour. The hike back to the packs was tough at the start due to the steepness of the trail just above the falls, but it gets to be downhill into Surprise Valley. We conjectured whether Jerry could actually see the packs across the valley as he claimed.

Putting the packs back on was an unpleasant shock. We only went about 30 minutes before stopping for lunch. John realized to his horror that he had bought cans of tuna instead of chicken. The dominant labeling said Breast of Chicken, but this was the brand name for the tuna. The climb out of Surprise Valley was easy but the descent into Deer Creek was quite challenging and a little exposed. The books don't give any clues about the difficulty of this descent. The trail is quite rugged, loose in some places, and involves a talus slope. It goes by one of the major springs which makes Deer Creek. It is a mini version of Thunder River.

As we hiked down into Deer Creek, we were met a woman rafter on the trail she said we would be to water in 20 minutes. 10 minutes another rafter said we would be to water in 30minutes. I think it was more like 40 minutes.

After the ''hairy'' portion of the trail was done, Norm broke out the Pringles for the first time. Eventually we got down to the valley about a mile above the narrows. We looked for a good camp site, but they were occupied, so we went right into the narrows to enjoy the water, and the cool shade. We waded and dipped in the Jacuzzi, and after Jerry got the sandals, we waded downstream as far as we could. We spent an hour or two and then put our packs back on and headed for the river. We talked to a party who had come down the Thunder River trail in a single day. They were so tired; they were still there three days later. They thought we were just going down to the river for a look, so they told us we'd better leave our packs there because there was a place which would be too narrow to pass with the packs on. Norm explained that we were going not only to the river but on down the river to Kanab Creek. One of the party said we were an inspiration. Norm forgot, but Jerry remembered the narrow place to which the person was referring.

Jerry and John started duck walking and crawling to get their packs under some overhangs where the more typical move would have been to sidestep along a ledge. When we got to the narrowest point it was impossible to use the crawl, so after Norm went past he took off his pack, and returned to assist. Jerry and John took off their packs and eventually Norm determined that the ledge was wide enough to slide the packs on their sides. Jerry wasn't sure if Norm was just figuring out a way to do it or maybe had ''lost it'' in a tight place. (When Jerry had been through that spot on the rafting trip, the boatmen had made a human guard rail at the narrow spot.) After this moment of excitement we worked our way down to the beach.

We arrived at about 5:30. It wasn't obvious even from the higher point of overlook on the trail where the next piece of good sand might be, so we elected to camp right near the falls. As we set up for camp, the boater’s party trickled past. Eventually the woman who had said 20 minutes arrived and apologized. Norm asked the leader to hug river right in the morning, and throw us a couple beers. He laughed but then brought 2 back to our camp.

The boaters camped across the river. We ate enchiladas, Dinner #1. Tasted fine.

Day 3 - Breakfast Rock/Lunch Rock/Supper Rock

We started without breakfast to get an early start and clear out of the camp site. We were now seriously dependent on the book.

After about 30 minutes of walking we were on what we thought was

the “broad beach” referenced in the book and we stopped to have breakfast on top a large rock. We misconstrued a couple of land marks for those referenced in the book and got totally side tracked high up a talus slope which was made up of loose rocks and no good way to climb. We spent about 2 hours trying to figure out how to contour down river above some Tapeats cliffs. We found a rough trail, but it stopped dead after a few dozen yards. We couldn't figure it out, but we all knew what we were doing was not fun.

We decided to go back to the spot where we had eaten breakfast, and we talked about trying to get a ride on a raft. Jerry and John rigged a tarp to give us some shade using two of the walking sticks. We ate lunch, drank lots of water, rested, and eventually began comparing what we had seen and done to what the book described. John observed that we normally overestimate the distance we have covered. Jerry suggested that maybe the Tapeats ledges from the book really were there, and we just didn't look for them. This all started to make sense, so after a little more rest, Jerry and Norm went back down river to see if we could get through after all. They found the correct trail, followed it across the ledges, across the broad beach, and up over some of the Tapeats cliffs. They returned with good news to John. We all agreed that in the morning we would head out as planned.

John and Norm developed the phased wave game that afternoon. John would wave at passing rafts, and after everyone had stopped waving, Norm would wave, to see how many waves each would get.

The river was rising and all of our stuff had to be moved up the beach. We had stroganoff and blueberry cobbler for supper. It was good.

After super we watched some suckers swimming near shore. Jerry tried to feed them blueberries. Although John and Jerry had fishing rods, there was no fishing attempted (on this or any other occasion). It was quite cloudy at sunset. Would it rain? Norm slept about 20 yards down the beach from the snoring. The rafters across the river were entertaining with Native American drums. It was hard to get to sleep. It didn't rain, so we were able to sleep under the stars again.

Day 4- Raft ride and Kanab Creek

Granola. We set out to actually do the route described in the book. We successfully negotiated the Tapeats ledges and Jerry was sitting on the broad beach changing into his shorts as Norm and John joined him. John and Norm played the phased wave game with a couple motor raft rigs, and all of the sudden, the second one turned around and came back towards us. The boatman asked if we would like a ride to Kanab Creek and we gladly jumped on board.

If we had arrived at the beach 15 minutes earlier, we would have been up the trail, and would not even have been seen. Norm learned from the passengers, that Neil the boatman, had been brushing his teeth and had stopped and said ''This is no good. This is no good. I can't do it. I can't do it. I just can't let those backpackers walk all the way to Kanab creek". They thought something was wrong with the boat or his teeth or something. We rode in the raft for about 30 minutes and the longer we rode the more grateful be became for the ride. We agreed afterwards that it would have taken us most of 2 days to hike that stretch. Neil also gave us the valuable advice that to complete the trip in 4 days we would have to ''make our miles" each day.

After Neil dropped us off, we started up KC. We were feeling great and feeling like we were now ahead of schedule so we stopped for a cup of coffee. There was also a rafting group walking up Kanab to see the slide spring. Following all of their footprints made the route finding pretty easy. The creek bed is all cobbles or boulders so the walking is not easy, and takes quite a bit of concentration. As predicted by the book there were two long Muav ledges which made the walking easy for a few minutes at a time. We also had lunch on a narrower ledge. We had to cross the creek many times. We attempted to cross on rocks, but eventually all six of our collective feet were wet. We saw our first rattle snake today. It did not rattle, and eventually crawled off the trail. Today we became concerned about making enough miles to get out in the allotted 4.5 days. It seemed to take forever to get to the slide spring. Perhaps it was because there were no intermediate goals?

By the time we got to slide spring, all the rafters had met us on their way back to the river, so we were alone. We found a nice camp site under some Muav ledges. These provided some shelter from the drizzle and many shelves for our stuff. We heated up some soup before walking up to the spring. The walk to the spring took only 15 minutes without packs, one of the few times we met the schedule which was noted in the book. The slide spring is a very pretty sight; sweeping curved water slide, lots of maidenhair fern, clear pools. We were too cool to bath or dip.

It drizzled and rained all day. We tried rain gear once but then it let up right away. We next tried to find overhangs during the worst downpours. During one break under an overhang, Norm noticed how good the echoes were. He could count to three before the echo came back. It was at this stop that Jerry coined the now infamous ''It couldn't be too far now to _____________.'' phrase. Also while under that overhang, some rocks came loose and fell not far from us. We vacated very quickly.

Once we prepared supper, it began to rain steadily. We had our last MRE's. Rave reviews again, with beef stew and baked beans getting special mention. We played trivia until it was too dark to read. Norm kept scrunching his feet under him to keep them dry. We set up the tents between showers, but by 9:30 there were stars in the sky again.

Day 5 - Scotty's real and false

Oatmeal. Today's goal: reach Scotty's castle and go beyond if possible. We awoke at 5, were on the trail by 7:20. We quickly decided that we must wade and stop trying to find places where we could cross on dry rocks. This saved some climbing, and backtracking, and improved our speed. Jerry's boots were waterproof which was great until the water came over the top, then just as it had not come in, it could not get out. He eventually switched to his Tevas. Intermixed with the gravel and wading we occasionally had to climb over massive boulders which filled the bottom of the gorge. The water in these places was forced into deep swift channels with frequent little falls, so we had to find ways over the tops of the boulders. This was time consuming and tiring. We passed our packs over a few of the worst or tightest places. Some of these stacked boulders are as big as delivery vans. Climbing over takes some effort and planning. We identified the 'false' Scotty's castle and by 2:00 we were napping at Scotties grotto and looking forward to doing a few more miles. Soon after Scotty's we saw the clear prints of a horse, mule or burro. This seemed to indicate that the bolder scrambles were over at least temporarily. Following these prints was quite easy. After Scotty's we reached the hanging spring. The outcropping completely crosses the creek, and it is dripping all over the bottom of the outcropping, which is covered with ferns and flowers. We stopped here for a long rest. At this point we were just about out of the Muav and the top of the Temple Butte didn't seem too far away. We had ''made our miles", gotten to and past 3 land marks and were feeling pretty good.

We found a nice camp site in an open valley, and set up. We had mashed potatoes and beef gravy and peas and banana pudding tonight. It was great! Best so far. Played trivia until dark and we were set to sleep under the stars, only there weren't any. John suggested we had better set up the tents before it rained, and about then there was a thunder clap. We set them up as soon as we could. It rained for an hour or more.

Day 6 - Illness & Waterfalls

Woke about 4:45 but Norm felt dizzy and nauseous. He did some elimination chores, and Jerry and John made him a cup of tea.

Jerry had folded up the tent and was working on the sleeping bag, but Norm asked him to hold off on that. After drinking the tea, Norm went back to sleep. John and Jerry went for a walk up stream while Norm slept. About the time they returned, there was a loud thunder clap, and Norm decided that he must get up to keep his sleeping bag from getting wet. He got his bag put away and one sock and boot on when the rain started. John was covering his pack with his tarp, and just opened it up for all of us to sit under. We were huddled expecting it to stop, but the longer it rained, the more spread out and comfortable be got. By the time the rain slackened, Jerry couldn't stand it under the tarp anymore so he crawled out. He pulled the tarp off of Norm and John to show them that one of the run off's in the Redwall had started a water fall. It was beautiful. As we watched it, the rain started again. This time we huddled under an overhang. We stayed quite dry but John noticed that a major chunk of rock had recently fallen from the ceiling. When the rain slackened again we crawled out. A third time the rain picked up and we jumped across the creek and found refuge under a very sturdy Redwall overhang. When the rain slackened this time, we saw a second and more spectacular waterfall start up. The flow was much stronger, and this one fell in stages, punctuated by pools at different levels. We heated water for coffee, and watched the water falls. The sun came out for real this time, and we headed up stream. This rain delay provided the necessary time for Norm to recover from his bug, which was probably caused by drinking untreated water from the dripping spring?

The creek was at least twice as high as it had been before the rain. It was also quite muddy. We saw four more water falls as we walked. We filtered water from one of these, since it seemed cleaner than the creek. Again we were able to follow the horse/mule/burro tracks. Sometime during this day Jerry finally explained the difference between Buddy (as in Hey buddy what have you got to eat?) and Pal (As in thanks for your help, Pal). Just below Jumpup Canyon Kanab Creek went dry. A11 of the water in it had been coming from one tributary. Having the creek dry made it a little easier to walk. We reached the Jumpup Canyon junction about PM. As we sat in it resting, we heard water sounds up Jumpup Canyon, which was bone dry. As we watchers a flow of water came down the bed and continued to flow until after we went to bed. It was dry in the morning. There was a nice camp site at the junction of Kanab Creek and Jumpup Canyon. We wanted to make a few more miles, but were concerned that there might be no decent sites inside Jumpup Canyon, so we decided to stop for the night. (We were quite correct.) This gave us a few minutes to catch up on the log, shave, clean up, etc. Jerry propped his tarp up to let it dry. He and Norm both thought they heard a rattle snake nearby, but John checked everywhere, and none could be found. As we cooked dinner we emptied the first of the three LP gas bottles.

Slept under the stars again, even though we had the tent up just in case.

Day 7 - Jumpup Canyon, the Obstacle Pools

On the trail (or in the creek bed) by 7:00. The walk through Jumpup Canyon was straightforward cobble walking. It is about 30 feet wide with very vertical walls. Indian Hollow started out the same, but as predicted by the book, within 15 minutes we got to the first obstacle pool and chock stone. Norm and John swam across the pool, while Jerry got ready to tie the packs onto the rope for lifting. John helped Norm get on top of the chock stones, and Norm went off to find a good place to pull up the packs. He tried the right side, and then switched to the left side to allow the lift to be made from dry ground. There was no good way to get to the necessary point on the left though so he switched back to the right. By the time he got to a good lifting point, Jerry and John suggested floating the packs across on their inflatable mattresses. Norm said he thought this was fine, and returned to the chock stones. Jerry placed the items on the mattresses, and pushed them over to Johnny, who unloaded them and tossed or lifted them up to Norm. It took 5 or 6 trips, but everything stayed dry. Jerry swam across, and he and John climbed up the smooth chock stone unaided. We reassembled our packs, and

put our hiking clothes back on.

As predicted by the book, we reached the next pool within a few minutes. This one was smaller and only chest deep. Norm waded across. Jerry handed the packs to John who waded a few steps and handed them to Norm who stacked them on dry ground. This only took a few minutes. Jerry had just put on his last pair of clean underwear, and to keep them dry, he took them off as he waded. As he got to the other side he tossed them over the chock stone, and unfortunately right into another small pool.

The final chockstones were enormous, but there was no pool. John found a way to climb through, and we handed the packs through the hole. This morning was marked by excellent team work with the packs and with pushing and pulling each other through tight places. We had lunch under a cottonwood tree next to a small pool from which we got water to filter. (Mr. Bucket was nominated for rookie of the year gadget. It came in handy on so many occasions in getting water, and cleaning up.)

The afternoon was beautiful working through the last of the Redwall and most of the Esplanade. The water was flowing in the creek all the way and there was lots of plant life including many full sized trees. We saw another rattle snake today. We changed our route to accommodate it. Most of the walk was right up the creek bed with some stretches of sandstone ''benches''. We had to go high once to avoid one last chockstone. One challenge of the day was to ensure we didn't get out of the Indian Hollow into one of four minor washes. This would have resulted in just turning around and wasting time and effort. John did an excellent job of using the map and compass, and reading the terrain to see that we made our left, two right, and left turns at the correct times.

Near the end of the afternoon we located several flat spots on the sandstone, and selected the best one for our camp site. We had Macaroni and Cheese with some of John's tuna and the green beans. Jerry made apple compote for desert. We all agreed this had been the best day of an excellent trip. Norm suggested his changing point of view. He had originally looked at the rests as necessary to allow the walking. Now we was thinking that the enjoyment was greatest during the rests, and that the walking was necessary to get to different rest places. Jerry suggested that the next trip be on an Out-and- Back route where things could be cached to lighten the loads, and that fewer miles be planned, to allow for more ''hanging out". Slept under the stars again. There were a few sprinkles, so Norm joined Jerry, and John under the overhang. The tree frogs were in a romantic mood and kept calling to get a date. This made it hard to sleep.

Final day - Hermit boulders, and Three Phases of Coconino

After the restless nights we arose before 5 and were on the trail by 6:50. The first section was more Esplanade and a nice gravel bed. We worked our way out of ''hamburger land'' into a more classic Grand Canyon desert landscape in the Hermit Shale. We worked our way up Indian Hollow behind Fishtail Mesa. As the book predicted we eventually encountered huge boulders at the top of the Hermit Shale. (Wi11 lunch be on Shale today?) Climbing over these required lots of work including going up the sides of the wash to contour around above some of them. Jerry saw our last and largest rattle snake on one of these trips. Again we changed our route to accommodate. Half the battle in this part of the route was in fighting the bushes and grass around the boulders. They held us back as much as the rocks did. They did provide firm footing though as they held the soil from being loose and gravelly.

We overcame the boulders and next met the Coconino. The book said this would require 45 minutes and would be done in three stages. There was a Maple glade as noted and in fact the growth was so thick we could barely get through. John found the stage 1 notch on the left. We dropped the packs at the bottom of a small water fall, which was now just a few drips. John climbed up and searched for a place where he could raise the packs with Jerry's rope. The only place which would work was right above the waterfall. This required John to climb DOWN a tree into a glade. He wound the rope around the limb of a tree, and lowered it down to Norm, who tied on each piece of the load. Whole packs were too much weight to handle in one load, so we broke the packs down a little, taking off the outside attachments. Norm pushed with a Y shaped stick as John pulled. John suggested to Jerry that a ''man's'' rope would give a better grip. When all the gear was lifted up this first stage Norm started up toward the notch. John shoved a broken limb out of his way, and Norm thought the sound was coming from the limb falling, so he vacated the area at lightning speed. Once everything was up into the glade, we still had to lift it up to the main trail where Jerry was stationed.

John moved all the stuff to the base of the tree he had climbed and Norm came up the notch sandstone ledge near the tree. Jerry threw the rope down to John. John tied each piece on, and Norm and Jerry pulled it up. Norm's job was to see that the pieces made it by the ledges and rocks. This he did with his feet and hands. It required that he slide up and down the ledge once for each piece. The ledge got slipperier each trip, and Norm got more nervous on each trip. When all loads were complete, John climbed back up near the tree.

We rejoined our stuff on the main transition trail between stages 1 and stage 2. Norm went ahead to see what stage 2 was like. He reported that we could get to stage 2 with our packs, but not up the chimney with them. (The book says that the chimney can be climbed with packs on. We'd like to see video tape of that!) We put our packs back together, and climbed past the exposure to stage 2. We had about 12 square feet to share at the bottom of the chimney. John dropped his pack and climbed first. Jerry went about half way, and they tried to develop a strategy to again raise the packs by the rope. Eventually John found a place to sit, where he could drop the rope to Jerry, who could drop it to Norm. We broke the loads down even further this time, with the water being the heaviest. We even emptied the heaviest items out of the packs and made them separate loads. It was interesting to observe how we each got comfortable in our precarious positions after a little while. John got the scare of the trip when Norm let out one of his high frequency sneezes (complete with excellent echoes). John thought Norm had fallen for sure. As Norm climbed up the chimney, he took the liberty of cleaning out all of the loose rock to be sure he had good footing. The last move at the top across the open chimney took a little care and thought.

After repacking again, we moved on to stage 3. Interesting but it did not include any exposure. We were blocked by a chockstone again. One route was up the side of the wall with a tree blocking the top. The other route was up under the chockstone, with a broken tree branch to give one a starting point. We took our packs off again, and Norm tried the tree route. He came around and down to the top of the hole where John and Jerry pushed up the packs. John then helped Jerry up through the hole. There was almost no room to stand because all of the packs were there, so Jerry kept going up two more small climbs. John came up to the packs last, and handed them up to Norm, who handed them to Jerry. Finally we were actually done with the three stages. It had taken about 3 hours to do this 45 minutes of the route. We had completed the Coconino in about 300 "map" yards. Normally this takes repeated switchbacks.

There was plenty of adrenaline pumping and we wanted to be sure we were through the Coconino for good so we did not stop for lunch until we had pushed through the brush in the Toroweap for about a half hour. Norm broke out the Pringles again. We discussed options ranging from camping ASAP to getting back to camp, and then driving to the Norm Rim Lodge area that night. We pressed on taking breaks as often as every thirty minutes. The brush was tiring. Soon after lunch, we saw cattle prints. We took this as a good sign that we were done with climbing walls, chimneys, or boulders. As we wound our way up Indian Hollow the brush thinned, and the walking became easier. At last we climbed up the side of the wash to find a trail, a familiar trail, the trail we had started on. We took it to the rim. Norm hit the sign and yelled to complete the trip. We took pictures with all but the last exposure. We enjoyed the view from the setting sun and walked slowly into the campground. Jerry drove the car, while John and Norm walked. We enjoyed the horizontal picnic table, and benches, and even the outhouse. Our left over food amounted to 2 cans of meat, one granola bar, about 3 ounces of Jerky, half a jar of Peanut butter, and 8 crackers. That’s about as close as I’d want to cut it.

North Rim Lodge and Las Vegas

After a cold night (John's tent had frost on it) we drove over to the North Rim Lodge. Since we were still on Michigan time we beat the rush for breakfast. We enjoyed the food, and the view. We bought some gifts and shot out the last few pictures. We enjoyed locating familiar landmarks on the South rim from the North rim.

On our way out of the park we walked a little way down the North Kaibab trail. A mule driver told us it was washed out between Cottonwood and Phantom Ranch. Seems to happen frequently in the spring. When we arrived in Las Vegas, we enjoyed the shower, the real beds and a good salad with our steak dinner.

Postscript - We have done this trip on two other occastions. On both occasions there was no water in the first huge pools in Indian Hollow. On both occasions Kanab creek stopped running well before Jumpup Canyon. There were still some pools containing water in mid Indian Hollow. It was not the most appealing water though. We found easier ways to negotiate the final obstacles and the trail has been traveled enough that there are now more tracks and trails to follow. Following is the log from the final day of our 2002 trip.

2002 final day - Supai in Indian Hollow to the car.

We walked about an hour in the Supai before getting into the huge boulders in the Hermit Shale. The route is so much more traveled now that it was much easier walking than in 1995 when we had to do route finding and fight the tall grass. We saw no snakes this time, which was just fine. We strayed from the proven route a few times and had to pay the price by climbing over bigger, looser, sharper boulders. The route is not always obvious. There are no cairns. Happily we found a nice steady drip of cool water in the Maple glade. Jerry set up the bucket and pan to catch water and we drank as much as we could of what we had. We filled both canteens and a bottle each. Jerry’s recollection of the last stretch was so daunting that he wanted plenty of water. Once we were watered up, Norm scrambled up the first pitch/cleft and threw the rope down on the right side of the cleft. With the carabeener, the lifts went quickly (one pack got turned around and Norm had to use the pull then slack technique until it spun around again, Jerry told him when to pull again) and then Jerry scrambled up. We put our packs back on although it’s a precarious spot. We weren’t exactly sure how we got to the second pitch last time so Norm went right and Jerry went left. They both converged and took us to the slanted boulder which is the base of operations for the lifts. Norm scrambled up the chimney. All of the sticks have been removed. At the top he made the required move to get across the abyss without too much terror and without anyone to aid him. He moved around on top and Jerry surveyed from the slanted boulder until they agreed on an efficient lift route, again on the right of the cleft with a safety ledge in the middle. Norm’s leverage was compromised by that lift route so Jerry broke the load down into about 7 lifts. The caribeener was just about perfectly located on the rope so Jerry could hold onto one end of the rope even when Norm had the load at the top. (This simplified the process because we didn’t have to throw it down each time. It never seems to get all the way down and won’t uncoil gracefully in the air as we always envision it when we throw it.) Jerry climbed up the chimney out of Norm’s view. Norm heard a loud crash and then the sound of a large rock bounding down, down, down. Silence from the chimney. Norm was waiting for the “I’m OK” message but it didn’t come. Norm hustled over to peek down the chimney but Jerry’s head popped up. Norm scrambled out of the way based on past experiences of being in Jerry’s way at the top of a climb. Just as Jerry had taken his foot off a rock, it came loose and fell. He claimed he was speechless at that moment. We repacked the packs and quickly scurried across the slanted sandstone slab with nothing below it’s lower edge but a lot of air. Our boots were up to the task and there were no slips. The final obstacle was familiar. Norm tried the crack to the tree route he’d used in ’95 but couldn’t get started. John probably gave him a boost last time. We just went up the chock stone this time. Once again Norm used a limb prior parties had wedged in. Jerry pushed the packs up. Norm moved them out of Jerry’s way. Jerry was again nervous about using a limb and took a pull from Norm. Jerry went up another level and Norm pushed the packs up. All the winter’s working out at gym really helped us with all the pack pushing, lifting, and throwing. The walk through the brush was considerably easier this time because the route is so well traveled; so well traveled that there are braided trails and one must guess which is best. They cross often, so bad decisions don’t last long. We had our last lunch in the shade. We walked again and took a break at a point which turned out to be only about 15 minutes from the car. This leg of the trip was not nearly as tedious as it had been last time because of the trails. We reached the car about 1:10pm.

Our Equipment List

2008-07-03T20:38:00.000-04:00

What	What	What
Boots	Camera	Backpack
Socks	Film	Tent
Hat	Camera Batteries	Ground Cloth
		Sleeping Bag
		Sleeping Pad
Pants	Notebook	Pillow
Shorts	Pen	Bivy Sack
Underwear		Walking Stick
Shirts
Warm Hat	Bucket	Toiletries
Gloves	Can Opener	Towel
Jacket	Mixing Spoon	Soap
Rain Coat	Stove	Purell
Sandals	H2O Filter	Tooth Brush
Handkerchief		Toilet Paper
Bandana	Matches	Trowel
Flashlight	Cup	Mirror
Extra Batteries	Plate/Bowl	H2O Tabs
Glasses	Spoon, Fork	Snake Bite Kit
Sun Glasses	Zip Lock Bags	Whistle
Sun Screen	Stuff Sacks	1^st Aid Kit
Lip Protect	H2O Bottles	Scissors
Bug Repellent	Camelback	Elastic Bandage