Tuesday, April 20.
11.1 miles.
Morning sunrise was spectacular, as expected. There was a bit of haze though that Jack thought was smoke or smog. I didn’t smell any smoke and figured it was just morning haze.
Either way, we packed up slowly and hiked across the valley/plateau we were in. Pretty easy miles of well groomed singletrack, a nice break after yesterday. We followed that to Deer Creek, a pretty basic little creek at the start. We passed some weekenders on the way down who said there was a trailhead you could use to access this area. We thought you had to raft in to the campsites but nope, totally possible to come back here a more direct way. Good to know.
We went by a little forested campground, ran into some more weekenders, and then turned a corner and holy shit the creek changed so dramatically. All of a sudden we were above some huge narrows, beautiful slickrock walls with rushing creek water roaring through them. There were tapeats shelves above the narrows we could follow on the trail. The trail was right above the very tall narrows and we could stand over them and look down.
We followed the creek/narrows a short way to its confluence with the Colorado River. The water from the creek cascades down a verdant waterfall right onto a beach on the Colorado.
Jack and Rowan had gone ahead of us to try to finagle a ride and maybe some trail magic. Jack especially seemed eager to get a ride down the river again. I was really hoping at least Rowan would be able to get a ride since Jack, Jordan, and I have all aquablazed on the Colorado already. It’s such a cool experience. There was a raft group on the beach but alas they were a commercial group and couldn’t take us. Tbh I wasn’t really interested in trying to hitch. Jordan and I had our raft fun already and I did want to spend more time hiking along the river before leaving it (for a while).
They couldn’t give us a ride but they did take our trash and gave us sodas which was more than enough trail magic for me. Another raft group floated by, a private one, and the one that had actually ferried Rowan across the Colorado a week ago. It seems like we were able to catch up to some of these groups which gave me and Jordan hope that we’d meet up with our river friends again (unfortunately, we didn’t). They couldn’t give us a ride since they didn’t have enough life jackets and there were some more serious rapids coming up but they did give Jack and Rowan some beer.
After loitering on the beach for a bit we set off alongside the Colorado River once again. And once again it was a slog. This time with the added bonus of it being hot as fuuuck. Not as bad as it gets here but we guessed at least in the 80s.
The first 4 miles took us an hour and half. The next 7 took us 8 hours. Just Hayduke things.
The first few miles weren’t too bad though. We stayed near the river for a while but then some steep cliffs required a bypass that took us up high to some tapeats shelves (my favorite). We were on high up shelf for a while with a lot of loose rock. A fall might be bad up there. There was a cairned trail that went up and down for a bit but was easy enough to follow. That lead us to a side canyon with a hot little beach we stopped to have lunch at. It was so hot by then we all jumped into the water with our clothes on. They dried up so fast after it was like we hadn’t jumped in at all.
Another ferry group came by and Rowan knew this one as well. I think he had camped with them one night. Since we further down past the rapids this groups seemed more willing to give us a hitch but they only had two life jackets. I was fine with Rowan and Jack going but Rowan said he’d feel too bad if he took it and turned them down. I even tried to convince him to go and asked the rafters to take him with but he wouldn’t. Bet he really regretted that a few hours later. Despite his eagerness in the morning, Jack also didn’t take the hitch, probably also feeling too bad about leaving us again. In hindsight, Jordan and I should have swooped and taken the hitch, ha.
We had about 4.5 miles from the canyon to Kanab Creek, our goal for the day. It was so goddamn hot. There was almost no trail at all except for the occasional very short use trail or sheep trail and there were so many boulders and rocks all over. The guidebook says that this section contained “the most tedious boulder field you’ll ever encounter”. Yep. Jordan and I have encountered our fair share of boulder fields in the Sierra but nothing that consistently long. The YHR boulder fields were definitely harder since they were at higher altitudes and generally went up or down a pass but nowhere near as hot or long. It took so long to find little routes through all the boulders and talus and debris and sharp trees that constantly kept sticking me with their needles. I have no idea what the plant that kept shooting needles at me is or why it exists but I hate it so much. And I know it hates me back.
The section was pretty though. I mean duh, it’s a riverside walk through the Grand Canyon, of course it’s pretty and scenic and majestic and awe inspiring. It was just also hot.
I was seriously fading towards the end probably from a combination of not enough food, not enough water, and three hard days in a row before. Kept having to stop to take small breaks, using pulling off all the thorns I kept acquiring as an excuse to stop.
It took what felt like an eternity but I finally reached Kanab Creek, the creek where we’ll leave the Colorado River and which will take us out of Grand Canyon National Park.
Jack and Rowan, young speedster that they are, got ahead and made it the creek before me and found us a campsite. Jordan doesn’t do well in the heat and slows down a lot so it took him a while to make it to the creek. I was actually starting to get worried and was about to go look for him when he showed up. Around that time, the sky started to get cloudy, though not with rain clouds (hopefully). Jack said that the rafters had mentioned there was fire at the north rim which means this could be smoke. It doesn’t smell like smoke to me but I might be immune to it after last year’s bad fire season in California. Seems weird that there would be a fire at this time of year especially when there was still so much snow up on the north rim but who knows.
We had dinner and stayed up talking about books and religion and our beliefs. The kind of conversation that’s hard to capture but means a lot as it’s happening.
Rowan, in addition to being part bighorn, is also a very good cook and made some golden milk that was delicious. He has very elaborate meals with loads of different grains and spices and I’m very jealous. Next trip I am going to try harder to eat better. Not that I don’t love couscous and ramen but I need to step it up.
That’s about it for today. So many small things missing. How do you put to words such a lived experience?
Oh, what am I to think
Of what the writing of a thousand lifetimes
Could not explain
If all the forest trees were pens
And all the oceans, ink?
Hard to get it all down especially since it’s well past hiker midnight and I started falling asleep halfway through wirting this. Oh well, what the hell.
4 / 5 hard days done. Just Kanab left then should be smooth sailing to Zion!
Plants Outside 