October 1 - 9, 2023
*click on any picture to enlarge
Day One
To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. —Helen Keller
After a lot of research and planning, Lenny, myself, and his daughter Misa scored a permit for Nankoweap. I, particularly, wanted to do a trip that involved a "real" trail, having done a few serious Grand Canyon backcountry hikes.
We took two days to drive from Colorado so that we would arrive in daylight and have time to hike the three miles and 1400 ft to the Saddle Mountain saddle, which is also the park boundary. You don't need a permit to camp here.
That night, the temps dropped and the winds howled. Seeing the other downed and dead trees that had already fallen in previous storms, I laid awake wondering if another tree would fall on us. These dead trees are called "widow-makers" for a reason. I didn't know that Lenny had already scoped the site out and we should be fine. Fortunately, nothing fell and we woke up to sunny but cold skies.
Day Two
Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
We had breakfast at the saddle's edge as we pondered just what a trail could look like that would get us down into this abyss.
Wait. There's a trail on this cliff? Well, yes. Somewhere. Somehow. And, path is more like it. This path is not maintained and we crossed rubble, downed trees, small rock slides, and missing parts of the path. Sometimes, it was only one shoe wide. From there, it falls off into oblivion. Careful not to trip or slip! Check it out in this video clip.
After three miles of this narrow, cliff-edge exposure, you reach what is called Tilted Mesa. Fortunately, because of the mesa part, you get a bit of a reprieve. It's relatively wide and flat. I thought the worst might be behind us. But, I was wrong.
After about a quarter mile along the mesa, you drop off the side of what is now a steep, slippery slope.
Three miles to go. How hard can that be? I thought about this as I stepped between two cairns that mark the way down. This transitions from the red rock to the white rock. This white rock is much more crumbly and steep. Think marbles on a ramp. The dropoff was even more immediate and severe than it was on the red ledges. As we traversed down the steep path, I used my poles as extra brakes. This section seemed to go on forever.
After 6.5 miles, 9 hours, and after dark, we were finally down to Nankoweap Creek and set up camp.
Day Three
When you see a new trail, or a footprint you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing. — Uncheedah, grandmother of Ohiyesa, Dakota
Good morning sunshine! What a relief it was to be at the bottom. Today would be a fantastic day of exploring the creek and getting up to the famous Nankoweap granaries. Let's go!
It was a lovely three mile walk down the creek to the Colorado River. The temps were cool but the sun was warm. Lots of trickling water, plants, and pretty rocks.
As we rounded the corner at the river, we looked up on the redwall and saw them. The famous Nankoweap granary windows! We picked up a trail that began heading downriver and toward the granary. The trail was rocky but in really good shape. Soon it began to climb and we decided to leave our heavy backpacks at the junction where it heads away from the beach and up to the granary. I happened to glance under a rock and found the most exciting thing - a piece of pottery! We all took a look then put it back in its hiding spot.
We continued up the steep but well-kept trail, climbing an additional 400 ft from the junction (600 ft from the river) and finally arrived. The granaries were amazing and the views of the river were stunning. This is what we came here to see.
We ate our lunch here and spent time looking around. Lenny even climbed past the granaries into some smaller rooms on the redwall face. I was nervous watching, so I looked away and hoped he would be ok.
Time to move on downriver. As we were heading back down the cliff, a National Park Service helicopter came, landed on the beach, and loaded up a man from a rafting trip who was having breathing problems. Nice to know they're out there. Hope to never need them. A short while later, we decided to call it a night early and made our camp on a small beach. The sunset was spectacular.
Day Four
Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. – Walt Whitman
Short day today as we made our way downriver to Kwagunt Creek/Canyon. You cannot walk along the river as it's choked with Mesquite trees and Tamarisk bushes. There's a "high trail" that runs about 100 ft above the river. It seems fairly well-traveled though sometimes there were obstacles like cactii, Mesquite branches and thorns, and just very steep-sided parts that drop off sharply. Lenny did quite a bit of trail improvement by removing the parts of cactii and thorny branches that were growing across the trail.
In just a few hours, we reached Kwagunt Canyon beach. We found a beautiful spot, obviously used by boaters. There were trees that provided shade for our tents and a nice, soft, and pretty flat, sandy beach. The afternoon was toasty but we cooled off in the river and got our camp setup.
At this point, we decided that instead of continuously moving throughout Nankoweap, Kwagunt, and Malgosa canyons, we would use this as our basecamp and just do day hikes instead. We all felt relieved with this new plan.
Day Five
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. —Henry David Thoreau
Today we day hike up Kwagunt canyon. It's so nice to leave our heavy packs behind and just enjoy the views as we make our way up the canyon. Turned out the Kwagunt creek flows year round which was nice to be able to get wet and get drinks anytime.
The first part of the canyon is wide open with small rocks to continuously hop on and over. Then it narrows into beautiful sections with higher walls.
After just 2.5 miles, which was actually several hours due to our stopping, exploring, taking pictures, etc., the canyon opened up again. It's at this point that a fault called the Butte Fault cuts across this canyon, Nankoweap, and several others downriver. From here, you can see the geology being stretched and twisted upwards. It's pretty amazing to see.
On the way back down the creek, we stopped to get wet and even took a short nap on the "patio."
We got back to camp and started prepping dinner when Misa's Thermarest decided to grow a big tumor. The inner channel connections just started breaking, turning the upper half into a big round ball -- or "tumorest." We thought about ways she could still use it and one idea was to "quilt" it and then seal the quilting holes. So, she set to work while we prepared dinner.
It almost worked. But, there was too much strain on the fabric and it began to rip where the threads were. For the next week, she would sleep on the hard ground. What a trooper!
Also, when we arrived back at camp, there was a boat party of 16 that had pulled up on the river about 100 yards above us. They were all former river guides enjoying their own 23-day trip down the Grand Canyon. They invited us to enjoy their fire and beers after dinner, so we did. We also got to see the Starlink satellite train at around 7:30 pm. We'd never seen it before!
Day Six
FILL YOUR LIFE WITH ADVENTURES, NOT THINGS. HAVE STORIES TO TELL NOT STUFF TO SHOW. – ANONYMOUS
Lenny and I are being lazy in our tent this morning. We are just doing another day hike, so we though we'd have a relaxing morning. However, about 7am, Misa comes to our tent and says the boaters have offered us a ride downriver to our dayhike canyon, Malgosa! Unbeknownst to us, she had asked them the night before and they happily obliged. As we packed, I was missing one of my hiking poles. I had deliberately taken only one pole on our dayhike and left the other. But, it was nowhere to be found. "Oh well, I'll look for it more later," I thought.
We quickly got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and packed our daypacks. Then we headed over to their camp. They outfitted us with their spare lifejackets - a requirement on the river. We hopped in the boats and were off on our 5-minute journey downriver to the next canyon. Although it was short, it was still really fun.
We scrambled off the boats and said our goodbyes and goodlucks, then got ourselves ready to head into Malgosa canyon. This canyon does not have running water so we tanked up at the river and began the trek into the canyon.
The canyon itself is much tighter and narrower than Kwagunt and is choked with boulders and trees. We were still able to find a way through for a while. And, we did find a small seep near the start of the canyon.
But soon, there were too many pouroffs and blockages. Lenny and Misa tried to go up on creek left but said it was pretty sketchy. They also said it looked like creek right was pretty sketchy too. And, that was going to be part of the original backpack route. Glad we nixed that one. So, we went back down to the river and had lunch on the beach. Then started our one-mile trek back to Kwagunt.
Back at camp, we savored one more night on the river. At precisely 7:30 pm, we again saw the Starlink satellite train!
Day Seven
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. – Edward Abbey
Good morning Grand Canyon and Colorado River. Today, we head up Kwagunt 2.5 miles to the end of the narrow part and to our campsite in preparation to head back to Nankoweap via the Nankoweap/Kwagunt saddle. Knowing it would be another hot day and that our new campsite would be relatively exposed, we took our time at the river and left in the late morning. Again, we looked for my hiking pole but it was nowhere to be found. Did someone from the river guides take it? I guess we'll never know.
We finally decided to get moving and to take it easy through Kwagunt Canyon, enjoying shade when we could.
While we rested, Lenny decided he would make me a replacement hiking pole from a Mesquite tree branch. He found a likely subject and began hacking at it with a sharp rock. The Native Americans would have been impressed, but he was able to cut the branch, skin it of its thorns, and smooth it down. At about the same time, Misa got up and scrambled up on a big boulder to look around. Then she lifts up the most perfect hiking stick that someone else had obviously left! We had a laugh and Lenny left his creation for the next person to find.
After spending a couple hours sitting in the shade by the creek, we decided to push on and set up camp.
Day Eight
ONE’S DESTINATION IS NEVER A PLACE, BUT A NEW WAY OF SEEING THINGS. – HENRY MILLER
We got up early this morning in order to beat as much heat and direct sun as possible. And, for doing so, we were treated to the most beautiful sunrise!
The start of this route over the saddle begins with a somewhat defined trail. After passing through the cactus/Mesquite tree "gate," the trail immediately climbs a couple hundred feet. As you get over the top, you see you need to downclimb a relatively short wall. Again, Lenny took my pack for me and we all got down into the wash. The wash goes on, climbing gently for quite a long way. We stopped at some nice boulders and had breakfast. Along the way, there were interesting things to see, including a long, tilted wall that used to be an ocean floor, and, lots of white powder (salts? magnesium? or?).
About the last third of the wash, it began to narrow and climb as we headed towards the saddle. There were times we had to climb out and over obstacles before finally getting on a steep ridge that took us the rest of the way up.
We reached the saddle about lunchtime and had a most awesome view of the Nankoweap basin, as well as back towards Kwagunt valley. During lunch, we discussed the rest of our itinerary. We talked about camping at Nankoweap and then a two-day hike out. Those two days are without water, so that's a lot to carry. One way to offset this is to get some of the miles done after dinner, since dinner uses a fair amount of water. So, that was our new plan. Go down to Nankoweap, rest and filter all the water we'd need for the next two days. Then have dinner and continue on.
Heading down into the Nankoweap basin was not as straight forward as we would have thought. Fortunately, we had mapped the route following someone else's route which, after following the wash 3/4 of the way, climbed back up a good-sized hill only to drop steeply down the other side. After negotiating some of the steepness, we dropped into a short wash that brought us right to Nankoweap creek.
As planned, after dinner, we packed up and headed out, trying to get as far as we could before sundown. We covered only a mile and about a 600 ft gain, but it was worth it.
Day Nine
No matter the risks we take, we always consider the end to be too soon, even though in life, more than anything else, quality should be more important than quantity. – Alex Honnold
Again, we got up early. These next two days are not going to be easy, either physically or mentally. Misa was enjoying her tea until she got to the bottom of the cup where some little black beads were rolling around. She realized she had left her cup out and hadn't noticed that a mouse had visited and left her some presents. Gross! We had a good "ewwww" and a good laugh and were on our way.
Up and up we went. Back up to Tilted Mesa. Only two miles but about 2000 ft gain. I must say, it was actually easier going uphill than down. Felt like more traction and not as scary since you're often facing the hill and not the void.
While we rested at Tilted Mesa, Misa popped a very intriguing question. "Would we be willing to hike the rest of the way out today and not spend another night?" She was tired of sleeping on the ground and not particularly feeling all that well anyway. This is after Lenny carried 20 lbs of water from Nankoweap Creek up over 2500 ft. I was neutral on the idea, slightly favoring getting out early, having a real bed and a real meal. Lenny was still wanting to spend just one more night, knowing we probably wouldn't be backpacking again until spring. In the end, Misa won out and, we cringed as we dumped out the extra water, making getting out tonight mandatory. Off we went, hustling as best we could knowing that it would be tight getting out by sunset.
We got to the Saddle Mountain saddle sometime after 5pm and knew we needed to hustle the last three miles to the car in the hopes of beating darkness. Part of those three miles includes a 400 ft climb that would be harder to find in the dark. We barely got through that climb and had to put on our headlamps for the last mile. But, we made it to the car. And, thankfully, it started right up!
THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO LIVE IT, TO TASTE IT, TO EXPERIENCE TO THE UTMOST, TO REACH OUT EAGERLY AND WITHOUT FEAR, FOR NEWER AND RICHER EXPERIENCES. – ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
The End
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