Grand Canyon 2003 (Day 1)
Cheryl and Randy and Rhonda's Kanab Creek adventure, May 23 - June 1, 2003
Friday May 23, 2003
Randy's plane from Omaha and Rhonda's from Minneapolis arrive in Salt Lake City within minutes of each other on Friday morning. We pile into Cheryl's Blazer and immediately head south to the Grand Canyon.
After a delicious dinner at Houston's Trailside Restaurant in Kanab, Utah, we top off the tank in Fredonia, Arizona and drive the 42 miles to the Sowat's Point trailhead, arriving an hour before dark. The guidebooks had said the last 10 miles of gravel road would be rough, but the guidebook didn't know the road had been freshly graded. The sailing was smooth and quick. We made it from Fredonia to the trailhead in 70 minutes.
Had plenty of time to repack the packs, drink all of Rhonda's celebratory Tequila Rose, and get a good night sleep before heading into the canyon. We plan to spend seven nights in Kanab Creek and it's tributaries, exploring both the Wilderness Area as well as the part of the canyon that lies within Grand Canyon National Park.
Randy, Rhonda, and Cheryl -- Ready to go!
Saturday May 24, 2003
At first light, Randy rises to perform his daily ritual of coffee making, as he knows that at least one of his fellow campers can't move without it.
As a good omen, Randy awakes with a scorpion as a bed partner.
One final repack, with Rhonda and Cheryl discarding their bivvy sacks to save a couple pounds of weight. With about 6 liters of water added to our packs, they probably weigh over 50# each, and Randy's a lot more as he has many little bottles of liquid first aid along.
We head down the Jumpup Trail, with a 1,700' descent through the Kaibab, Toroweap, Coconino and Hermit, to the cottonwood grove at the top of the Supai Formation as the sun rises on the horizon. Beautiful day!
Starting down the Jumpup Trail
Just past the cottonwoods, we leave the trail and begin working our way down Kwagunt Hollow, the shortest route to Kanab Creek according to our guidebooks.
Kwagunt has water, running water, in it's upper section, then standing potholes in the middle section, and is dry as a bone at it's confluence with Jumpup Canyon two miles later.
Mouseover to listen to Randy playing with the frogs in Kwagunt Hollow
By the time we reach Jumpup, the heat of the day has set in, and it's time to begin the daily ritual of 'sitting out' the hottest parts of the day. This is going to be a hot HOT week, with afternoon temperatures probably reaching 120°.
Rhonda relaxing in the shade in the hot afternoon
It seems to be cooling off a few degrees by 5:30 pm, so we pack up and head into the Jumpup Narrows after a few hours of rest. Randy has trained well and has lots of excess energy to burn, so he scampers up Indian Hollow to check out the currently dry "Obstacle Pool" as Rhonda and Cheryl "ooh" and "aah" their way through the narrows of Jumpup Canyon.
Jumpup Narrows
Our original intention was to hike to the confluence of Jumpup Canyon and Kanab Creek and then hump the four miles of dry creekbed until we reached the flowing water of Kanab Creek, but at the end of the narrows, we found the standing pool of water under a pouroff on the side of Jumpup, and decided to camp here for the night. We've got all week, what's our rush?
Getting water from the Jumpup Pouroff
