Keith, Jeff, and I were keen for a Grand Canyon trip. Keith valiantly did battle with the GCNP backcountry permit system, only to find that much of our proposed trip (4 of 5 activities!) was "illegal" under trumped up extensions of the river regulations and stuff the park superintendent happened to put in writing. Somehow I felt the real reason was because the trip would have been too amazing and they were jealous they didn't think of it first. Feeling jaded, I was keen to come up with an alternate that the GCNP would have much less to comment on and to visit an area where we were sure not to see other people. I polled a couple friends about a canyon I had just heard a few whisperings of and seen a few spectacular photos. It's given name designed to keep the location completely secret and to sum-up its status as a six-star canyon on a Grand Canyon scale of five: Climax.
Out of the multitude of Grand Canyon slots, this one slot contained some of the longest and best serpentine sculpted bedrock narrows, subway-like passages, and beautiful chains of pools bathed in golden light. For all it's beauty, getting there was going to be much more than half its trip. The trip would require a rough and tough scramble down from a slight break in the rim, routefinding through tricky cliff bands in the Supai, and surmounting difficult upclimbs over awkward chockstones. It was suggested that by tacking on another very high quality slot nearby, Twist & Shout, we could make the most out of the trip. Armed with beta meticulously gathered by Rich over multiple trips, we were all go. Jeff had to tag out due to illness so it would just be Keith and I.
We departed a little after 1pm which got us through most of the Friday traffic. After a long drive across the Mojave, we arrived at dusk to the start of a long network of dirt roads which would take us to the rim. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of road which allowed us to make good time. We were less enthused by the suicidal bunnies which seemed eager to challenge Keith's driving response time. We eventually veered off onto rutted dirt roads which slowed us down considerably. With most of the driving behind us, this seemed a good point to stop and sleep. The rest of the driving would go faster in daylight.
We brought mountain bikes in case the roads were too rough to make fast progress in a Outback, but the morning found the driving to the rim to be straightforward with no issues. We packed as efficiently as we could, erring on the side of ultralight weight whenever possible (though it turns out I could have done without my wetsuit!). We set off. The rim break through the Kaibab/Toroweap/Coconino was easy enough to find- there was only one feasible option for miles around!
The cool shadows didn't last long as we soon reached the open Esplanade
and threaded our way between the abundant yuccas, waiting patiently to
stab us. We found our desired break through the Esplanade sandstone
easily enough, then contoured our way across loose Supai slopes out to
the one break through the limestone cliff band near the base of the
Supai. On this lower Supai slope above the Redwall we were treated to a
full bloom of ocotillos, yuccas, prickly pear, and other assorted desert
plants showing off.
Contouring back into the head of the drainage in and out of loose gullies, we reached the head of the Redwall slot shortly before noon. A nice Redwall patio with just a touch of shade above the first pool in the canyon seemed like as good a place as any for lunch. Geared up, we headed on down through the smooth, white, sculpted Redwall hallways as canyon wrens serenaded us and curious hummingbirds watched on.
So many frogs! More than I have seen anywhere else in the Grand Canyon. At first creativity would allow us to skirt or stem past pools, but eventually our fate caught up to us and we had to wade through a couple deep pools. Despite this, the canyon was very obviously drier than it had been recently judging by the bathtub rings and dried mud. The canyon was great fun. The canyon would follow a fracture as a long and straight hallway then abruptly decide to veer off from it, plunging in some of the most twisted and sculpted narrows around. Then follow another straight fracture again. Twist & Shout was becoming aptly named. Onward, the canyon only grew deeper and more beautiful.
After some excellent subway-like narrows the canyon seemed to change character as we approached the first reasonably-sized rappel. Here the cherty layered limestone added new texture. The canyon began to open up in spacious patios. Something big looked like it was about to happen...
And sure enough it did. One final shallow narrows led to one heck of a horizon line! A 250ft freehanging rappel. Of course because we could not see straight down, only outward, it might as well have been the entire Grand Canyon we were rappelling into. The wind did little to soothe my nerves. I did my best to cautiously flake our two ropes, but my best was not good enough and I had to contend with a 500ft pile of tangled spaghetti in an awkward pothole on the edge of the world. I was probably asking for it by not prepping the 300ft rope ahead of time. Eventually we got there and off I went. Wow, what a great rappel! What was stressful at the top was a total delight once on rope. The rope passed cleanly over a polished chute (no treacherously sharp lip to stress me out) and then it was all slow motion skydiving past a beautiful grotto complete with stalactites. I carefully removed my belay device once down to avoid burning myself from its frictional heat and yelled up to Keith to come on down.
One more rappel and we reached the end of Twist. If this was any indication, Climax was going to be great! We stocked up on water at the last pool before exiting Twist and walking up the main canyon we had now encountered. Eventually we reached the confluence of Climax and Impotent. I couldn't resist and excuse to drop my pack for a few minutes so Keith and I had a quick scout up Climax before marching up Impotent. Impotent Canyon had several tricky and somewhat exposed boulder problems to surmount, three of which required pack passes to overcome. The last one we had been warned about...it certainly looked intimidating! Though it slowed us down, I was able to get up with a boost from Keith and then rig a flagpole loop of webbing for round 2 tomorrow. Once up, the canyon soon relented and we used the last of the day to find ourselves an excellent camp spot on the limestone patio as bats silently circled. Thankfully the temperature was much milder here than at the rim and I slept very soundly.
We had a quick breakfast and jaunted around to the top of the Redwall in Climax Canyon. Here we happily unloaded most of the contents of our packs as we needed very little to loop through Climax. Just below the first awkward chockstone downclimb I can upon a very lethargic looking chuckwalla. It didn't take me very long to realize he probably didn't want to be where he was as his large claws and bulk would not allow him to climb the water-polished Redwall limestone back up out of the canyon. I bravely caught him, realizing he could fit my whole thumb in his mouth, but fortunately he was weak and didn't put up much of a fight. I carefully upclimbed the chockstone and put him on a sunny rock. Hopefully the rest of its day went better.
The light load made the canyon a true delight and I burned through many pixels capturing every dramatic twist in the canyon. More creative canyoning allowed us to stay mostly dry and we downclimbed around and over many pools occupied by chirping frogs.
The canyon just kept getting better and better as its momentum built and its walls began to tower twistingly overhead. Beautiful reflections, serpentine white walls, overhanging golden streaked walls, bedrock everywhere! What a delight! The pictures should speak for themselves.
We had a quick lunch at a place dubbed the Corkscrew Room by the first explorers. Here the canyon twists overhead a full 270 degrees in some of the most golden Redwall around.
Happily the canyon persisted at great length. It took hours to traverse the 0.75 miles of slot, partially because of the beauty-fueled stupor this canyon put you in. Just like in Twist, the canyon changed character when it finally reached the Temple Butte Limestone at the base of the Redwall. We topped off our water supply at a clear pool, just in case. We passed through a broader portion of canyon and past a golden grotto before the canyon again plunged back into narrows with two final awkward chockstone rappels. This last narrows, though drowned in sediment, was completely different than the narrows above and still stunningly beautiful. After what seemed like ages, we finally exited Climax at the confluence with Impotent. My impression was it certainly deserved its 6 stars, but now we had our 2-star escape to contend with. The Impotent obstacles were easier this time around. Though my toes were feeling abused in my canyon boots and neosocks, we made decent time returning to our stashed gear.
I thought the worst was behind us but I was wrong. We were given pretty vague instructions on a route through the Supai but as we stared at it we could not for the life of us see how we were going to get through all five cliff bands. We had no choice but to take each one-by-one. The bottom band was easily surmounted with a pack pass but the loose rock and lack of a trail did little to deter from the adventure. We continued on slowly and cautiously, every foot step and handhold deliberately tested. At a few points I scouted along a cliff band to be sure of the best option. The best option was usually not great! Keith was rapidly loosing enthusiasm. I was more confident that we would be able to find a way through the cliffs but will admit I greatly underestimated this maze of a route. Around this point I decided at some point in my abundant free time that I should make and market a Grand Canyon version of the board game "Chutes and Ladders"...that would have more chutes than ladders...The crux was breaking through the second to last Supai cliff band. I led a steep, loose, and downright uncomfortable exposed climb that was topped with poorly placed cacti, yucca, and large loose rocks. Fortunately I then found an easier place for Keith and the bags to follow. The final band, the Esplanade Sandstone, also put more of a fight than I was expecting, forcing us to do a bit more grungy, exposed, loose rock climbing. Once of top of the Esplanade we rejoiced! It was a satisfying challenge to put behind us. From here on we knew the obstacles we would face.
My energy levels were already waning at this point; Keith seemed to be in much better shape than me. The Supai ascent killed a lot of our daylight and it would be a struggle to make it back to the rim before dark. We slowly progressed. The steep slope going up the Hermit Shale finished off the last bit of muscles in my legs. I fell way behind Keith and was feeling pretty lousy. I knew we would make it up, it was just going to take me a while. After what seemed like ages (and now thoroughly in the dark) we sat down for one last rest beneath the final Coconino cliff band to climb up (which Keith was not looking forward to). We took it slow and without incident, then the final loose gully to top out on the top. Once up we still had to find the car which seemed like forever.
Overjoyed at reaching the car, Keith brought out the beer, chips, salsa, and cookies which I happily stuffed myself on. Unfortunately I was already a little too far gone and the rough driving on the way out forced me to throw up twice. I can't remember the last time that has happened. 2 points: Grand Canyon. The rest of the driving journey went comparatively smoothly. Though far from the most miles, this trip probably ended up being the hardest Grand Canyon trip I've done to date. Though it tested me, I was thankful to benefit from Rich's description of the route. We were maybe the second group to do it in this way? It was amazing to go a whole Grand Canyon trip without seeing any trails or rock cairns or trash. There is a justified reason why some of these locations need to be carefully guarded. I felt very fortunate to have seen this remote part of the Grand Canyon. Keith did a stellar job on his second real canyon trip! Thanks to Keith and Rich for a truly memorable trip. Hopefully it can hold me over until the next trip which might be a while from now!
