Kiwi canyon mates Dan and Pip were scheduling a 4-week US tour of hiking and canyoning and were looking to tag on a backpacking/canyoning/packrafting Grand Canyon adventure. Their friends Ira and Lisa would join. Keith made a welcome addition to round us out to six and bring the number of experienced Grand Canyon hikers up to two. With a little research I was able to find a pretty straightforward sounding route (that I had not yet done) that should give them just the right taste of rugged difficulty, raw beauty, and pure fun that they were looking for. The Tatas: A 3000ft vertical descent down Tatahatso Canyon, a 7mi float with a couple notable riffles, looping to the top of the Redwall for Tatahoysa Canyon, then the final escape up the Eminence Break route, all in 2.5 days. With the permit gauntlet surmounted (both the national park and Navajo Nation were actually quite helpful) and several hints of how to pack given, Keith and I set out to meet the others in The Gap.
We arrived a little later than the others and piled back into our cars headed for the maze of dirt roads that would get us there. The road was remarkably smooth, wide and well maintained for the first 7 mi but we ultimately turned off of that and onto a two-rut road for the remainder of the trip. The road was fine for Keith's Outback other than a little bit of challenging navigation to find a route around the flooded Black Spot Reservior. After a little delay we did spot a way around to the south of the reservior and were back on track. This was a perfect example of the importance of navigating Grand Canyon backcountry roads in daylight, a lesson I had already learned (if it was dark we would have been unable to find a way around or could have struggled for hours). After about an hour of dirt we reached the abrupt edge of the canyon at the Eminence Break just in time to stroll over to the edge, see that the river was clear and thus a water source, and watch the sunset against the several spot fires on the Kaibab uplift across the way. We sorted gear, ate dinner, and went to bed in preparation for an early start.
The group was more-or-less packed and ready to go by the first light of day, though I could see that not all my suggestions of leaving gear behind were heeded and we would all pay for their heavy packs. It was also revealed that one of the group had a bum ankle which was highly worrying but turned out to be a non-issue.We followed the Eminence Break Fault as it led us into the one gully that would gain us access to Tatahatso Canyon. Though loose, it was much easier than anticipated and had some very interesting fault-related calcite crystals. It still took some time getting the group of six down two downclimbs, one of which we opted to pass packs. Once down we had a stellar view downcanyon through the walls of Kaibab, Toroweap, Coconino and Supai.
The going was initially rough with the expected jumble of sandstone and limestone boulders to scramble across and down. This was slow work for those with off-balance, overweighted packs. We had one Coconino waterfall to bypass on a ledge and most chose a pack-passing option. After turning a corner the canyon finally cut through the Coconino and into the Hermit Shale below where the canyon widened. At this point is was discovered a lifejacket was missing from the exterior of a pack so the two fastest of us ran back up to look for it while sending the rest of the group downward. The lifejacket was found after a bit of searching, the rest of the group quickly caught up to.
We stopped for a snack at the junction of Leche-e Wash, where the gradient began to lessen thanks to the Supai. As expected there were less boulders to deal with in the long, straight Supai section and some pleasant slickrock patios interspersed. Here we made good time and could spot the Redwall narrows coming into play before too long.
At the Redwall those that had wetsuits suited up while the others began rigging our first drop. It was a narrow vertical-walled slot with polished chutes and golden light reflected on the walls, a type-example of a Grand Canyon Redwall slot. There was quite a lot of water to contend with and Keith noted that he had done his first floating disconnect off the base of a rappel. Evidence of recent flood damage prompted us to replace a few of the tattered or missing anchors we encountered. Everyone seemed in good spirits now that we had switched into canyon-mode. The rappels were maybe only a little awkward due to prevalent oversized chockstones but the scenery was fantastic. The lighting switched from golden light to dark shadows as the canyon twisted and turned.
The lack of anchors had us burning through our anchor supplies but at least gave us an extra sense of wilderness (and less weight to carry!). Every stretch of the canyon had a new and interesting sight.
The very last stretch of the canyon had clear, cold spring water rather than the silty brown flood waters found in the rest of the canyon and some interesting features carved in the Temple Butte and Muav limestones. As we approached the end we could hear, and then see, the roar of the river below. One last tall rappel from smashed bolts brought us to the end of a lagoon-green pool, followed by a short walk to the river.
Being 4pm, I was happy to see that we had made pretty good time to the river. The transition to packraft-mode took a full hour for the beginners but we pushed off by 5pm. I could tell the group was instantly rejuvenated. There is nothing quite like floating down the Grand Canyon in a minuscule little boat, and the lower Marble Canyon is a good stretch to introduce them to. Several fun little riffles with a few decent waves added to the amusement. The river cut through the Muav and into the Bright Angel Shale.
Deep shadows and six o'clock
found us at Buck Farm Canyon beach with a very comfortable rafter's camp
serving as our Camp I. Boats were tied up, drying lines set up, stoves
alighted, as we settled into a comfortable and quiet evening at Buck
Farm. I was satisfied with our progress. It was a remarkably warm night.
A lazier morning found some of us ready to go much sooner than others but eventually we all pushed off. A short distance downstream we stopped at Burt's Canyon for a quick quarter-mile stroll up to a trickling waterfall. This was soon followed by the Royal Arches alcoves and a long straight corridor of Marble Canyon complete with mine adits testing rock stability for an enormous dam that would have drowned the canyon. I contemplated the implications of the alternate, though nearly so, future as I floated through the proposed dam site.
With careful eyes we spotted the Anazasi footbridge high on the right side of the river, marveling at how far the logs might have been brought from and where the bridge was headed (granaries?). About this time we heard the roar of President Harding Rapid. At a generous 4 on the Grand Canyon scale to 10 it's the sort of thing that rafts could go down blindfolded but presents a non-trivial obstacle to our petite boats that warranted a quick scout. I also had a quick scout of Tatahoysa, which has it's final rappel just here. Everyone took the left tongue of the rapid. I went for maximum tossing in the middle of the wave train, while other opted to skirt the gnar. Good fun! The least experienced paddler ended up upside down but was eventually sorted out at the end of the long eddy. Less than a half-mile later our rafting was over all too soon and we pulled up our boats into yet another great camp (Camp II), this time at the base of the Eminence Break route.
We had a quick lunch while at the same time organizing the bare minimum gear for a afternoon trip through Tatahoysa Canyon. I was delighted everyone seemed keen for a second canyon, and even more delighted to find I could carry everything I needed in the hood of my pack which I converted into a fanny pack. After only a few minutes of stumbling we found a well used and easy trail up the steep rockfall slope, quickly gaining excellent views of the canyon and our camp. After about 20 minutes we topped out on the Redwall, only have to climb further to re-top it on the other side of the Eminence Break Fault. I soon realized Tatahoysa was a highly unusual canyon- due to the Eminence Break Fault it had about 200ft vertical of bonus Redwall to descend through, nearly doubling the horizontal length of the canyon. We reached the head of the canyon in about 45 minutes.
After a pit stop at the top of the Redwall, we setup a fiddlestick for the first drop. While Tatahoysa was probably not as scenic as Tatahatso, the rappels were excellent, long clean drops. An interesting double arch and four nice rappels (including the frontispiece) brought us to where the Eminence Break Fault crosses the canyon.
After briefly allowing escape at the fault, the canyon closes up again and rebuilds momentum for round 2 with 3 large rappels. After a downclimb and a short walk we found ourselves at an impressive horizon line- beyond was a long straight section of canyon with the river visible far below. The first rappel of this section had beautiful sculpted zebra-stripe limestone where the canyon took a turn to drop into this straight corridor. The second rappel was a 100ft chute to some recently cracked mud (footprintless) into a grotto of sorts. The third was the final dramatic overhanging pouroff nearly 150ft in length. A rather modest knotchock was the existing anchor, which seemed like it would do the trick. I quickly rigged and was first down before others could object to the scary-looking anchor. This rappel got my belay device super toasty! Everyone followed on rappel. The shadows as people free-hanged on the rope were a satisfying sight.
Fifteen minutes of shoreline boulder scrambling brought us back to camp by 4:15p. Keith and I suited up to paddle back up to President Harding Rapid for some more rapid playtime while the others opted to lounge around. I had a total of five additional runs down the rapid, taking lines both right and left of the rock. The flow had noticeably dropped from the morning with the result that the waves were more modest. The last run I opted to go sans boat, powering through in my life jacket only. The water was cool but refreshing! I floated nearly the whole way back to camp before catching up to Keith with my boat.
We made it back to camp in time for a beautiful downriver sunset. I found softer sand to sleep on and had a better night's sleep than the first one. The next morning would be another early start to ensure escape in the shade. Clouds developed at night and the temperature was much cooler.
Fortunately we awoke to rain-free skies. People were much more efficient at packing up such that we were able to head out around 7am. Fifteen minutes later we felt the first drops of rain! What pleasant timing! As the rain continued to build and we could see the Kaibab uplift disappearing behind thick dark clouds, we began to worry about the road melting before we could escape. We followed the familiar and easy route we had taken to the head of Tatahoysa the day before, then continued on following cairns through the Hermit Shale and Supai. The trail was remarkably easy to follow and well-trodden- much easier than I was led to believe though still an adventure for the Grand Canyon first-timers.
As expected it got rougher the higher we climbed but still quite manageable. The rain was just enough to keep me cool and I greatly enjoyed it. The climbing really started to kick in once we reached the Coconino. We kept looking up, wondering what obstacles were ahead. Just below the top was an interesting fallen column the route passed under, then some neat pockets of dog-tooth calcite just before we broached the rim. Minutes later, the cars!
The rain continuing I tried to motivate for a quick escape rather than dealing with gear swapping. This was justified it turned out. We fortunately found an easier way around the Black Spot Reservior but then got a little lost trying to relocate our road. Keith expertly drove across several muddy spots despite weak, drifting traction. The driving continued challenging until we reached the better road at Corner Rock. A couple hours of rain later and we may not have made it out! What fortunate timing! After saying goodbyes, we had a nice lunch at Fratelli Pizza in Flagstaff (expanded since I had last been there!), and then the rest of the long drive home.
Though probably the easiest Grand Canyon trip I have done, it had pretty good bang for the buck between the nice stretch of river, two canyons, and easy approach and escape. We were quite fortunate to go the whole trip without seeing another person. Thanks to Keith for driving, and the whole group for a great little trip.
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