This was the first big trip after a long school year that I had been planning for years. Despite the title the real star of the show was intended to be West Canyon, widely considered to be the best quality slot canyon on the Colorado Plateau and a goal of mine for many many years. Though not a difficult canyon in itself, West is a very hard place to get to. Surrounded by one of the densest and most convoluted canyon networks around, the only real feasible access is via Lake Powell, thus requiring a boat or an expensive and hard to arrange boat shuttle. The initial alternative plan I envisioned was to exploit the tourist day-trip boat to Rainbow Bridge National Monument (i.e. take the boat one-way and then hike and packraft our way back to Wahweap visiting West on the way). However, first COVID closures and then low lake levels forced this boat service to become unreliable, ruling out this option. Though less desirable because it would require a car shuttle, I eventually circled onto what I thought was a masterful and to the best of my knowledge unique route that would take in some of the very best Lake Powell has to offer in 7 ambitious but feasible days. My route was to start at the south trailhead for Rainbow Bridge, hike the trail down to the Cliff-Aztec canyon confluence, day trip down Forbidding Canyon and up Bridge Canyon (including Rainbow Bridge), hike up Aztec Canyon, scramble up 2000ft and cross over Cummings Mesa into the head of West Canyon, day hike loop the technical West Canyon narrows, hike all the way down West to the lake, then packraft out the lake to Antelope Point Marina with a stopover at Labyrinth Canyon and perhaps a boat hitch to save some paddling effort. The trip would involve 34.5 miles of heavy multi-sport backpacking, 21.5 miles of light pack day hiking and canyoning, and up to 32 miles of lake packrafting. To see so many sights, to work in two day-trips allowing heavy packs to be dropped, and to see so much without retracing steps apart from a total of 1.5 miles, I maintain that it is one of my best planned and most creative routes.
Preparation was exhaustive. I downloaded the lake bathymetry data and loaded it into a GIS to be able to mark the shoreline positions for a 3535' lake level (seldom seen low!). I researched the scant beta I could find for this remote region. I called four different Navajo Parks phone numbers over 40 times over 4 days to painstakingly secure our permit when it became clear they would not process the mailed permit in time. I broke out the kitchen scale to pinch grams. I purchased some new gear when I was not happy with the weight of something I had. We would need 7 days of food, wetsuits, rappeling gear, rope, and packrafts in addition to backpacking gear so it was essentially ultralight backpacking but with a 40+lb pack. My "maybe" pile was enormous and almost all of the items were left behind in the end (including my helmet as an example). Lastly in the final leadup to the trip a regional heatwave was announced. We were expecting highs of low 90s for this time of year, not 113°F+ temperatures! While fitness was certainly a factor in the outcome, all these meticulous plans were ultimately foiled by this unavoidable heat.
We met with Keith and Kari on time in Page and then dropped their vehicle at the Antelope Point launch parking and crammed into our vehicle. Despite Navajo Mountain being only 30 miles away as the crow flies, the extensive canyon network between us meant a 90 mile, 2 hour shuttle to our trailhead. We started down the highway then turned down the paved road towards Navajo Mountain, then a wide washboarded dirt road towards its south flank. The navigation got more confusing as we got closer to our destination until we past all homesteads and had no more branching roads. This last 1.4 miles was rough and slowed our pace to a near crawl. I did my best to find the path across the bumpy road and several times had Keith spot me through uphill rock gardens and slickrock steps. To my surprise we were able to get to the trailhead without any bumps or scrapes which was a relief. I was very happy that I pushed for an early meeting time so that we would not be driving these backcountry roads in the dark. The trailhead seemed rather civilized with lots of signage, picnic tables, and an outhouse though we were the only ones around for miles. Heather and I set up inside the stone ruins of one of the Rainbow Lodge buildings to provide some relief from the howling wind. The heat continued into the night despite the 6300' elevation.
Day 1. The wind persisted all night but the tent and ruin walls of the lodge provided some break and I slept well despite the heat. We got up at first light and managed to get everyone organized and on the trail at 7am with the hope of getting some heat relief in the morning shadows of Navajo Mountain. As the sun rose on the distant east side of Cummings Mesa I could see the landslide pack trail route that we planned to take days later; it looked like a formidable ascent! None of us were thrilled with our packweight but Heather and I managed to be many pounds lighter than Keith and Kari (Keith took score with Heather @ 34lbs, Kari @ 37 lbs, Nic @ 43lbs, Keith @ 53lbs). Starting off we held a good pace traversing across the southwestward flank of Navajo Mountain; the trail contoured as best it could but inevitably had to switchback into and out of several of the canyons draining Navajo Mountain. At Horse Canyon, the biggest elevation divot, there was a downed tree across a steep part of the trail which provided a couple minutes of annoyance. As we continued into canyon country the views became more expansive, the scale of the wilderness overwhelming to the eyes.
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| Rainbow Lodge ruins at the trailhead, Cummings Mesa beyond |
The sun inevitably caught up to us and we began slowing our pace and taking breaks in the intermittent shadows of boulders and pinions near Dome Canyon. The trail climbed somewhat to skirt the head of the mysterious No Name Mesa on scree slopes as we approached Yabut Pass. As we ascended the sedimentary rocks became more tilted and fractured associated with the volcanic intrusions of Navajo Mountain. We stopped for a longer snack break in the shade just below Yabut Pass. From here we had an expansive view down the landslide deposit into Cliff Canyon and miles and miles beyond.
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| Nearing Yabut Pass |
The 1.5 mile, 1600 foot descent into Cliff Canyon was good travel on a trail between large boulders but still slowed us down considerably. After some more breaks we continued down the floor of Cliff Canyon which consisted of many rocky wash crossings to gain the sandy terraces with better travel.
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| Looking up Cliff Canyon towards Yabut Pass |
Despite my pack weight I found myself frequently outpacing the other three such that I waited in shady spots or at more subtle trail junctions until I spotted the others. About 1 mile down the canyon I waited a particularly long time and suspected something might be up. Keith eventually showed up saying that Kari was not feeling well (dehydration and heat exhaustion probably) and stopped in the shade while we bombed downcanyon to fill up our water stores. Keith and I shouldered our packs and raced onward downcanyon. We only had to go about 0.2 miles until we spotted our first water, and 20ft beyond a nice pool that we could easily filter from (we were thinking we would have to go much further). We refilled our stores, dropped packs, and carried some water bladders unburdened back up the trail. Fortunately Kari was feeling considerably better by the time we got to her and everyone downed water knowing we would soon have a fairly steady supply of it. We retraced our steps back down to the water and after another break hiked onward.
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| First water! |
We were averaging about a quarter-mile between breaks at this point. My thermometer topped out at about 113°F despite the roaring winds! We left the Navajo Bridge Trail at Redbud Pass and continued down Cliff Canyon. The canyon floor was mostly intermittent shallow pools and a request was made to stop if we spotted a good soaking pool. Right about where we hoped, there was a bedrock patio section and at the bottom a nice full immersion pool not much bigger than two bathtubs laid end to end. We all jumped in and did our best to cool off as curious minnows nipped at our toes. We were starting to get near to our camp for the end of the day and my worry shifted to hoping we would find some relief from the sandblasting canyon winds. I knew all too well the misery of night-long sandblasting when you are trying to sleep and waking up coated in fine sand.
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| The rejuvenating bedrock bathtub |
Cliff Canyon became its most spectacular with enormous sheer cliffs at its final two bends before Aztec Canyon. Happily as we expected Aztec Canyon had ample flowing water in contrast to the intermittent trickle in Cliff Canyon (and tasted much better too). The wind continued to punish but I led the others upstream to an old expedition inscription Kelsey had marked on a map that I hoped meant a protective alcove campsite. We waded across the stream and slowly found our way through the vegetation on the banks. I found the inscription site at the back of a long alcove. The alcove did provide the best protection from the wind of anywhere we had seen but was radiating blistering heat due to the direct sun. I could see that in another half hour or so the sun would leave the alcove and so we all waited out the sun hanging out at the stream just below. This was a great spot to soak in the water and refill water but our little beach would periodically get sandblasted with violent winds that we would have to suffer through. Also of amusement was hundreds of frogs hanging out at this same pool, most smaller than a pea and hanging out in every footprint crevice in sight.
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| We were not the first to sleep here |
Eventually the sun left and we migrated into the alcove to set up camp and get to dinner. The rocks and sand still cruelly radiated heat for hours but it was worth the shelter from the wind which had some truly incredible gusts. Apart from the hundred year old "Bernheimer EXP 1922" inscription, there was abundant evidence that this alcove provided shelter for many others before and since. The ground was littered with chert flakes and several rocks had collections of pottery fragments, arrowheads, and small corn ears left by ancestral Puebloans; the ground was also coated in more recent BB pellets from bighorn sheep. As we ate we struggled to come up with a firm plan. At least half of the group seemed a bit shell shocked from the day's effort and I was also feeling particularly indecisive. This first day was supposed to be our easy on-trail day, yet it took us 11 hours to go 10 miles due to the exceptional heat, pack weight, and other factors. After lots of discussion the matter was still largely unresolved when we went to bed but it seemed like the unknown travel up Aztec Canyon and the nearly 2000ft ascent up Cummings Mesa were probably out of the question. The wind was also a wildcard if it persisted until we reached Lake Powell. I did my best to tamp down my disappointment at my route beginning to unravel as I settled into another warm sleeping bag-less night.
Day 2. Everyone awoke when they did (trying to savor the coolest morning minutes for quality sleep) and there were more discussions over breakfast. It wasn't until about 8am that Kari and Heather settled on wanting to have a rest day at camp, leaving Keith and I to go down Forbidding Canyon, paddled Lake Powell to Bridge Canyon, check out Rainbow Bridge, and then loop back via Redbud Pass which would take us most of the day. Keith and I packed as quick (and as lightly) as we could as the coolest hours were already escaping. Cliff Canyon confluence to our camp took us about 30 minutes the previous day; we were able to reverse this in about 10 minutes and then head on down canyon into the unknown. Though essentially the same canyon as Aztec, downstream the canyon gains the ominous moniker of Forbidding Canyon. Not a commonly visited canyon, I had little more to go off of than a Kelsey description suggesting swimming, waterfalls, and to stay on benches when possible. The canyon was exceptionally pleasant and we made good time cutting across the back of terraces and walking out slickrock benches. A little less than a mile down from Cliff Canyon we spotted a nice patio area with an impressive horizonline. This turned out to be an excellent 25ft jump into a bottomless green pool that Keith and I could not resist stopping for a few laps before carrying on.
The canyon continued to have some beautiful slickrock lined pools, stately sweeping alcoves, and interesting but overall straightforward route finding. After walking out a long bench bypassing a mysterious wet slot we found an excellent crystal clear spring with a deep pool just barely disconnected from the stream that we stopped to fill up on. Another turn and some more route finding brought us to a very convincing swim through a long corridor. I stripped down to boxers and packed everything in my drybag and then waded in. This water was much colder than the sunny jumping pool earlier. I made it in to my waist then flinched: maybe there was another way? I retreated out back to the head of the flooded corridor and sure enough a closer look revealed moki steps cut into the sandstone slab on the side. I carefully climbed but was borderline ok with the moves with a pack on. I made it up to the top where there was a "JW 1922" inscription then motioned for Keith to follow. At the end of this bench bypass the canyon widened due to a rincon and continued wide for this rest of the way to Lake Powell. Though this was the nicest section of the canyon you'll see I am showing no photos from it; as it turned out we returned to this section the following day and my photos from that visit were overall better.
We continued on a meanderous further 3 miles to Lake Powell. This section had some tall walls and a couple impressive undercut alcoves but altogether was less pleasant than the section upstream.
It was quite obvious when we crossed below the high pool level of Lake Powell; beyond this we never saw a bedrock floor again, the stream disappeared, and the wash was lined with dusty sediment banks that were whipped up by the wind and rudely blasted us. It was tragic to see this post-apolcalyptic change in the canyon for this last hour of hiking. As we continued down the canyon the full-pool bathtub ring rose up the canyon walls.
The lake was exactly where I was expecting it to be given its 3535' elevation. We tried to inflate Keith's two-person Forager as fast as we could before it blew away! We would only need to paddle about a half-mile down the flooded Forbidding Canyon to its major confluence and then an additional half-mile up Bridge Canyon so we opted to not bring PFDs for this short jaunt. In hindsight this was perhaps a questionable decision. Despite the canyon's vertical walls and tight meanders, the winds were remarkably strong to the point that it felt like we were paddling upriver rather than a quiet inlet of a lake as we expected. The high profile of the Forager meant considerable wind resistance forcing us to continuously paddle and occasionally brace to the point that a few times I shifted to sit on the floor. We crossed through the narrow gateway at the mouth of Bridge Canyon and passed by the Rainbow Bridge dock infrastructure, unusable in its low-water emergency position and the many bizarre bolted chains lining the passage. Eventually we came to a sandy delta that would be our landing and said hello to the guy on the small boat there with his two dogs. To cut a longer story short he was intrigued by our boat and where we had come from, was headed uplake for a !6 week trip!, and told us we could expect to have Rainbow Bridge completely to ourselves as he was taking off. He also told us things were fierce out on the main thoroughfare of Lake Powell with ocean-style whitecaps whipped up by the atypically strong winds. We said adios, packed up on the only rock around, and started hiking up another desolate section of weeds and dusty floors.
Travel was not particularly fast up the first few bends in Bridge Canyon but we soon reached the eyesore of a gabion rock reinforced wall that must have been the ideal dock location at higher lake levels. Climbing up on top of it we gained a paved trail taking us the rest of the way to Rainbow Bridge. The contrast of such manicured national monument infrastructure in the wild place that we accessed by nearly the wildest way possible was bizarre and unsettling. Again we felt a post-apocalyptic feeling of abandonment, a seeming microcosm of the likely fate of Lake Powell overall given the dwindling supply of snowmelt in the Colorado Basin. Rainbow Bridge was impressive and it was very special to be able to have it all to ourselves to enjoy in [blisteringly hot] solitude. I think my mental image of it was from only a single vantage so I was pleasantly surprised that the scene changed as we hiked up, around, and then past this second largest natural bridge in the world. Relatedly I struggled to narrow down photos to fewer than four! The upstream photo with a pillar of white Navajo Sandstone on Navajo Mountain framed beneath was one of Keith and my favorite views. I also liked the last downstream looking view that placed the bridge against a towering wall allowing me to exclude the sky (frontispiece). It was great to see this exceptional natural feature in person; one of those ones that truly made me think about what other incredible ephemeral features have existed in the past.
Keith and I resisted the urge to cross beneath the bridge and took the bypass trail around, in deference for the sacredness of the bridge to indigenous peoples. Keith heard a rumor that there were some nice pools on the creek upstream of the bridge and so we veered down a slope to hide in the shade of a large boulder and dip in a frigid pool nearby. It was now well-hot and Keith and I were both feeling the heat of the day but we did not have all that much time to linger if we wanted to arrive back to camp at about the time we suggested to the others. We did make one final pack-drop detour down the spur trail into the enormous overhanging alcove forming the ruins of Rainbow Camp, now wire-spring bedframes distributed under trees and up under the alcove. At the highest point under the alcove I was surprised to see a perfect little pool and spring, were it in wetter times it would be the perfect size to dip a cup for fresh water.
Past Rainbow Camp the hiking became a bit more of a slog though meanders and large walls continued. Best we could tell the major junction between the north and south branches of the Rainbow Bridge Trail was not obvious and we navigated by phone to branch up Redbud Creek, and then again for the turn up Redbud Pass. Apparently in the past they took stock over Redbud Pass but not since a prominent rockfall occurred forcing some scrambling. Despite the shade in this narrow joint passage I was overheating and fell a bit behind Keith, rejoining him at Redbud Pass where the warm wind screamed through the gap. The descent was more straightforward than the climb and soon we recognized the hogan we walked past in Cliff Canyon. Motivated to get back and now retracing our steps we made pretty good time on the two miles down Cliff and up Aztec, other than a brief detour to check out an alcove on the way as a camping possibility.
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| Descending from Redbud Pass |
We arrived back to camp at nearly the same time as the previous day, leaving us with a half-hour to wait out the sun by the creek before going into our alcove camp. The girls sounds like they enjoyed a leisurely day and had shade in the alcove until about 2pm, not too bad considering. We discussed the options of continuing our trip, a one-day detour of Forbidding or Rainbow Bridge and then back up the trail, or just heading back up the trail. Despite the other two's rest day the verdict seemed to converge on a retreat plan spending half of Day 3 seeing the best section of upper Forbidding Canyon as a down-and-back day trip, then shouldering our packs to find a camp near the first water in Cliff Canyon to position us for a pre-heat start up Yabut Pass on Day 4. I was disappointed to kill my planned route but was also surprised at how fast I was burning through my carefully budgeted electrolyte drink mixes. Night 2 was similarly warm.
Day 3. We awoke to a good half dozen bighorn sheep theatrically ascending and descending the seemingly sheer wall opposite our camp. I would have never considered the route they took! We packed up camp and shifted our full backpacks down to the Cliff-Aztec confluence then dropped all but what I could fit into a single drybag.
We strolled unburdened down the twists and turns of Forbidding Canyon and soon arrived at the jump pool. We opted to continue on and savor it for a break from the heat on our return. We took some of the slab traversing moves a bit slower this time but soon worked our way into the heart of the best of Forbidding.
At one point the creek drops down to the left into a dark hole between chockstone with pools that never see the sun beyond. The bench on the right provided an easy bypass as the previous day but I was hoping to eek out a little something new from this day compared to the previous day. It was not easy but I managed to convince Keith to follow me down this 15ft chute and into the punishingly cold water. My whoops and screams echoed through the canyon for the other two to hear above. Despite the cold Keith and I were unanimous that we made the right decision. This slot section was downright stunning, one of the prettiest short sections I had seen anywhere. Golden light mixing with the darkness of the water, ferns lining the passage, flaky sandstone layers adding unreal contrast. Fortunately we managed to find several haul-out ledges to break up what otherwise would have been a 300ft long swim. As we went through this short section I could not help but wonder how many thousands of feet of comparable slot we would have seen in West Canyon, but for the moment I was happy to see this hidden gem.
At the end of the swimming the other two climbed down to us, one more pool to skirt around. We stopped at the crystal clear spring from the previous day and all had a deep drink.
A couple more bends and we were at the moki step bypass at the end of the good stuff so we instead checked out the enormous golden alcove on canyon left. Here we also ran into our boater dirtbag and his dogs working their way up the canyon. Keith was able to coerce them through the swim and they continued on past us up nearly to Redbud Pass before returning. As a last ditch effort to save our trip we asked if he would consider taking us to the mouth of West Canyon in his boat; understandably though he was headed up the lake (not down) and did not have the spare gas to make such a large detour. Oh well.
We worked our way back up the canyon, this time stopping for swims and jumps at the deep green pool. It was lovely as before. We snacked and I even took a nap on a small piece of shaded slickrock, none of us keen to continue on to where we would have to shoulder our packs. Eventually though it was time.
We picked up our packs and slowly worked our way up Cliff Canyon. We stopped again for a cooling soak in the bedrock bathtub then continued on past the turnoff to Redbud Pass. A short distance beyond we found the alcove I had in mind for a camp with nice sand and shade and water below, 0.5 miles below the first water and the ideal place to stage ourselves for an early ascent back to the car. Kari and Heather settled into the shade of the camp but I was itching to explore a bit more and prodded Keith to explore the mazy canyonlands opposite our camp. It was one of those two steps forward one step back excursions as we guessed whether a jointed slot or exposed slab would allow forward progress. Through and intricate route we were able to make it about 400ft up in height above the valley floor with views towards Navajo Mountain and down into Redbud Pass. The evening's chief entertainment was filling up all of our many liters of water at a punishingly slow rate of 4 min/L with my clogged filter (Heather cleverly restored it to full ~1L/min flow using vinegar later at home). After that it was time for a final swim before settling in. This evening was appreciably cooler than the previous ones and I slept a little better accordingly
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| Cliff Canyon camp somewhere at the bottom of this maze |
Day 4. Motivated to minimize the suffer on a hot ascent, we managed to leave camp by 5am on the morning of the fourth day. We made it about a third of the way up the landslide slope until the inevitable happened: direct sun. Our pace slowed and stops in shade became more frequent. The many crenulations in the face of Navajo Mountain were doubly annoying this second time, but each one got us closer to the car. We reached the car a little before noon, the 8 mile hike taking us about 7 hours.
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| Cliff Canyon from Yabut Pass |
Keith helped me navigate a couple rough patches in the road again and once again I was surprised to make it out without any bumps or undercarriage scratches. We drove to Keith and Kari's car, then grabbed large milkshakes to consume in Page's park as we came up with a plan for the following days. Knights Inn once again got us a reasonably priced motel room to recover and rejuvenate between adventures. It was nice to see Rainbow Bridge and Forbidding Canyon but it was hard to shake the disappointment at my ambitious route falling apart. I'm sure we probably made the right decision in turning back. Though my motivation at completing the route is now much diminished, my thirst for seeing West Canyon has only increased. Like Choprock Canyon which has thwarted me nearly a half dozen times, I hope for another chance at redemption in the future.
