I had been anxiously awaiting the time to do this trip down in the Grand Canyon, where Mike and I hike down the North Bass trail 14 miles to the river, then float, hike and portage our way downriver about 25 miles in a remote and wild section where the Colorado River does a near circle as it winds its way (circumambulates) around the massive mile-high Powell Plateau, which is named after John Wesley Powell, the first human to float the entire canyon. To get out of the canyon, we must hike 12 miles up and out via Tapeats Creek and the Thunder River trail, and then shuttle back to our original trailhead.
The weather was beautiful on the river. The first and last days of hiking were a little windy, and the only major trouble we had was driving back to get Mike's cars. Due to the wind storm, the road was blocked and requires a chainsaw to clear the downed trees. We had an incredible adventure, met lots of neat river runners, worked really hard (especially portaging), and had lots of fun.
Our first campsite is below Dox Castle, next to Shinumo Creek (bottom part of photo).
Sunset from Shinumo Creek camp site.
The second day we finally hit the Colorado River, just below Bass Rapids here in the photo.
Our second camp at Toltec Beach here has beautiful white sand.
The next day we visit probably the most incredible side canyon of all--Elves Chasm. Here I am next to the lower falls.
See the elf sitting high on the rock?
Upper Elves chockstone, and waterfall behind it.
Cascade and pool above Upper Elves.
Upper Upper Elves pool.
Upper Upper Upper Elves--the most beautiful! It took a lot of crawling and rock scrambling to reach all of the upper pools--an enchanted place that few people get a chance to see.
Our third night camp spot is here at Blacktail Canyon beach, looking downriver at Conquistador Aisle and the Great Thumb Mesa off in the distance.
A short afternoon and moonlight hike up Blacktail Canyon, where you can touch a missing gap of 1 billion years between the Tapeats and Vishnu rock layers.
The next morning this was our view as we got in our tiny packrafts to float 12 river miles.
We portaged about a dozen times, around some difficult rapids like Specter here. The packraft weighs only 4 lbs, the paddle, lifejacket and wetsuit each weigh 2 lbs.
This was in the beautiful Middle Granite Gorge section. A part of Powell Plateau can be seen in the distance.
Our last night at Stone Creek beach, none other than my neighbor in Ivins--Bev--from Steph's AZRA trip with me 5 years ago shows up with her group. What a reunion! We offer to share our beach in exchange for an incredible dinner and breakfast.
Stone Creek waterfall is a 5 minute hike from the beach.
Halfway up our hike out Tapeats Creek the last day, we take a nice relaxing break at Thunder River waterfall.
Our last night is up on the Esplanade, with incredible views of Powell Plateau in the distance, our Stone Creek beach (the small speck), Surprise Valley below, and the sunset light hitting the redwall.
On this trip, we each hiked with a total of 40 lbs. The hiking was very long, steep, windy, and hot. The paddling on the river was pleasant, but portaging numerous rapids is extremely exhausting. The most difficult portage was below Bedrock Rapid. We portaged okay past the huge boulder to put in at the lower part of the rapid, but had to deal with crossing two or three super strong cross currents and eddies that nearly slammed us into a wall, a rock, and a dead-end room-sized pocket. The river portion was surely beautiful though. And we met some great people.
Video of Mike jumping in Elves.
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