20 miles, 11hours

Walking down Nankoweap Creek was just lovely this morning with so much in bloom we could hardly make progress because we had to keep stopping to look. There were many kinds of cactus blooming in several colors, wild flowers and bushes, century plants and yucca.

When we reached the Colorado River we turned right to bush-whack our way down stream. Without a trail it was slow going, but we found game trails here and there that we could follow for a while. Later in the day we were following rock benches just above the river that made it fun because it was faster at times and involved some scrambling. Finally, near dusk, we came upon the base camp for researchers and volunteers from the Grand Canyon Monitoring & Research Center. They welcomed us to sit down and eat dinner with them (some super tasty enchiladas) and we visited with them the entire evening. What a fun and interesting group of people! They are doing research and recovery efforts to save the Humpback Chub, a native fish in the Grand Canyon.

20 miles, 11 hours

We woke with a hard frost coating our sleeping bags and the cold made it hard to get going. We were packing up camp when two hikers came through – they were on the AZ Trail going the other way. We enjoyed talking with them and sharing trail notes and stories. But we all felt the need to make some miles so we soon had to part with Yapper and Dead Animal (their trail names, something many serial through-hikers have).

We walked about nine miles on gravel roads to get to the Nankoweap trail head. Then we headed down into the canyon. The NPS trail description calls this the most difficult trail in the Grand Canyon and has plenty of warnings about exposed edges and slippery steep slopes. I will say that it’s no harder than several parts of the Hayduke so far, and the worst bits aren’t too long, but it is a darn challenge. Not to mention you lose several thousand feet of elevation. When we reached Nankoweap Creek at the bottom we were pretty tired.

The campsite at the bottom is beautiful, and we had the pleasure of meeting a very nice couple from Tucson with similar outside priorities as we have. It was a warm but very pleasant night.

TRAIL NOTES:
We found no water between Sourdough Well and Nankoweap Creek.

15 miles, 8.5 hours

We had a lovely day walking the AZ Trail today as most of the snow was encountered early so we could walk right over the hard shell of the drifts. Soon we worked our way through the snowy parts and had a lovely walk.

17 miles, 7.5 hours

We left Jacob Lake Inn and walked the closed parkway toward the North Rim (the road opens for the season May 15th). When we got close we got back on the Arizona Trail and walked that for a while, but we kept losing it in the burn area so we got back on the parkway. We tried the trail again later but snow made the going hard. We ended the day at Crane Lake, which is visible from the road and back on route. We camped just up in the trees in aspen and mixed conifers, a beautiful spot.

The room is wonderfully comfortable and we really feel we earned our rest day after walking 109 miles in five days! We had a great breakfast in the restaurant and caught up on washing clothes and other chores. We also caught up on the news, and it’s all about swine flu. It sounds like it has been in the news just a day or two and we wonder how things will progress while we’re back on the trail.

When we went back to the restaurant for dinner the big question for us was: what’s for dessert? They had pie — whole or by the slice, and they had excellent fresh baked cookies, which we had sampled last night and knew to be exceptional. But we couldn’t make up our minds. So through dinner we came up with a list of Prudent and Pertinent Questions to help us make up our minds, such as: is the pie baked fresh? Is the fruit fresh or canned? Is the crust made with shortening (flakey), butter (tasty), or both (best)? We were thinking of getting a whole pie and having some for dessert and some for breakfast before heading down the trail, OR getting a piece of pie for dessert and four cookies for tomorrow. So hard to decide! We were laughing at our inability to decide and the ridiculous amount of baked goodies we felt such urgent need for.

We finally got the answers from our server, a pretty young kid who seemed new to the place. After he consulted with the cook we found out: the pies were baked this morning, with canned fruit, and the crust is made with shortening. Finally we asked him, “Well, what do you think of the pie?” And his answer sealed our fate. “To be honest with you, not that great.”

So we ended up with pie for dessert and six cookies to go.

28 miles, 10.75 hours

We started the lovely Arizona Trail today, varying from pinyon and juniper forests to ponderosa pine and finally mixed conifer stands mingled with aspen groves. The trail climbed up onto the Kaibab Plateau and then rolled over hills and through meadows all day as we gradually gained elevation. The path was smooth and the going was easy. It was a big day, the farthest either of us has ever gone on foot. But somehow we felt just fine, like we could have walked more if we needed to.

By the time we reached Jacob Lake Inn we were just about out of food and very ready for dinner. We had rushed the last few miles to make it to the inn before they closed at eight, so we were surprised to find that we had a spare hour when we arrived: Arizona was an hour behind because they don’t recognize daylight savings time. Oh yeah, of course! We were in a bit of a daze from the long day of hiking. I compare it to getting a runner’s high. Makes you kind of slow in the head, but you’re feeling pretty good.

We sat down on a couple of stools at an old style diner counter between the lodge desk and the gift shop. There were several people there for a Monday evening in the off season. One group of four hunters was making a fuss about everything to the kid serving in the middle of the square counter, all the while laughing and joking with each other. They asked us what we were up to and we ended up talking with them throughout dinner. They were from the Phoenix area and they come up to hunt turkey every year. They knew all the kids that worked at the inn as well as Kelly, who seems to manage the place. Kelly asked them if they were causing trouble again when they got especially rowdy. He knew just how to handle them and still make sure everyone in the place was having a good time.

After a fun evening of visiting with everyone around us at dinner, we decided to enjoy the off-season pricing on their rooms in the new building around back. Kelly even gave us an extra discount since we were planning a rest day and staying two nights. What a deal we got! The room was big and beautiful with a balcony in the ponderosa tree tops.

23 miles, 9.5 hours

There is no water on the route for about fifty miles so we have to carry all our water for a dry camp tonight and a long day tomorrow. We started out today with 21 liters of water, about 42 pounds.

We continued down Park Wash to Highway 89 and wow, those cars and trucks were flying! Then we crossed and went down into Buckskin Gulch with a fast, packed sand bottom that we were happy to cover quickly. The canyon started off shallow, but the curved and layered red and white walls grew taller as we made our way down. We had only a breeze and warm sunny skies. Finally, today as puffy clouds passed over and shaded us it felt good instead of cold. A nice change from the last few blustery days.

The second half of Buckskin Gulch is a popular trail and we started seeing people. The canyon narrows and we soon found ourselves in a slot canyon with little holes eroded on the walls. There were little white rocks in some of them. We turned out of Buckskin via Wire Pass, an even narrower slot canyon. This is definitely a place to return and spend more time.

We ended the day by crossing into Arizona and setting up camp at a very nice campground on the border. We’re pretty worn out from the extra weight and long miles. Tomorrow we start the Arizona Trail, which we’ll follow all the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

TRAIL NOTES:
There was no water in Buckskin Gulch as mentioned in the book.

21 miles, 9 hours

We began on dirt roads today and following Ryan Choi’s suggestion stayed on the road a wee bit longer before heading over the small divide to drop into Bullrush Hollow. It probably save a bit of elevation gain and loss as well as a bit of sandy slogging.

Bullrush Hollow was dry and sandy but the canyon soon narrowed with oak, pinyon, juniper and ponderosa all clinging to precarious holds in the sandstone walls. We found water where it was noted in the book, then we continued on down to Park Wash, which was very sandy.

Once again the wind was picking up and had started gusting pretty hard. Soon we had to wear bandannas over our faces because of the blowing sand. It’s hard to appreciate the scenery with blowing sand.

TRAIL NOTES:
As Ryan Choi noted you can continue SE on the road at mile 23.4 instead of turning, then take a left at the fork in one mile. We found a stock tank full of good water on top of this divide. We found good water at 27.9 where Bullrush Gorge turns to Bullrush Hollow. At 32.8 follow the two-track instead of the wash bottom, then at about 33.5 you’ll find a cabin on the right side of the road at the base of the white cliffs at Calf Pasture Point, it had a full stock tank and flowing pipe. At around 43.5 turn left at a corral to go up a steep road to an unnamed spring at the end of the road, about a quarter mile. This is north of Kitchen Corral Spring on the topo

17 miles, 10 hours

The trail continued to be lovely starting out today, heading south on the winding, pine needle-covered Under the Rim Trail. But as we got further south and even more remote the trail became more rugged with numerous down trees every mile, and thicker and longer patches of snow with our gaining elevation. Soon we were struggling for every mile, all the while the winds were building to a wild rage. We couldn’t keep our hats on for anything and we couldn’t hear each other unless yelling at the top of our lungs. At the top of each shoulder I had to lean into the wind and brace for the whipping gusts. It was really wild. We looked at the map and decided to head up to Rainbow Point at 9100 feet and skip the last bit of the Under the Rim Trail, instead dropping down more quickly on the Riggs Spring Trail. We were soon out of the worst of the wind and below the snow line. Elevation at camp was about 7100 feet.

TRAIL NOTES:
There’s a good spring at the point where Riggs Spring loop trail drops sharply off the rim at Yovimpa Pass if you take our little detour. Riggs Spring on route was flowing and appears to be reliable.

20 miles, 8.5 hours

We walked about three miles from our motel in Tropic to reach a back country entrance into Bryce via the Tropic Trail. We connected a few trails together to make our way through and around the huge area of hoodoos the park is known for. They are towers of orange and pink rock and clay that are left standing after eons of erosion, because these spots had huge rocks on top to keep the underlying earth intact. I couldn’t stop saying wow! at every switchback. Soon we connected with the Under the Rim Trail, the main backcountry trail following the park north to south. It meanders up and down through the many drainages and shoulders coming off the rim. We walked through several kinds of forests depending on elevation. We ended the day in a dry drainage in pinyon, juniper and ponderosa.

This part of the hike is off-route, so if we hadn’t diverted our path to re-supply in Tropic we would have missed these spectacular views! I have to recommend Hayduke hikers make the same diversion, as this was one of the most beautiful days of the trip.

TRAIL NOTES:
This early in the year it’s easy to find water on the Under the Rim trail because there is still runoff from snow. Many of the drainages had water. Year-round sources on the trail head sign were Right Fork of Yellow Creek, Yellow Creek, and Sheep Creek Campsite.