Bogley

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4189 Location: somewhere

hey tanya & bo

i very much enjoyed the report and the photos.

it made me reflect on a trip i did with nat and our friend pieter about 4 years ago. we came down south canyon via the std route. we then hiked along the redwall limestone ledge most of the way to nankoweap, the final bit along the river. then out the nankoweap trail.

if i have this correct, the arrow points to the ledges we walked along on river right

and the vantage point here in your photo looks spendid! lucky you!!

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

stefan wrote: hey tanya & bo

i very much enjoyed the report and the photos.

it made me reflect on a trip i did with nat and our friend pieter about 4 years ago. we came down south canyon via the std route. we then hiked along the redwall limestone ledge most of the way to nankoweap, the final bit along the river. then out the nankoweap trail.

if i have this correct, the arrow points to the ledges we walked along on river right

and the vantage point here in your photo looks spendid! lucky you!!

Do you ever get down to the river on that route? Where did you go up and out of South Canyon?

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4189 Location: somewhere

tanya wrote:
Do you ever get down to the river on that route?

we took about 3 long days of hiking before the first (non-technical, though intense) route down to the river (lovely). water was also a serious concern (even with a midway water cache). then it's a part day trip along the river itself to nankoweap.

tanya wrote:
Where did you go up and out of South Canyon?

from our camp on the river, we hiked back up to the rim of the redwall limestone, contoured around the lower slot of south canyon at that level, and continued down marble canyon. contouring around the sidecanyons dropping into marble was a regular theme, adding many extra miles to the river miles.

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

stefan wrote: tanya wrote:
Do you ever get down to the river on that route?

we took about 3 long days of hiking before the first (non-technical, though intense) route down to the river (lovely). water was also a serious concern (even with a midway water cache). then it's a part day trip along the river itself to nankoweap.

tanya wrote:
Where did you go up and out of South Canyon?

from our camp on the river, we hiked back up to the rim of the redwall limestone, contoured around the lower slot of south canyon at that level, and continued down marble canyon. contouring around the sidecanyons dropping into marble was a regular theme, adding many extra miles to the river miles.

What did you think of the route? Is it written up somewhere or where you just exploring? Have photos?

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

it made me reflect on a trip i did with nat and our friend pieter about 4 years ago. we came down south canyon via the std route. we then hiked along the redwall limestone ledge most of the way to nankoweap, the final bit along the river. then out the nankoweap trail.

That must've been an AMAZING trip! What? Like 50 miles total?

if i have this correct, the arrow points to the ledges we walked along on river right

Thats correct

and the vantage point here in your photo looks spendid! lucky you!

The vantage from the top of the UPS Trail all the way down is great. By far the most scenic 1 mile hike to get to South Canyon

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4189 Location: somewhere

tanya wrote:
What did you think of the route? Is it written up somewhere or where you just exploring? Have photos?

it was a hard hike, amplified by very warm march weather. it was amazing to be able to follow that bench (which widens considerably over the distance towards nankoweap). the grand canyon is an incredible place. the beach we finally landed at, after the "goat trail" route down to the river, was simply sublime. walking along the river was lovely, though quite challenging trying to push our packs through the thicket. the nankoweap trail was great.

Steck's two books Grand Canyon Loop Hike I & II have been our source for GC stuff. these are out of print (still can be found used). falcon, however, has released a book with the same title. i have not looked at it, so i don't know whether or not it contains all of I&II.

harvey butchard's book is another good source for the gc backcountry.

photos ... yes, however, they are slides, and i have been SUPER lazy about scanning them

bo beck wrote:
That must've been an AMAZING trip! What? Like 50 miles total?

yes it was pretty amazing. will get back to you on the length.

bo beck wrote:
The vantage from the top of the UPS Trail all the way down is great. By far the most scenic 1 mile hike to get to South Canyon

i'll have to get down there sometime. thanks for posting.

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4189 Location: somewhere

Bo_Beck wrote:
What? Like 50 miles total?

yeah, maybe 50 miles (assuming 9 hiking-miles to 6 river-miles along the redwall). i am not sure, but it could be more. one could estimate the additional miles more accurately with the maps.

water is very scarce along this route. we only found water in a couple of potholes in the redwall in a couple of the sidecanyons, which helped to augment our midway water cache.

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

Sounds like a great trip Stefan! It's so pretty down there I can wanting to stick around. Water would help though. :popcorn:

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4189 Location: somewhere

so, bo, yeah. i have to admit the trip was pretty incredible. i think one (of many) way(s) it was incredible is that it is but one piece ... one glimpse of what it would be like to hike the entire length of the grand canyon. one approach which has been done, e.g., steck, is to place caches along the way to do the entire length of the canyon in one contiguous push. nat's following a course, doing a series of loop hikes over many years, ultimately seeing the whole canyon with sections of the river as pieces of loops. it's neat to have a glimpse of this wonderful goal

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

I have our photo album done for South Canyon to Vasey's ...

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/album2/index61.htm

Couple from the album of Bo and I

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

Couple more

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

:popcorn:

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

stefan wrote: so, bo, yeah. i have to admit the trip was pretty incredible. i think one (of many) way(s) it was incredible is that it is but one piece ... one glimpse of what it would be like to hike the entire length of the grand canyon. one approach which has been done, e.g., steck, is to place caches along the way to do the entire length of the canyon in one contiguous push. nat's following a course, doing a series of loop hikes over many years, ultimately seeing the whole canyon with sections of the river as pieces of loops. it's neat to have a glimpse of this wonderful goal

That would be so awesome to do!!!! The Grand Canyon can be an overwhelming place to hike though.

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

Here's a map showing the routes we've now taken to the Colorado River and Vaseys Paradise.

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4189 Location: somewhere

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: