Gene Tison, his son Thomas, and myself went on a four-day backpacking
trip on the Nankoweap trail (North Rim) in the Grand Canyon, during the
last week of December 1998. We left Santa Fe on Saturday, 26 December.
On the way we stopped at one of the overlooks at Canyon de Chelly. Here
is a picture of Spider Woman rock. Spider Woman is the Navaho goddess of
weaving. There was a Navaho family at the overlook, with two little girls
all dressed up in traditional cloths, carrying some woven blankets. They
were posing on the edge of the canyon, with Spider Woman rock in the background,
while another family member was taking pictures. I assume that this was
some kind of tradition to please the goddess.
The sun was already setting before we reached our first campground.
It was a bit cloudy, so the sunset was quite spectacular. Driving on in
the dark, we finally reached the trailhead, were we camped out near the
car.
We were still about 3.5 miles away from the actual rim of the canyon.
So the next morning we first had to hike uphill to get to the actual rim.
That was a tough hike! We did bring our snowshoes, but there was only a
few inches of snow on the ground, so we could manage without them.
But then we finally reached the rim, and were rewarded with a magnificent
view! Time for a well-deserved lunch on this perfect spot.
From here on the trail went down only about 200ft at most. The rest
of the day we hiked along the narrowest trail I've ever been on: a vertical
wall on one side, and a steep drop-off on the other. I was glad I had brought
my hiking poles!
At some points we couldn't even believe that there was really a trail
along this canyon wall. This is a nice view of what we were facing most
of the time. Can you see the trail anywhere?
That night we found a nice campsite on a little mesa sticking out of
the canyon wall (as a matter of fact, this was the one and only place that
was big enough to put up our tents; we had no choice!). The next day was,
well, more of the same. The narrow way, part II (for you Floydians out
there ;-) ).
At about noon we reached a second mesa sticking out, which provided
a very nice campsite. From here on the trail was going down quite steeply,
so we decided to drop our packs here, and set up camp. Here's a nice view
from this spot.
That afternoon we played around a bit in this area, and went to the
end of "Tilted mesa". From there we had a fabulous view down on the Nankoweap
creek, and on the trail that we would be taking the next day down to the
river.
A beautiful sunrise awoke us the next day. Here's a nice view of our
campsite with the sun just coming up over the canyon rim on the other side.
Time to make some oatmeal!
After breakfast we got out our daypacks and prepared for a (long) day-hike
down to the river. About 7 miles away, and about 4000ft elevation difference.
All the way down, just to come back up that same distance in the afternoon.
Ah well, you've gotta do something for a living...
Once we got down to the Nankoweap creek (still about 2 miles away from
the Colorado river), we had a perfect view behind us, back to where we
had come from. But at this point we tried not to think about the hike back
up yet...
Alright, this part was relatively easy. Just follow the creek through
the canyon until you hit the river. Sheer vertical walls were surrounding
us here. Quite amazing to walk through here!
And then...finally...the Colorado river! Just imagine, this river created
all this bizarre stuff out here. It's hard to imagine the time scales involved
in this process. Ah well, all we were concerned about at this point was
to try to get back up to our campsite before dark.
And luckily we made it back in time. But we were pretty exhausted! Anyway, the next day we hiked back out all the way to the car. We started driving that same day, and spent the night at a campground on the way. Then we drove back to Santa Fe on Newyear's Eve. But I was so tired, I went to bed before midnight, and entered the new year half asleep with nice memories of our trip. Even these pictures don't do it justice, but at least it's somewhat of an impression. During our four days in the Canyon, we didn't see anybody else at all (except for some squirrels and deer)! I'll never forget the remoteness of this place...