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By Kayo Parsons-Korn | |
| I'd previously taken a trip with High Sonoran in December and indicated that I would be interested in another trip, especially Clear Creek, since we didn't make it all the way last time. Denny had this trip arranged with Greg Woodall as guide. So I thought it might be pleasant to see Clear Creek at a warmer time of year, and it would be nice to see Greg again too. Plus the Hale-Bopp comet would be visible, which it had not yet been here in Oregon, and there would be a lunar eclipse on the 23rd as well. How could I resist? | |
 Our Group. From left to right: Barb, Greg, Bill and Holly |
The group consisted of a guide-trainee, Holly, who had just
started doing trips with High Sonoran, Bill, a man Greg knew from the Desert
Preservation Task Force and Bill's friend Barb.
A high school champion volleyball player from Toronto, Canada, Holly attends ASU on a volleyball scholarship while finishing her degree in Geology. She has travelled to Brazil, Chile, Cuba and various parts of the Caribbean playing volleyball in exhibition games. Bill is the Director of the Night Vision Program for the Air Force and travels around the world training pilots in the use of night vision goggles. Barb, his friend, works in the Trust division of a bank and has previously been a CPA and computer programmer. Both Bill and Barb were experienced hikers, and had made a number of Canyon trips together. |
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And then of course, there was our trip leader, Greg
Woodall, who works as an archeologist for a consulting firm in Tempe. Greg has
previously worked for Grand Canyon Dories as a river guide, and knows a lot
about the canyon as well as geology and botany of the area. So I was in good
hands with experienced hikers. I had no doubt this time we would make Clear
Creek. If anybody was the limiting factor, it would be me.
Holly, Greg and I travelled up together to the Canyon, we would meet Bill and Barb the next day at the Backcountry Office where we would pick up our permit. On the way up we had car troubles and had to stop for repairs in Camp Verde, so we didn't make the Canyon until pretty late. We woke up the next morning and went to the Grandview Overlook so I could take some time exposures of the comet. I didn't know exactly how long an exposure to use, so I did a number of experiments. The one that turned out best was a 15 minute exposure (on 200-speed film at f5.6) that was close to the sunrise. |
 Hale-Bopp comet |
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Still the
comet just looked like a star streak. I learned later that if I wanted the tail
to show up, I would need to use a large-aperture telephoto lens and a much
higher speed film. Oh well, nice sunrise anyway. I would take just the small
Pentax WR-90 into the Canyon. My old Canon TX takes great pictures, but is too
heavy for a backpack trip.
We met Barb and Bill at the Backcountry Office and got our permit. Bill and Barb filled a large cooler with water, from which we would fill all our portable water containers. The South Kaibab is dry, with no water sources, so we would need to carry plenty of water. There were still some patches of snow along the top of the South rim, but nothing on the trail. Barb and Bill hike with telescoping poles that look like ski poles without the basket at the bottom. Bill explained that they weren't just for steadying yourself, you actually put weight upon them, taking some of the weight off your legs. Its great if you have knee problems, or just want to avoid knee problems. They do however, make a bit of a racket. | |
| We lunched at O'Neill's Butte. Lots more people here than in December. We really cruised down the trail, which was okay with me; it was hot and the vistas were hazy, not sharp and clear as they had been in December, so I didn't bother to take a lot of pictures. We stopped once, in the shade of a big rock in the trail. We spread out after the break, Barb and Bill were very fast hikers, while Greg and Holly spent a lot of time looking at geologic formations. We made good time and were down to the bottom of the Canyon by mid-afternoon, our boots pink from the dust of the trail. | |
| We found a nice site at the end of the Bright Angel campground towards the river. The Canyon walls drop down to the river, giving us a view of the moon early in the evening. I hiked down to the river and was surprised to see bats swooping up bugs even before the sun had gone down. They were a delight to watch that night from my sleeping bag. Greg, Holly, and I didn't pack tents as the weather forecast was good. Barb and Bill however, brought a tent. We talked a bit after dinner, but went to bed fairly early. We had the big hike out to Clear Creek ahead of us tomorrow and it would be a hot day. | |
| We rose very early, breakfasted, packed up camp, and were on the trail by 7:00. If you're going out to Clear Creek, make an early start. It was definitely the most difficult leg of the trip. Coming back seemed relatively easy by comparison, probably because we had eaten up two more days of food and didn't have that weight to carry. We had also been pretty conservative with water, each carrying 4 liters. As it turned out, we didn't need that much, but there was only a little bit of scummy water in the slickrock pools at Sumner Wash, so we were glad to have it. | |
 A buck and doe eating yucca stalks |
The first couple of miles of the trail are pretty uphill, until you get to the Tonto Plateau. At this point we came upon a doe and buck grazing on new yucca shoots. The buck proceeded us up the trail with the doe following us behind. This went on for about a mile. Then the doe started bleating so we tried to shoo her ahead of us. This took a bit of doing, but by backtracking a bit, we got her to scramble over a rise to the trail in front of us, and the deer disappeared onto the plateau. |
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At Sumner Wash we stopped for a break. We had found
artifacts here along the ledge on the last trip, so we looked again. Bill found
a very large piece of Paiute pottery wedged in between some rocks. Barb
discovered a particularly interesting lizard who's tail was wound up like a
corkscrew. He was too fast though and I didn't get a shot of him. There were
many young agaves plants growing up along the trail. Greg said they could grow
as much as a foot a day. So I took a picture of Holly, (6'1' Amazon woman) in
front of one and planned to take a picture of the same
agave and Holly on the way out.
We stopped to talk to an elderly man and his nephew, who were hiking out. The gentleman (73 years!) was quite a talker. His nephew told me he would keep us here all day, so after about 15 minutes he convinced his uncle it was really time to go. We continued along until we came to the wash where we had camped last time. Greg took a shot of me at this spot. It felt good to be so far along the trail so early in the day. After a couple more miles though, I started to feel fatigued. We didn't stop for lunch until pretty late in the day. We were looking for some ledges that a guide book had mentioned would make a particularly nice lunch spot. I think the book was talking about some bluffs that overlooked a very deep side canyon. A pretty place, but with no relief from the sun, and very windy. But I was glad to stop and have something to eat. After lunch, I felt like my pace picked up. For some reason, I was always put in front. I tried to relinquish this role a couple of times, but everybody seemed to be happy with the arrangement. Did they know something I didn't? Was I the supposed to be the rattlesnake bait? We never saw a snake on this whole trip, but I kept looking under every bush and yucca that overhung the trail. We did however see lots of lizards and even a chuckwalla, but he was too fast for me to get a picture. | 
Bill at the amphitheater |
Brittlebush |
| We finally came to the last bit of the trail, described in guide books and other trip reports I had read as being extremely hairy. It was not that bad. The last 1/2 mile descends through a red talus slope of ball-bearing size rocks and the trail is very narrow. The worst part is that the slope falls steeply a couple hundred feet to to the canyon below and there is no vegetation on it. If you were to slip, well ... just don't. The narrow trail was competent and I found if you just looked at the trail under your feet and not to the side, it was fine. When you do reach the bottom, you are actually in a dry wash that drains into Clear Creek. Another 1/8 mile and you come to the campground next to Clear Creek, a delightful place with cottonwoods and willows. There is a pit toilet and a number of cleared away camp sites, but nothing formal. Also there is no water, so you need to bring a water purifier and pump from the creek. Unlike the developed campgrounds, there are no handy racks to hang your packs from, so bring some line to suspend your packs or anything with food in it from the trees at night. | |
| That night we watched the nearly full moon come up over the steep canyon walls and talked for quite some time getting to know each other better. I was impressed by how much Bill seemed to know about medicine. As it turned out, he was also an M.D. and had worked in an emergency ward before taking up his present position. Its always reassuring to have a doctor along. He also introduced me to a new drink, brandy and vermouth. Wow, was that smooth. Greg had some weird concoction of Kahlua and whiskey. But it actually wasn't too bad either. Despite the libations, I really didn't sleep very well that night. The full moon reflecting against the Canyon walls made it almost as bright as daylight. | |
| The next day was our layover day, so we slept in a bit. We had heard Cheyava Falls was not running, so we decided to check out some Indian ruins I had seen on the Internet. We headed up Clear Creek, but as soon as you leave the campground the canyon walls narrow and are blocked by huge boulders, the creek flowing underneath these slabs. So the first bit is a scramble over these massive rocks. But then it was pretty easy going and the trail is quite distinct. The canyon up here is actually much prettier than at the campground with diverse vegetation and grasses growing alongside the creek. We weren't exactly sure where the ruins were, but had a general idea from the report. | |
Above the campground large boulders block the canyon, the creek flowing underneath. |
Small granary and metates |
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We thought we saw what looked to be some low walls along
one of the cliffs. It looked too organized to be just a pile of scree. It indeed
was the place. Greg went to get the others as I walked along the cliff. The site
was organized in a number of levels following the contour of the ledge. Its
quite degraded with only the bottom of some of the walls evident. But there is a
nice small granary and next to it two large metates, one with its accompanying
mano. There is a metal tag indicating that the site had been investigated by the
Gila Pueblo Foundation in 1987. Past visitors had arranged artifacts of pottery,
chert and bone along the top of the walls. The Park Service has a new brochure
out about "ruin etiquette" and this is apparently a no-no. So Greg
dispersed the artifacts again.
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| We continued up the main branch of the canyon and found another well worn area under an overhang. This area looked as though it had suffered flood damage. There were remnants of mud for some distance up the walls. Greg and I, almost simultaneously, found this beautiful little white arrowhead with no shaft. Below this ledge was a clearing of grass and miners lettuce. We met a backcountry ranger and his lady friend coming down the canyon from Cheyava Falls. He said the falls were running, but only a small shower and it had been quite a bushwhack up to it. They were heading for the Clear Creek campground and would be our neighbors for the night. | |
Amphitheater of Zoroaster Temple |
We returned to the campground and hung out, cleaning
clothes, reading and just relaxing. Greg wanted to go on down the Creek to the
river. He returned about an hour later and insisted we had to come down and see
this area of the canyon. So we all took off down the trail. We came to a
beautiful little alcove in the Bass limestone which formed a number of little
ledges, each about seat size, giving the effect of a Roman amphitheater. Below,
the limestone slants down and became the bed of the creek. Further down we found
the full skeleton of a very large buck deer.
When the trail became blocked by debris, I turned to Bill and asked if they would like to return. The light was failing and it would take at least a 1/2 hour to return. We turned back, but Greg went on alone. Holly and I returned to camp and made dinner. Greg shortly joined us. We spent another evening in pleasant conversation and went to bed early. The temperatures had been increasing each day and we wanted to get an early start on our hike back to Bright Angel. |
| Starting before sunup, it was still cold in the canyon, but by the time we made it to the top of the red talus slope, I had to stop and take off a few layers. Bill has an altimeter on his watch and he said that the ascent up to the Tonto was approximately 800 feet, and all in less than 1/2 a mile! The walk back was uneventful. We stopped at Holly's agave and took shot two. Wow, it really had grown about a foot in just a day! We stopped for a break at the wash where we had stayed on our previous trip. Here Barb found a cactus that was blooming, so I took a close up shot. There were actually quite a few wild flowers blooming on this trip, but the cactus were only just starting. We continued on and had lunch at Sumner's Wash next to the slickrock pools. They were covered with butterflies, this being the only water for some miles. We reached Bright Angel about 2:00 and Greg bought us a round of beers at the Phantom Ranch. They were so good, Bill bought seconds. | |
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| Holly standing by the same agave plant on our way to Clear Creek, and a day later coming back. | |
| The spot at the campground we had previously occupied was taken, but we found another nice spot down at the end. We wanted to be where the canyon walls dip down towards the river, as there would be a lunar eclipse this night, but we weren't sure what time it would occur. If it was close to moonrise, we might miss it in the canyon. We had talked about walking back up the to the Tonto Plateau on the Clear Creek trail to hedge our bets, but there was some mix up. Greg took off alone thinking no one else wanted to go. So the rest of us spent the early evening at the cantina at the ranch. It was jammed packed with people but we managed to wrangle a few chairs at the end of a table. Here we met Chris and his nephew Lawrence who invited us to play a game. | |
Here's a picture of me that Holly took. I'm trying my hand at separating yucca fibers. |
Barb jumped in wholeheartedly. She is a very gregarious person who seems to get along
with just about everybody. So I joined in too. It was fun, but one of those
games that can go on forever, so after about 45 minutes we begged out. As it
turned out the eclipse didn't even begin until about 9:30 so we could see the
entire thing from our camping spot. I was viewing it from my sleeping bag as I
was quite tired and tomorrow we would have the big hike out.
We started very early to avoid the heat of the day. There were very few people on the Bright Angel Trail today, at least below Indian Gardens. At Indian Gardens the red bud trees were all in bloom. It was really a pretty sight. |
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There were a lot of people here as it is popular day hike
destination. You can take a short hike out from here to the edge of the Tonto
Plateau and then return to the rim. This time of year, the water is turned on at
the two rest stations above, so it was unnecessary to carry much water. We had
lunch here and continued up the Bright Angel Trail. Holly really started
speeding up. I was having trouble keeping up with her. She had a paper to write
for class the next day and was anxious to return.
We stopped at the rock ledge with the pictographs we had found on the last trip. We also stopped at the 3 mile rest house. There was an older woman we had met earlier that day who was having severe knee problems. They were horribly swollen and she had them taped up and salved. I gave her some of the Ibuprofen I had brought. I thought she was crazy, trying to hike out instead of getting evacuated. I hope she didn't do any permanent damage to her knees. We also stopped at the 1 1/2 mile rest stop. I was getting pretty bushed trying to keep up with Holly so I fell back and joined Greg for the rest of the trip up. Holly and I had carried the food for the trip, but now, with the food gone, our packs were relatively light. Greg had carried all the gear, so his pack never got any lighter. When we came to the pictographs below the tunnel, Greg went into "ranger mode" pointing out the pictographs to all the hikers going by. After about 15 minutes I thought, "geez, we're never going to get out of here", so I started up alone. He soon joined me at the top and we started searching for everyone else. We found Barb and Bill, and Greg and Bill took off to do the car shuttle. Barb and I then found Holly who was busy having her picture taken with a Japanese tourist. I went into the Grand Canyon Association bookstore to do a little shopping. With my new membership status (thanks, Denny), I received 20% off on everything. I just bought a few books and postcards though. I'd have to carry it all back home on the plane. An ice cream and bag of cookies later, Greg and Bill finally showed up. We separated all the gear and headed out to one of the viewpoints to have a toast and say good-bye. It was quite windy but we had a beer and then Barb and Bill took off for home. We took in a couple of more viewpoints, and about an hour later managed to get Greg in the car and headed for home. | |
| The drive home was uneventful with a stop at Macy's in Flagstaff, Greg's favorite coffee shop. Holly and Greg really like sweets and had some desserts. I was craving some real food but I had to settle for a croissant. I made a call to my brother to let him know approximately when I would be arriving. We dropped Holly off at her place in Tempe and made our good-byes. Holly promised to send me some photos and I would send her some of mine. She was a wonderful young woman and I enjoyed her company very much. She and her boyfriend will be making a river trip on the Salmon River in Idaho this summer, and I hope they can swing by and visit us in Oregon afterwards. Greg dropped me off at my brother's and after totally disassembling my pack and separating out the gear, we made our good-byes. | 
Prickly Pear Cactus |
| This trip seemed way too short. I would have loved another day at Clear Creek. It's so beautiful and there is so much to explore. I'd like to go back there, but I would like to explore some other areas of the Canyon too. I see how people become Canyon fanatics! | |
| Images copyright Kayo Parsons-Korn, 1997, except the last photo of me, copyright Holly Sones, 1997. | |