1) Kanab Creek Wilderness
Spring of 2005, Dave and I took off on a 4 days/3night trip to the Kanab Creek Wilderness area and Grand Canyon Nt’l Park area. The route would take us down Jumpup Canyon to the confluence of Kanab Creek and down this canyon to wherever we ended up. We had permits to camp in the Nt’l Park in case we made it that far. Being early in the spring we really didn’t know if the roads would be OK or not, but the forest roads in this part of the Kaibab forest were at a much lower elevation and not as many huge pine trees as the higher parts where we usually explored. We didn’t experience any problems at all getting to the trailhead, which was at an old guard house above the head of Jumpup Canyon. One thing about this hike, there would be hardly any climbs or drop-offs at all, it was a easy decline all the way down the creeks.
After dropping down into the almost dry creek bed of Jumpup Canyon, we traveled down canyon, a nice easy stroll. It was a beautiful day and the view was a classic immense Grand Canyon view. Jumpup is a tributary of the Kanab Creek, which is a tributary of the Colorado. The first 3 miles or so were pretty wide, with dry creekbed. Both sides had big mesas reaching up, the one to the right was Jumpup Point and the one to the right was Indian Hollow area. At about mile 3, the canyon began to narrow somewhat and became a red slick rock terrain, and a little spring came out of a lush, green spot along the creek. For a little while longer, it was brushy going, with some little cottonwoods that formed a possible campsite, although we had quite a ways to go this first day.
Next, you had a real narrow ledge that got you around a 30 foot waterfall, at which time you had a precarious and old makeshift ladder that allowed you to climb down below the waterfall. This was Jumpup falls, the canyon namesake. I had to lower my pack to Dave, due to being a little nervous with the heights here and the rickety old ladder. But this was an ideal stop to load up and filter some nice clean, cold water coming down the waterfall.
From Jumpup waterfall to the confluence with the Kanab Creek, Jumpup Canyon was as scenic and diverse area as you’d find in the Grand Canyon area. For the first mile or so, it was slick rock layers of rock, with the stream causing endless waterfalls and cascades down the rock. We passed a couple of canyons coming in from the left, Sowats and Kwanset??? And Indian Hollow. The last 2 miles was more of a narrower and level canyon, with a gentle running water flow. This was getting us into the Red Wall layer of the Grand Canyon, so the rocks in the cliff were much harder and different color than above. There was one little side canyon that we went up until we came to a beautiful waterfall , Indian Hollow. We spent some time here. Dave tried to climb above the waterfall from both the right and the left. He said it was do-able, but a little scary. I chose, of course, to stay put and enjoy the waterfall from below. The water here in the pond below the falls was extremely cold.
With our packs back on we continued down Jumpup Canyon, and the last mile seemed to take forever. Every bend in the narrow cliffs on both sides we thought would reveal to us Kanab Creek. The confluence was where we planned on camping out, so we were eager to get to that spot and get rid of our packs. It was getting late in the afternoon when we finally saw the Kanab Creek. The only other time either Dave or I ever been to the Kanab Creek in this section of the Grand Canyon was a few years earlier when we hiked down the magnificent Hack Canyon (accessed from the Arizona Strip) and making it to Kanab Creek, which would have been about 6 miles north of where we were today. That day, which was in February, the creek was bone dry!! But today, in early April and 2 years later, it was running fast, high and wild. And the color was brownish, not clear at all. But there was a nice, wide sandy area right at the confluence with plenty of space to put up our tents. This would be our home for the next 2 nights. Surrounding us on all sides were Red Wall rock – 1000 feet or more high.
We had 2 options for the next morning. One was to take our backpacks with us and hike down the Kanab Creek and try to find a place to camp down below Scotty’s Hollow, which was about 4-5 miles further south and then backpack back up the next night. That would allow us to perhaps explore further down Kanab Creek and explore towards where it hits the River (although it was nearly impossible to make it all the way to the river if we did this option). The other was to leave our tents where they were and just do a more relaxed day hike without the heavy packs – go down Kanab and back up. We chose this, it sounded more relaxing and enjoyable. This would allow us an easier day going back out of Jumpup on our last day. Plus, with the water being as strong and high as it was in the Kanab Creek we figured it would be quite difficult due to all the river crossings up ahead - if had our heavy packs on it would be quite difficult. I’m glad we ended up with the second option, just walking down creek and back up that day.
So off we went, the first plunge into the cool, brownish, swift water is always quite difficult. You had to take your time due to how fast the water was flowing, but it wasn’t overall dangerous. It only came up to your knees, on the average. But it was silty, so our bodies were caked in brownish silt. Most of the hike allowed us to walk out of the water , some of it was quite brushy. So you had a choice of the water or bushwhacking. But overall it wasn’t that difficult; and the scenery was tremendous. The walls on both sides reached over 1000 feet, it was relatively narrow. There were a couple of places with seeps coming out of the side rock walls, which were covered in green ferns and vegetation. We were able to fill up our waterbottles at these locations.
Finally, about lunchtime, we made it to our main destination. A place called Scotty’s Hollow. This was a little side canyon coming in from the right (west). This is a small little canyon that actually begins way on top near Kanab Point, about 3000 feet above. Kanab Point ranks as one of my all-time favorite places out here in the Grand Canyon, perhaps even more so than the breath-taking Toroweap 80 miles downriver. Kanab Point is a 2 hour dirt road drive, out to the extreme point way up overlooking the entire Kanab Creek Wilderness and Colorado River 3000 feet below. I’ve been out there 3 or 4 times and have never seen another soul, other then those who I was traveling with.
Only a few feet from Kanab Creek, and up the water coming down Scotty’s Hollow, is a nice gentle and thin water fall of about 40 feet. This is where we took a nice dip in the water to get the silt from the Creek off of us. We ate a good lunch and cooled off , before continuing up the Hollow with a few nice little climbs past waterfalls. It was a little slot canyon, very shady. If we continued all day up and up, we’d eventually get to the top just north of Kanab Point. We think it involved 2 or 3 really tough rappels , but we’re not sure. But we didn’t intend in going to far up, so turning back we started retracing our steps up Kanab Creek back to our campsite, where another relaxing evening and night awaited us.
The next morning, we packed our gear and headed back up Jumpup Canyon. This was going to be a nice easy day of hiking. We decided to camp at the most scenic part of the places we’ve already hiked, a place along the slickrock in the part of Jumpup with all the waterfalls; a series of perhaps 10 nice good size waterfalls all evenly spread out. We found our spot right along a ledge on top of the smooth rocks above one such falls and below a nice smooth cascading waterfall. And to add to that, you had nice reddish walls on either side of us, and the huge cliffs off in the distance of Jumpup Point and it’s mesa.
Usually Dave and I go all-out when we backpack, going fast and steadily. Not that we don’t enjoy the sights that we pass, but it’s tough going; tough on the body and especially the back, shoulders and feet. But today was a nice little 4 -5 mile journey to where we set up camp. But once there, we had all day to rest and explore. We did a nice little hike to scout out one of the side canyons to the southeast (Sowat or Kwanset? Canyon?) . But most of the day was spent getting wet in the perfect little creek running along the slickrock and lying back staring at the blue sky.
And for me, thinking.
I was not happy at this time with my marriage. I had just gone through 1 year or more dealing with a serious illness of my daughter that almost took her life. I needed this down time in the Grand Canyon more than I can say. My mind was where it needed to be – after 4 days in the wilderness you really get to a perfect set of mind. I contemplated on where my life was going and if I could continue in my marriage. But it was heaven down there, perhaps one of the most enjoyable resting spots on any of my backpack trips.
The next day we put our packs on our back and headed back up the 5 miles to our car. I really hated the climb up and around and over Jumpup Waterfall, the ledge was so narrow over the falls that I couldn’t do it with my pack on. But on we went back to our car, a very easy level stroll. The last climb out of the canyon got us back to the car.
Spring of 2005, Dave and I took off on a 4 days/3night trip to the Kanab Creek Wilderness area and Grand Canyon Nt’l Park area. The route would take us down Jumpup Canyon to the confluence of Kanab Creek and down this canyon to wherever we ended up. We had permits to camp in the Nt’l Park in case we made it that far. Being early in the spring we really didn’t know if the roads would be OK or not, but the forest roads in this part of the Kaibab forest were at a much lower elevation and not as many huge pine trees as the higher parts where we usually explored. We didn’t experience any problems at all getting to the trailhead, which was at an old guard house above the head of Jumpup Canyon. One thing about this hike, there would be hardly any climbs or drop-offs at all, it was a easy decline all the way down the creeks.
After dropping down into the almost dry creek bed of Jumpup Canyon, we traveled down canyon, a nice easy stroll. It was a beautiful day and the view was a classic immense Grand Canyon view. Jumpup is a tributary of the Kanab Creek, which is a tributary of the Colorado. The first 3 miles or so were pretty wide, with dry creekbed. Both sides had big mesas reaching up, the one to the right was Jumpup Point and the one to the right was Indian Hollow area. At about mile 3, the canyon began to narrow somewhat and became a red slick rock terrain, and a little spring came out of a lush, green spot along the creek. For a little while longer, it was brushy going, with some little cottonwoods that formed a possible campsite, although we had quite a ways to go this first day.
Next, you had a real narrow ledge that got you around a 30 foot waterfall, at which time you had a precarious and old makeshift ladder that allowed you to climb down below the waterfall. This was Jumpup falls, the canyon namesake. I had to lower my pack to Dave, due to being a little nervous with the heights here and the rickety old ladder. But this was an ideal stop to load up and filter some nice clean, cold water coming down the waterfall.
From Jumpup waterfall to the confluence with the Kanab Creek, Jumpup Canyon was as scenic and diverse area as you’d find in the Grand Canyon area. For the first mile or so, it was slick rock layers of rock, with the stream causing endless waterfalls and cascades down the rock. We passed a couple of canyons coming in from the left, Sowats and Kwanset??? And Indian Hollow. The last 2 miles was more of a narrower and level canyon, with a gentle running water flow. This was getting us into the Red Wall layer of the Grand Canyon, so the rocks in the cliff were much harder and different color than above. There was one little side canyon that we went up until we came to a beautiful waterfall , Indian Hollow. We spent some time here. Dave tried to climb above the waterfall from both the right and the left. He said it was do-able, but a little scary. I chose, of course, to stay put and enjoy the waterfall from below. The water here in the pond below the falls was extremely cold.
With our packs back on we continued down Jumpup Canyon, and the last mile seemed to take forever. Every bend in the narrow cliffs on both sides we thought would reveal to us Kanab Creek. The confluence was where we planned on camping out, so we were eager to get to that spot and get rid of our packs. It was getting late in the afternoon when we finally saw the Kanab Creek. The only other time either Dave or I ever been to the Kanab Creek in this section of the Grand Canyon was a few years earlier when we hiked down the magnificent Hack Canyon (accessed from the Arizona Strip) and making it to Kanab Creek, which would have been about 6 miles north of where we were today. That day, which was in February, the creek was bone dry!! But today, in early April and 2 years later, it was running fast, high and wild. And the color was brownish, not clear at all. But there was a nice, wide sandy area right at the confluence with plenty of space to put up our tents. This would be our home for the next 2 nights. Surrounding us on all sides were Red Wall rock – 1000 feet or more high.
We had 2 options for the next morning. One was to take our backpacks with us and hike down the Kanab Creek and try to find a place to camp down below Scotty’s Hollow, which was about 4-5 miles further south and then backpack back up the next night. That would allow us to perhaps explore further down Kanab Creek and explore towards where it hits the River (although it was nearly impossible to make it all the way to the river if we did this option). The other was to leave our tents where they were and just do a more relaxed day hike without the heavy packs – go down Kanab and back up. We chose this, it sounded more relaxing and enjoyable. This would allow us an easier day going back out of Jumpup on our last day. Plus, with the water being as strong and high as it was in the Kanab Creek we figured it would be quite difficult due to all the river crossings up ahead - if had our heavy packs on it would be quite difficult. I’m glad we ended up with the second option, just walking down creek and back up that day.
So off we went, the first plunge into the cool, brownish, swift water is always quite difficult. You had to take your time due to how fast the water was flowing, but it wasn’t overall dangerous. It only came up to your knees, on the average. But it was silty, so our bodies were caked in brownish silt. Most of the hike allowed us to walk out of the water , some of it was quite brushy. So you had a choice of the water or bushwhacking. But overall it wasn’t that difficult; and the scenery was tremendous. The walls on both sides reached over 1000 feet, it was relatively narrow. There were a couple of places with seeps coming out of the side rock walls, which were covered in green ferns and vegetation. We were able to fill up our waterbottles at these locations.
Finally, about lunchtime, we made it to our main destination. A place called Scotty’s Hollow. This was a little side canyon coming in from the right (west). This is a small little canyon that actually begins way on top near Kanab Point, about 3000 feet above. Kanab Point ranks as one of my all-time favorite places out here in the Grand Canyon, perhaps even more so than the breath-taking Toroweap 80 miles downriver. Kanab Point is a 2 hour dirt road drive, out to the extreme point way up overlooking the entire Kanab Creek Wilderness and Colorado River 3000 feet below. I’ve been out there 3 or 4 times and have never seen another soul, other then those who I was traveling with.
Only a few feet from Kanab Creek, and up the water coming down Scotty’s Hollow, is a nice gentle and thin water fall of about 40 feet. This is where we took a nice dip in the water to get the silt from the Creek off of us. We ate a good lunch and cooled off , before continuing up the Hollow with a few nice little climbs past waterfalls. It was a little slot canyon, very shady. If we continued all day up and up, we’d eventually get to the top just north of Kanab Point. We think it involved 2 or 3 really tough rappels , but we’re not sure. But we didn’t intend in going to far up, so turning back we started retracing our steps up Kanab Creek back to our campsite, where another relaxing evening and night awaited us.
The next morning, we packed our gear and headed back up Jumpup Canyon. This was going to be a nice easy day of hiking. We decided to camp at the most scenic part of the places we’ve already hiked, a place along the slickrock in the part of Jumpup with all the waterfalls; a series of perhaps 10 nice good size waterfalls all evenly spread out. We found our spot right along a ledge on top of the smooth rocks above one such falls and below a nice smooth cascading waterfall. And to add to that, you had nice reddish walls on either side of us, and the huge cliffs off in the distance of Jumpup Point and it’s mesa.
Usually Dave and I go all-out when we backpack, going fast and steadily. Not that we don’t enjoy the sights that we pass, but it’s tough going; tough on the body and especially the back, shoulders and feet. But today was a nice little 4 -5 mile journey to where we set up camp. But once there, we had all day to rest and explore. We did a nice little hike to scout out one of the side canyons to the southeast (Sowat or Kwanset? Canyon?) . But most of the day was spent getting wet in the perfect little creek running along the slickrock and lying back staring at the blue sky.
And for me, thinking.
I was not happy at this time with my marriage. I had just gone through 1 year or more dealing with a serious illness of my daughter that almost took her life. I needed this down time in the Grand Canyon more than I can say. My mind was where it needed to be – after 4 days in the wilderness you really get to a perfect set of mind. I contemplated on where my life was going and if I could continue in my marriage. But it was heaven down there, perhaps one of the most enjoyable resting spots on any of my backpack trips.
The next day we put our packs on our back and headed back up the 5 miles to our car. I really hated the climb up and around and over Jumpup Waterfall, the ledge was so narrow over the falls that I couldn’t do it with my pack on. But on we went back to our car, a very easy level stroll. The last climb out of the canyon got us back to the car.
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