Overview: This is a report about a backpack adventure to Cheyava Falls, largest of the Grand Canyon waterfalls. Cheyava flows only in the Spring, and might not flow at all in dry years. Following a 10+ foot snow year, we thought it was time to trek to Cheyava. Of course, we had to obtain our permit months in advance, so we wanted to explore the area more anyway. The abundant flowers following a wet Winter were a bonus.
     Continue through the report for 20 photos, two panoramas, three movies, and a dynamic map + links to previous GC reports.

Total miles = about 45.

Movie - burbling Pipe Creek, Day 6; 6 MB Click the image to see the video

Map - GC: Clear Creek (Click the image to see the map)

Day 1 - Wes greets the GC (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 1 - relief lighting at BA camp (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 2 - Buttes in rain (Click the image for a full-size view)
Day 2 - rainbow (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 2 - Kathleen and rainbow (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 2 - Craig and rainbow (Click the image for a full-size view)
Day 2 - 2 bridges (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 2 - Brittlebush & Bradley Pt. (Click the image for a full-size view)	Clear Cr. Scenic Toilet 1 (Click the image for a full-size view)
Clear Cr. Scenic Toilet 2 (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 3 - Ottoman area butte at sunset (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 3 - Ottoman area butte at sunset (Click the image for a full-size view)
Day 4 - Cheyava! (see videos above) (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 4 - Angel Gate at sunset (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 5 - Four O-clock (Click the image for a full-size view)
Day 5 - spring burst (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 6 - Pipe Cr. Scenic Toilet (Click the image for a full-size view)	Day 6 - up the BA (Click the image for a full-size view)

     Cheyava! The Redwall arcs golden in this rare stalk of evening light. We're on day 4 of a rain-spattered trip to Bright Angel (BA) and then to not-so-Clear Creek, and the constant intermittency of poor weather seems to be breaking. Earlier today, we gazed at cascading Cheyava Falls as swatches of water are blown from the falling stream, swirling and drifting down canyon, as snow swirls high on the backdrop of the North Rim. Burr.
     Spatters of rain accompanied by a chilly breeze make falls viewing less of a vortex experience. The 4 hours up and 2.5 down (we were off-route a bit going up, attempting to keep from crossing the turbid stream more than the minimum number of times) was punctuated by cold-toes wading the turbid creek five times between Obi Canyon and camp.
     Just downstream of Obi, we note several storage ruins, yet opt not to explore because dinner and sunset call. After warming toes, we rejoice in our Cheyava experience as the moon glow replaces the scant sunlight, and the clouds clear for the first time in 3 days.

     Back to Day 1 and 2 - Wondrous Rainbow: We start the trip in shorts, gliding down the (gloriously) mule-free zone of the South Kaibab to #29 at BA Camp. A delightful warm evening, we awake to warning rain drops and catch the full shower and wondrous rainbow as we scale the well-engineered CCC trail to Phantom and River Overlook. As we touch the Great Unconformity - the missing layers between Tapeats Sandstone (SS) and basement rocks of metamorphic and igneous origins - the shower briefly deluges, then lapses into a spitter. We hole up under an overhang for lunch and later a snack break, and ease into Clear Creek after much rolling elevation along the trail.

     See the last Clear Creek report and mileage estimates at Eponymous* Clear Creek of the Grand Canyon

     Not a great resemblance to the South side Tonto, this trail rolls over humps of drainages, following the contour about as consistently as a religionist votes for those working to reduce poverty and abuse at the hands of greedy corporationists, rarely. We enjoy a weather break that evening to establish camp and to cook.

     Day 3 - not clear at Clear: Wes hunts the river view off-route below Howland Butte while Dave and Craig explore the Tapeats narrows of the East Fk. of Clear Creek, and K and I explore around camp and nap in the tent when the afternoon rainstorm rolls in carried by a huge gust of wind. Thanks are given to the Zoroastrian tradition because again we enjoy a cooking break in the intermittency of rain and wind.

     Day 4 - Chilly Cheyava . This brings us back to Day 4 and the chilly Cheyava Clear (not) Creek cruise, made into more of a slog because of the high, frigid, and occluded water. Perhaps half of the flow comes from the left (looking up canyon) fork beyond Obi, allowing us to accomplish the numerous pole vaults and long jumps of the upper creek section wearing boots.
     Clearing continues and billions and billions, although probably not as many billions and billions wasted in the current two unfunded wars and the two huge tax cuts for the uber-wealthy, of stars join in after the moon sets. Joy, shipmates of Eaarth, joy. (Be proud and wave the flag of fear about our budget deficit, repuslicans, welfare for the rich, religious optional war for oil and pride.) Perhaps we "should" say "Eaarth" as in "Eaarth: Making life on a tough new planet," (2010) by Bill McKibben, which talks about how the billions and billions of not so humans have so drastically changed our only Earth. Changed the climate, altered most everything, so that we will have to drastically scale back and change our way of doing "business" if we are to survive. Of course, economists (who do not know the procedure for subtraction and have no provisions for division or subtraction in their computer programs) and the man-dominated religionists (who are surging toward a self-fulfilled prophecy of enraptured extinction of all life on Eaarth via geometric progression overpopulation) and 'conservatives' (who wish to conserve nothing but their own power, greed, and consumption; privatization of profit for the rich, socialization of loss and fear for everyone else) will not assist or allow sustainable living. Of course, the topic is breeding ourselves into extinction, coupled with greed.

     Again, we praise the Zoroastrian Tradition because the sun peeps out at sunset, giving light to the scenic toilet.

Link to Scenic Toilets of Inner Earth

     Day 5 - return to BA. The day dawns cool yet sunny and soon we are again enjoying the incredible lushness and vibrancy of flowers, forbs, and other growth along the return path to BA camp. The flower fantasia is a terrific side-benefit of this rain. Seeing no one along the way, we are jolted into the relative civilization of the Phantom Ranch area. Ranger Della comes by to chat as we engage dinner, she then sends over other hikers to hear tales of Clear Creek.

     Day 6 - Unnatural Disquiet. Day 6 and we're humping the lighter yet still burdensome packs up the BA Trail, soaking in the quiet lower regions and plodding the upper sections where natural quiet is overcome by a variety of too-loud languages, and artificial sounds of man. I see and hear an unwelcome blare of disquieting noise from speakers strapped to a backpack. Unnatural disquiet.
     We clack trekking poles in cooperative congratulations before scattering throughout the West, our group of friends plying the tarmac into sunset.

     "The plural of "anecdote" is not "data"." - message to george w bush from an unknown writer

     "The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own." - Frank Zappa

     "Stupidity got us into this mess - why can't it get us out?" - Will Rogers

Pano 2 from the CCC trail/Phantom Overlook, Day2 (Image is very wide and the file large - scroll to view it (3531 x 700; 624kb) - Click the image for the full-size image)