Backpacking Into Phantom Canyon: South Kaibab / Bright Angel / Utah Flats / Phantom Creek / Haunted Creek / Cattle Route / Isis-Cheops Saddle
March 29 - April 5, 2013
Text © copyright by Rob Jones and Photos © copyright by Rob
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Undulating Utah Flats:
Backpacking Into Phantom Canyon: South Kaibab / Bright Angel / Utah Flats / Phantom Creek / Haunted Creek / Cattle Route / Isis-Cheops Saddle March 29 - April 5, 2013 Text © copyright by Rob Jones and Photos © copyright by Rob |
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Co-Adventurers: Dave Rumbellow and Zig Sondelski
Undulating: Moving in a smooth wavelike motion.
ERM - Energy Required Miles. A mile is added for every 500' elevation gain or loss.
It's a very serviceable method of estimating energy required miles.
Yet, ERMs do not account for the texture of the topography. This route is tough going,
at times because there is no trail in Phantom. Utah Flats? Well, a vestige of trail.
Total trip - (per my GPS) of 47 miles and total ERM = 91.5, indicating a good deal of elevation gained and lost.
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for a full-resolution map, click here. Caution - do not use this map or gps track for navigating the route.
“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson
Summary: Three of us backpacked up the Utah Flats route to Phantom
Canyon, where we base-camped and explored Phantom Creek, Haunted Creek, the Cattle Route, and the Isis-Cheops Saddle.
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Day 1: Gliding to BA: 7.2 miles; ERM = 14; camp @ 2400'.
The two Condors reel and glide, white feathers on the leading edge of
the wings their insignia. That is, with their huge plank-like profile, they are easily recognized.
(Turkey Vultures fly in that characteristic unsteady dihedral profile, and the wing colors are reversed,
lighter hue in the following edge of the wings.)
It's a very busy day on the top few miles of the South Kaibab, and the
going is slow because of the throng. Probably, we should have taken an earlier Hikers' Express, rather
than the 9a. bus. Yet, now we're in the GC (Grand Canyon) and all is fine.
To BA (Bright Angel), to the cantina. Toilets not working, BA Creek is
just fine. I look for the foxes, see bats, and eat dinner while Dave and Zig go off to the Ranch
(Phantom Ranch) for a gorging.
This trip is possible because Zig and I designed a hurried permit request when leaving
for the GCHBA (Grand Canyon Hiker and Backpacker Association) service project in the BA/Phantom area in late October
of 2012. We worked for a week in the bottom of The Canyon, accomplishing a lot that the underfunded NPS (contrast
this with the overfunded military) cannot do. Kathleen faxed in the permit request as we were hiking into The Canyon.
Now - that's teamwork. Thanks Kathleen. And, to all you Rangers and VIPs (Volunteer In Park) everywhere - Thanks
for your service. (See this link for a report about one such service project with the GCHBA, the
Volunteer Vamoose:
Volunteering in the bottom of The Canyon (2011).) I also visited the start of Utah Flats during this volunteer
service project, building up info for the current trip...yahoo.
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Day 2: Overhang Deluxe :
Piano Alley to Phantom Creek overhang camp. 4.7 miles; ERM = 11; camp @ 3800'.
The rubiginous light slides off the towering Redwall cliff nose above the
junction of Phantom and Haunted Canyons. The trill of bahhing Canyon Tree Frogs reverberates in the cove
of the overhang camp. Cottonwood leaves, newly green, flutter in the up-canyon breeze. Local sunset has
arrived at the overhang camp.
The day starts with the steep rolly gravel climb up to Piano Alley, then
the scramble up and over the pianos to the so-called flats and into cactus alley and the contour to the
(again) steep drop into Phantom Creek, which plummets from a point below Cheops Pyramid/Isis Saddle.
Phantom Creek is clear and lovely. Chilly. It's a bit less than an hour up along the creek to the
overhang camp, where there's time to set up camp and enjoy a bucket bath in the sun. Ahh. Bats pirouette
pursuing unseen insects as the last lingering salmon tint graces the bottom of the mammatus clouds.
Overhang Deluxe.
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Day 3: Haunted: To spring in Haunted Canyon.
4.1 miles; ERM = 8.0; camp @ 3800'.
The Agave bloom stalk soars skyward, easily 17' tall and serving as
foreground to the Redwall of the Colonnade. We're rock-hopping and brush-dodging the laborious two
miles to the spring in Haunted Canyon. Averaging less than a mile an hour, it's slow going. A wild
feeling surrounds because footprints are few and the "trail" sparse. The spring water leaps from the
ground. Above the spring, there are no Cottonwoods visible in the main or side channels.
Knowing more about the route, it's an easier hike back to the overhang
camp for another delightful bath on a smooth rock. Canyon Tree Froggies wrestle for position in the
swirling creek pools.
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Day 4: Phantom Fling:
To spring and beyond the Hippie Camp. 4.5 miles; ERM = 7.5; Camp @ 3800'.
We believe the fabled Hippie Camp has eluded us while searching
for it in the springs area thick with trees and harboring some washed-out camp areas. Was it
removed by a flash flood? Later, in talking with Sjors, Permanent Volunteer at BA, we learn
that the Hippie Camp is the lovely site near the junction of Phantom and the branch coming
from the West of Tiyo Point. Above the Hippie Camp, Phantom snakes through a jumble of limestone-based
narrows and rock fall. We turn back, and enjoy lunch at the Hippie Camp, then slide down canyon to
the spring area, still looking for the Hippie Camp (which we had found above, yet didn't know it at
this time). The water is crystal, yet burbles into the drainage - different from the gushing
spring in Haunted. It's an easier hike today. We return to tents filled with sand, layered over
the sleeping bag, etc. by the restless winds. It's day 3 of seeing no others. Yahoo.
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Day 5: Cattle Cuss Chute:
Explore Cattle Route. 5.9 miles; ERM = 12; camp @ 3800'.
The Swift barrel-rolls through the rust-red shale gap and I think "I'd
like to fly like that - a better way off this so-called Cattle Trail." Swift! Apropos. It's more like
a cuss the cattle chute, followed by seemingly endless wandering across cactus-choked and trailless terrain.
The cussed chute heads sharply (nearly vertically) up near the top of the falls at the foot of the Utah
Flats route where it drops into Phantom Creek. No place for a cow. We wander out toward the Buddha
Cloister, then loop back to the Cottonwoods for lunch. Heading back, we wander the low ridge above the
rust-red shale slope that slides into Phantom and look for a route down suitable for cattle. Not likely.
Not suitable for us either. Once slipping, it's not a good thing. It's like that slippery slope of
allowing religinionists to control government, soon you have no religious or other freedoms. Separation
of church and state - it is in the original Constitution.
So, failing to find a decent route on the shale, we return to Phantom
via the cussed chute, traveling close together so rolling rocks have little space to gain momentum.
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Day 6: Savoring The Saddle:
To Isis Temple-Cheops Pyramid Saddle. 3.7 miles; ERM = 9; camp@ 3800'.
The cliff bands narrow as we stroll out to the deluxe vista afforded
by the Isis Temple-Cheops Pyramid Saddle. Views abound and we pick out landmarks along the Hermit
to Indian Garden hike across The River. We can see a way up BA Canyon and toward Haunted and the N.
Rim. It's an hour (or less) hike above where the Utah Flats route starts down to Phantom, at about 4200',
to this glorious saddle. Well worth the effort, although there is some minor exposure along the way.
I'd rate it easier than the route down into Phantom from the common junction.
We're back in camp for a late lunch, a sunny bath, and some extensive
lounging.
It's now over 5 days since seeing other people. Yahoo. Phantom Creek
burbles, I nap. The indistinct petros observe fluted Tapeats SS (SandStone). The Spiny Lizard does
push-ups and inflates his throat of purple while below, Canyon Tree Frogs tune up for the coming orchestral
season. The sun track slides into the overhang camp to brush the TarpTent, then cycles into local sunset.
It's time to filter water and think about dinner. We're on Canyon Time.
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Day 7: Bowling for Pianos & explore Lower Phantom:
4.5 (7 total with Phantom); ERM = 11; camp @ 2400'.
The dark chocolate Tapeats SS hulks of Piano Alley loom below. Bowling
in this alley? Certainly, it's a straight shot.
We're up early and on the route out of Phantom before it's completely bathed
in warming sun. A fond look back at Haunted, upper Phantom, Cattle Route, and up to Isis-Cheops Saddle; then,
on to Cactus Alley and Piano Alley. In my opinion, it's the ball bearing on basement rock alley above BA CG
that is the most problematic, especially going down. Before long, we slither into the fluff-filled confines
of BA CG. Cottonwood fluff flies like an Idaho blizzard - quickly filling the tent if the door is open, and
coating the mesh with white floating seeds.
After set up of camp, we hike up the North Kaibab to the mouth of Phantom,
don neoprene booties and sandals, and explore a short way up this tortured Canyon. Froggies and waterfalls.
Slow and scenic.
The water at BA CG and creek is a salmon pink. The NPS quiet chopper flies
in cubbies (2.5 gallon square jugs) for the faint of gullet. A lovely warm night is tarnished only a tad by
allergies.
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Day 8: IG Revisited:
To The Rim on BA Trail. 9.9 miles; ERM = 19; camp on the plateau at @ 7000'.
Toting the cubbies of water, I do a tiny bit to help out at Indian
Garden (IG) on the way out of The Canyon.
I was among the GCHBA, Grand Canyon Hiker and Backpacker Association,
volunteers who worked for a week earlier this March at IG, so this is familiar terrain. We painted the
inside of the info station, fixed the trail through the swampy area below the station, organized the
tool shed, painted signs, performed general maintenance. It's certainly Grand to spend time giving
back to our precious public lands. And, what a place to work! Sign up for your volunteer time on
public lands near you - do it today. It's a productive and pleasant antidote to the agony of realizing
we are already a third-world nation. We're number 1 in overspending on the military-industrial complex,
number 1 in incarcerating our citizens, yet doing poorly in providing health care or education or supporting
research or allowing people to vote or to work in a job providing a living wage (e.g., part of our corporate
welfare is subsidizing the low wages of wal-store, McClog your arteries, etc. with food stamps and health
care via emergency room visits), and even food for hungry/starving children. The income (class) gap is
larger than ever, with a few wealthy elite controlling your destiny and possibilities.
Grinding up, chatting with Dave, it's a fairly quiet trail until the 1.5
mile rest stop - where the throngs of day hikers kick up clouds of finely-ground dust. Rim! The end of
another fabulous GC adventure. Thanks to Dave and Zig for helping make this a fantasic trip.
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"Capitalism: Nothing so mean could be right. Greed is the ugliest of the capital sins."
- Edward Abbey"Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
- Stephen Colbert.
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see my Arizona Daily Sun article about A Delightful Hangover (pdf)
(Click the image for the document) | ||
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Maps:
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for a full-resolution map, click here. Caution - do not use this map or gps track for navigating the route.
Movies:
Movie of Lower Phantom cascade 1
Movie of Lower Phantom cascade 2
Movie of Lower Phantom cascade 3
Movie of burble in Lower Phantom cascade
Books: Eaarth : making a life on a tough new planet, McKibben, Bill,
Time Books, 2010.
Maybe one : an environmental and personal argument for single-child families, McKibben, Bill, Simon & Schuster,
1998.
The end of nature, McKibben, Bill, Random House, 1989.
A River Runner's Guide to the History of the GRAND CANYON,
Crumbo, Kim, JOHNSON BOOKS 1880 South 57th Court, Boulder, Colorado, 80301
1994.
Other WV reports about the Grand Canyon:
Click here or on the Looking Lizard to go to all WV reports about The Grand Canyon
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Related Links:
the geology of the Grand Canyon by the NPS
More Truth Than Joke:
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“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson
"Capitalism: Nothing so mean could be right. Greed is the ugliest of the capital sins." "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
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