Day 3

April 22, 2014

Indian Hollow Spring to Lower Jumpup Spring



 


Click on photos to see larger image.

Today's route stats: 

    Distance: 8.6 miles

    Elevation Gain:  500 feet

    Elevation Loss:  1000 feet

Our goal for today was to hike back to our cache, then continue on the Jumpup-Naile Trail to Lower Jumpup Spring.  We got back to our cache by late morning.  We were originally planning to cut up the two buckets and carry them with us, but Rob volunteered to come back after our hike to retrieve them.  So we also left some of our trash and the 70 feet of webbing that we brought in case we needed it to climb Fishtail Mesa. 

Rob and Decker. Jumpup Canyon. Trail Between Sowats and Jumpup.

We arrived at Jumpup Canyon around 4 pm and started down the canyon looking for water and campsites.  After only a few hundred yards we found a nice campsite on a bench above creek left.  We found water a hundred yards or so below that.  While getting water, we ran into 3 other backpackers -- a father with his 13 year old son, and another man.  The father was a NOLS instructor who had hiked in this area over 10 years ago.  Apparently they started at Upper Jumpup and had spent the previous night on the Ranger Trail.  They failed to find a way down into Kanab Creek and so they decided to return the way they came.  They did not have a detailed map (very odd for a NOLS instructor).  They had found water in some potholes on the Esplanade and decided to spend the night there, and they had returned to Jumpup today.  They pointed out on my map where they had found water, for which we were grateful.  We had been concerned about finding water and we did not want to haul water for a dry camp.  I gave them a home-printed version of my topo map and told them how they could have made it down into Kanab if they had continued on the Ranger Trail another mile or so. 

We collected a few gallons of water and returned to our campsite on the bench above the canyon bottom.  Everyone, except me, set up their shelters because rain was threatening.  I managed to find a nice spot under a large overhang.

We encountered two reptiles today, as shown below.  I haven't run into a rattle snake in Grand Canyon in over a year.

Horned Lizard (aka Horney Toad) perfectly camouflaged.

Gopher Snake, also nicely camouflaged.

 


Back to Main Trip Index Back to Trip Index Back to Day 2 Forward to Day 4