Day 1:Jumpup Canyon

Day 1

October 10, 2010

Nankoweap Trail to Nankoweap Creek

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Today's route stats:

Distance: 9.1 miles

Elevation Gain: 1000 feet

Elevation Loss: 4000 feet

Marcey and Bert got up very early to heat water for breakfast. They yelled “Hot Water” around 5:30. By 6:00 we were all eating breakfast and it was almost light enough to get around without flashlights. Marcey was laying out 7 piles of communal gear and food. We began hiking around 6:40. The air was cool and damp. We reached the saddle around 8:15. I picked up one quart of water. The Nankoweap Trail follows a bench in the Supai for several miles. The views down into the Nankoweap drainage were spectacular. In an hour or so I reached my personal cache Marion Point and my pack weight suddenly increased by about 8 pounds. We reached our campsite above Tilted Mesa at noon, where I off-loaded two quarts of water, one breakfast and a snack. So now I had one quart at the saddle and two at Tilted Mesa for the hike out, and about 1-1/2 quarts left to get me to Nankoweap Creek.


Nankoweap Saddle.	Nankoweap Trail.	View South Towards Nankoweap Creek.

This was my third trip to Nankoweap, but only my second time on the trail. The other two times I exited 49.9, and once I entered via the Freefall Route between Marion and Seiber Points. I was a little surprised at how deteriorated the trail was. Was it really this bad 10 years ago? It wasn’t difficult – just a lot of washouts and rocks blocking small sections of the trail. I managed to lose the trail for a short time as the trail dropped off the blackbrush-covered hill towards the bottom of the trail. We arrived at Nankoweap Creek around 3:15. The creek had only a slight touch of sediment. We found a nice campsite a few hundred yards upstream on the opposite side of the creek. We had appetizers and drinks around 5:15, dinner at 5:45, and bed around 6:45. It got dark around 6:00, and totally dark around 6:30.