I drove my little Neon to just past the Toroweap Lake before I was forced to park and walk the rest of the way. I signed the register and started down about 7:30 am. There is not much of a view unless you stop to rest and look around. I spent most of my time looking just ahead of my feet! The cinders are slippery, and the rocks all loose. Although really well marked, the route required rough scrambling.

Just before the final descent down the chute with extremely loose scree and cinders I saw my first Rattlesnake of the year, a Great Basin Rattler. A real beauty, light brown with dark well defined splotches, about 18 inches long! She never even rattled, just calmly moved away out of the path of my big Solomon hiking boot.

Andrew T. Holycross from Arizona State University identified the  reddish/pinkish speckled rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchelli) that I saw  on this route in the eighties. The meanest snake I have ever seen, it was at eye level and hissing and rattling to beat the band! Andrew says these are often confused with the Grand Canyon Rattlesnakes, which are also red/pink, but are only found from Havasu downriver.

It was impossible to move down the scree with out sending rocks and cinders sliding down below. Be very careful with other hikers below on this section.

I arrived above Lava Falls in at 9:00 am. John Riffey said an average hiker should take 2 hours down to the river. Harvey says it took him 67 minutes on a "warm day in August", so I guess my 1.5 hours means I’m a bit above average. In 2000 they had to rescue 12 hikers off the Lava Falls Route with the helicopter! I suspect most people should spend the entire day making the round trip! Don’t be deceived by the short length of the route.

Many plants were in still in bloom. Hedgehog Cactus, Indian Paintbrush, and creosote to name just a few. It was fun to see many big Barrel Cactus standing guard over the great Chasm!

The Colorado River was fairly high and Lava Falls was roaring. I could still visualize every nano-second of my run though there a few years ago. I hoped to see some boats with Doc Thomas or Bob Marley go though, but I knew it was too early in the day for any boaters to come by. But I did find my fist tick of the year, crawling up my leg.

I headed down river, beating brush, climbing above blocks of Lava, scrambling over rocks, and occasionally though open patches of sand. There was very little existing trail, although I saw a couple footprints and a few signs of deer. I averaged about a rivermile an hour. As usual I was dressed for battle with the brush, with long pants and a thick shirt. My big Wells Lamont workgloves were a great help for busting though the thickets and grabbing the rough Lava rock.

There are several different lava flows down to the river, and they are all eroded back enough to allow at least some beach area. Bob Marley had told me about the lava obstacle near Hells Hollow. Lon Ayers refused to provide any information about the route although he and a buddy had supposedly did this trip a few weeks ago. Mike Quinn looked at Robert Benson’s log for me, but all it said was that he found a route up the Lava, then headed back to Toroweap. Then the next day, he headed back and found the route down the other side. No specific information. Claire Roberts said the last hiker he talked to had gone all the way up to the Esplanade to continue to the Whitmore Trail. So, the only thing I knew for sure was that there was some Lava somewhere that caused some problems and some people didn’t want to talk about it!

You can see the water right up to the cliff! There is no way around at this point and no easy path over the Obstacle!

The River dropped as the day went on, and the Lava seemed to become less and less. Tapeats even appeared a couple times. I was moving at a good pace, able to keep close to the water and avoid the brush. I began to think that somehow I had made it through the lava obstacle and was home free! I speculated that I could be at Whitmore by dinnertime. Suddenly there it was! A 100’ cliff of Lava that went straight down into the River! This is located a little past river mile 183.

I dropped my pack and just looked at the lava obstacle, scratching my head, considering my few options, wondering what to do. I thought maybe I could wade around it, holding on to the cliff, but the water was waist deep by my third step, and in the current. There was no sand bar there at all. Even at low water this would be dangerous. A ride from a river party was a possibility; but I wanted to complete the line.

A river party pulled in on the South side of the river and soon set up camp. They had four boats and a couple of kayaks. I hoped it was Bob or Doc, but I knew Doc was with many beautiful women, so it wasn’t him. Maybe I could get a lift with them in the morning.

I backtracked to the first wash that appeared to breech the lava and rested on the sand. All I knew was that there was a route up and over the obstacle. I grabbed the water bottle and headed up to see if the break would work. It forked, but the left hand one didn’t look good so I headed up the right one until I was above the lava. Then I headed west, climbing and contouring above the left fork, then climbing up to a saddle. The saddle marked the high point of the route and was probably a 1000’ above the river.

Here I knew that I was halfway through the route. I decided to go on and confirm the route down. I slid down some scree, then went toward the river and down the nose of the lava. After several false starts I inched my way down some steep crumbly lava, careful to always have three points of contact, and wishing I had a belay. Once below the nose I was able to contour around to a scree slope and descend some more. The closest gully to me didn’t go, so I looked upstream at the next one. It worked, but was hard class 3. Soon I was taking a cowboy bath at the Colorado River, only a 100’ or so from where I had started, but safely on the downstream side of the lava obstacle! The way was clear the next five miles along the River to Whitmore Wash!

So much for looking at the route! Now, I had to get back, and the sun was beginning to be low on the horizon. Still running on adrenaline, I was back at camp in time to cook dinner before dark. I had spent a little less than 2 hours finding the route and 1.5 hours getting back, but with no pack. An exciting unmarked climber’s route, that requires belays and lowering packs in at least two sections.

My camp on the edge of the beach was sheltered from the wind, and I had a fine, dry, night. I decided that since I had completed the unknown section, I would save Whitmore for another day, and head up again on to the Lava and travel overland back to Tuweap! I knew that there was not a drop of water on the Esplanade, and I would have to carry all I needed.

I started early, repeating my climb up the right fork of the wash, but instead of contouring left, I went right, gradually ascending the lava flow. In 2.5 hours I climbed up on some Supai, and was on the Esplanade. I sat and ate a lunch with my back against a juniper, facing east. It seemed to be growing darker in the west, but I didn’t pay much attention.

The clouds began to drop, and Prospect Canyon was soon lost from view. Soon, the wind was a gale and rain was coming in horizontally from the west. I was traveling in a straight line directly for the north side of Vulcan’s Throne. The clouds dropped even more and soon it was snowing! Vulcan’s Throne, and everything else disappeared and I was in a thick pea soup! I continued on my last bearing to Vulcan’s Throne. Within minutes I was covered from head to toe with wet, heavy snow. The water running down my legs filled my boots up, and I had to stop, ring the water out of my socks, and turn my boots upside down to drain the water! Getting back on my feet, I was no longer sure of my bearing and took out my compass to be sure I was still traveling east. The first time I ever used my compass in the Canyon itself! (I have used it many times in the forests on the Rims)

Soaked from head to toe, I was frightfully cold, even when moving. But, suddenly I heard the birds start to sing again and knew the storm was finally over. Vulcan’s Throne reappeared and I was soon back to my little Neon.

Many thanks to Mike Quinn, Bob Marley, and Claire Roberts for help with this trip!