Hack Canyon to Tuckup!   (way out west on the Esplanade)

December 17-24, 1997      Mike Mahanay

The sign said eight miles to Hack Canyon as I started down in the snow at noon with four liters of water. The last time I was here in 1989 Jimmi Lee Krider drove me in as far as the road would allow. The mine seems to of been closed off as is fitting for a uranium mine. After that and the power lines the Canyon really starts to open up and flatten out at the bottom. Eventually I got to the official trailhead. The register showed very few people since November. After another mile the Supai started to show and I looked for Willow Spring. I didn't see it when I reached the time to follow the Supai out of Hack Canyon. On top of the Supai I immediately found two nice potholes full of good water and made camp. The nights are always extremely long in the winter, 14 hours in the sleeping bag, so I had a walkman to tune in KTNN from Window Rock, and Jack Kerouac's Desolation Angels, as night time aids. Even so, I would find myself lying wide awake at two am.

The night was a cold one but after a hearty oatmeal breakfast I poured all but half a bottle of water out. Arrogance or confidence? Rounded the bend into Kanab Canyon was a great overhang camp with a big red mushroom rock nearby. The overhang showed signs of a recent camp including a fire ring and coals. We all get in tough situations but there is no excuse for not cleaning up the traces! Kanab was really beautiful in the winter light. Up canyon I thought I saw Gunsight Butte, to the east was the huge Jumpup drainage and the Racetrack Knoll, then Fishtail Mesa, and the Grand Canyon looking at The Great Thumb!

I enjoy walking the Esplanade in the winter. There were potholes of water everywhere left over from the big storm of a week before. A trail of sorts appeared that showed signs of construction that surprised me. I hadn't heard of one out here. There were several horseshoes and old dry feces. It made the going fast and easy. At three I started looking for water and camped in a northern arm of Scotty's Hollow Canyon. That night the wind off the rim was like ice and I decided I would look for overhangs from then on for more protection.

Friday I spent the morning looking for  the route to Kanab Point but ran into problems above the Coconino. I was sure I was on the correct talus slope but it cliffed out at the top. Ah, it must of been the next talus slope! I will come back and try it from the top.

Rounded Kanab Point was exciting. The full view of the Grand Canyon now and lots more sun. Looking to the south for the next day would be fantastic views of The Great Thumb Mesa, Mount Akaba, Mount Sinyala, and Havasu Canyon. The potholes were getting a little thin but I knew I would find some. They averaged about every fifteen minutes and were now so shallow I used my cup to fill my bottles. I went as far as Paguekwash Point and camped. Set up for an easy hike into 150 Mile Canyon on Saturday.

I had this picture of 150 Mile being this dry, rather ugly place. The only thing I had every heard of it was the chockstones and ensuing rappels to the river. It was actually a beautiful, impressive place! There were cottonwoods and redbuds among the red Supai. There was lots of water, some iced over and very cold where the sun didn't shine. I walked down to the Redwall and saw signs of trail construction at two bypasses. A huge Redwall overhang on he left would sleep thirty people and there is a much smaller one to the left of the narrows above the first chockstone that looks like it must of been an Anasazi camp at one time. Steck describes the rappels as being no more than twenty feet but to me it looked like fifty feet into eight feet of water. A climbers route only. I followed the left arm of 150 Mile to Hotel Spring to look for the Cowboy Camp. It was just above the spring.

The Cowboy Camp was fun. I set up camp on some slickrock nearby and went to take a look. There were two beds, blankets, quilts, and a nice cooking fire pit. Very little firewood around, it really must of been a chore to gather up enough wood each day. A big box contained silverware, utensils, spices, bug repellent, a Zane Grey novel and a deck of cards. There was baking powder, oatmeal, a big sack of flour for biscuits and pancakes. The coffee can was empty however, indicating why the Cowboy had left. There was also lots of tack around. I sat and read the Zane Grey novel in the fading light about a Cowboy named Panhandle (Pan for short) and his return home to the girl he loved (waiting for him) and his old wise mama. Two pages was enough for me and besides they ware starting to crumble. I turned to the deck of cards and sat on my bivy sack to play solitaire just as the Cowboy had done. I had to shuffle them really good because they were already in suite order. I never came close to winning! In the middle of the night I was awakened to the sounds of rocks being dropped-thump, thump, thump. Not the sound of falling rocks, but the sound of them being picked up and then dropped back down. I knew it was the Ghost of the Cowboy looking for his glasses or (I hoped not) his deck of cards! This was the second time I had felt a Ghost in the Canyon.

I felt good on Sunday morning, the winter solstice. It would be a long day, heading for Tuckup on the hard to find Tuckup Trail and knowing it might take two days to get there. The native grasses are really doing well now that there are no cows to eat them but they also grow right in the middle of the trail making it very hard to find except at the head of the washes. I was above Cork Spring at lunch time, but I didn't look at it because I had plenty of water. I did find an overhang with more Cowboy stuff in it including an empty can of Folgers Coffee and a nice bottle of antiseptic and dry, aged firewood. The clouds began to lower and I hurried to below SB Point to camp. Water pockets were even scarcer than the day before, only seeing them every hour or so. Just before the point I found some water and a huge Agave Pit. Across from The Dome, with a nice view of Tuckup I found a great overhang facing east to Supai with protection from both the wind and rain. The clouds got lower and lower and just after dark a very soft pitter patter of rain began and lasted most of the night.

As the sun rose I was amazed to see that it had snowed. On the North side it was white to the Coconino. The top of The Dome was white! But to the south to National Canyon and east to Supai it was white on to the Esplanade. It looked like they had been hit hard. All the potholes were full again. Amazing to see this extremely dry country blanketed in snow. I was glad and happy!

I headed north into the Tuckup Basin. My biggest challenge was the big east arm of Tuckup and the strong cold wind in my face. I found another big Agave Pit to roast Mescal in and farther on a place with a great many broken pottery shards. I was relieved to finally drop into the gravel bed of Tuckup, shed my pack and dayhike down to the spring and Cottonwood Canyon two and a half miles below. There I found a couple having lunch, my first humans in six days, and they agreed to give me a lift to the Tuweap Road tomorrow if they had room in their Suzuki.

Like 150 Mile Tuckup was quite beautiful and mostly gravel to walk on to the spring. Cottonwood Canyon works and Steck shows a route to the Esplanade on the east side from the A in Canyon. Down Canyon is the Conglomerate Natural Bridge and the Colorado River. There is one difficult downclimb however that requires lowering packs at a minimum. Some parties use climbing gear there. At the top of the Esplanade is a nice anasazi panel called "The Gallery". There are pictographs and petroglyths of figures with some colors. They are gathered together in a big group like a Renoir. Quite amazing. Lots of nice overhangs for camps in the neighborhood but little water except for the potholes on top.

Steck shows a route up the main arm that I planned to take but on his map he put a big chockstone which deterred me. The Tuckup Trail continues its lonely path all the way to Tuweap but I chose to head out the Schmutz Spring Trail.  Once again I could not locate the spring, but afterward Tom Veto told me that it is there. The trail up to the rim is easy to follow and fast. At the rim I was greeted with four inches of fresh snow, blue sky, and no wind. T-shirt weather!

John and Dappy eventually came along and I squeezed in the back with my legs hanging out for the 17 mile journey to the Tuweap Road. Although snow covered the road she had no problems and the road is in good condition. They dropped me off  at noon, and all I had to do was wait till my wife came driving down the road tomorrow at noon, Christmas Eve. With my ride I was 24 hours ahead of schedule. Harvey tells of the McCombs waiting at Tuweap for four days for a ride after crossing the river and hiking up the Lava trail, so 24 hours is not bad..

I walked for a while to get my ten miles in and kill time until I came to a group of ten Pinon/Juniper trees with a good view and set up a camp. I built a big wall out of rocks to block the wind and  gathered all the wood and cow pies I could find, a big pile I thought. I also gathered a bunch of dusty snow to melt for water. The snow was only 24 hours old but already had a layer of dust on the top. The melted brown water looked like Colorado River water but I didn't care. The road was almost completely dry already. There were no vehicles on the road. One woodcutter stopped to ask me, "Are you lost boy?" with a big laugh!  "No sir, just waiting for my ride to come tomorrow." I settled down for the afternoon to read and enjoy watching a herd of  horses nearby. I could see the Vermillion Cliffs to the north, the Kaibab Plateau to the east and hills and cinder cones to the west and south. The wind came up again before sunset and I could feel it blow through my bivy sack and down bag. All the water was frozen solid by seven o'clock, I prayed for a fast night huddled all the way in my bag after I gave up on the fire. My tubucular cough that I had the whole trip continued unabated. I felt like I would be coughing blood any time.

Dawn came and I rebuilt the fire. The woodcutter came by again and offered me a can of frozen Vienna Sausages which I declined, holding out for the Morman Mexican food in Kanab. This time he was concerned about my welfare and said he would "haul me in" if I was still there in the afternoon. If Doerte hadn't come I would be adopted by a nice Morman family in Freedonia right now!  The wind was as cold as ever. I huddled around the fire till the wood ran out and decided to pack up and hope Doerte arrived early. Walking again down the road, I wished I stayed at the fire. I could not get warm even walking fast with the icey, cold wind. But there she was, at exactly noon, accompanied by Mike Quinn and Charlie Bongo. Big smiles all around! It took me a full twenty four hours to get warm even in the truck and a cozy house in Williams, Az.