Little Colorado: Cameron to Confluence Part 2

Little Colorado: Part 2

Cameron to 17 mile camp

Historic bridge over the LCR in Cameron

         Tuesday May 22^nd, Jarrod got off work and we headed to Flag.  After chowing down on some amazing burgers and micro-brew at Diablo Burger we headed to our sweet $24 hotel and crashed out.  We had originally planned to get a super early start the next morning but this enthusiasm was thwarted by forgetting about the time change and then being pulled over by a cop in Flag for forgetting to put my headlights on.  Yes it was still dark and no I didn’t get a ticket. 

          We got to Cameron and parked at the trading post around 0700.  I knew I needed to provide my vehicle information to the security office since we would be leaving the car there for the better part of a week.  It took us a little bit of time to find our way down to the actual river bed from the trading post, having to enter from a little side drainage and scramble down.  As the morning sun peaked above the old suspension bridge spanning the dry river we bushwhacked through our first set of tammies and took a moment of pause in realization of finally starting a trip that we had been talking about incessantly for roughly 6 months.

          The first 8 miles from Cameron were neither very scenic nor particularly enjoyable.  It was dry, hot, and dusty.  We saw occasional 4 wheeler tracks and came upon multiple horses and cattle that seemed to look at us with a reserved curiosity.

Typical scenery the first 8 miles

           Around the 8 mile mark we came around a left hand bend and instantly realize that one side of the Canyon had turned to sheer red sandstone and in the distance we could see the other side also change to a steep vertical sandstone wall.  We both knew that this was the official entrance to what would become a massive canyon.  Having done our research we knew that access to the LCR canyon was guarded by something that Kelsey termed as “Quicksand Alley, or a quicksand deathtrap.”

Jarrod at the entrance to "Quicksand Alley"

    This section of the hike had been the point of much conversation between Jarrod and I and between the various people who had hiked it and I.  I had been told that it was the narrowest the canyon got on the whole trip and as a result of its narrow and steep walls providing deep shade for most hours of the day, there would likely be nasty quicksand.  In fact Mike Mahany had warned me on his write-up here that though he had hiked it when the river was dry he had found this section tricky and required a high-water slick-rock traverse.  I had also been forwarded an article by a group of guys who did the hike in December back in the 60’s with pictures of them stuck up to their waste in this stretch.  Jarrod and I both were a little nervous knowing that we were finally here, a place we had been talking about for months, and so took our packs off for a nice 20-minute break before beginning it.

In the main portion of "Quicksand Alley," note the old suspension bridge spanning the Canyon

       As we shoved off and headed on, the canyon began to narrow drastically.  It was fantastic to see the physical rock and later old suspension bridge that we had viewed through pictures over the winter.  We made our way down canyon and noticed thick muddy looking sand at the base of the canyon walls still in shade but the center shoot, now in full sun, stayed dry and firm for the duration.  Eventually, we came around another corner, encountered our first of what would become massively huge and long rock gardens and the canyon transformed from a small minor drainage to a massive sheer red-rocked chasm.  We walked with our heads gawking towards the top of the cliffs in front of us.  This was what we had come for, and it was just the first day!  We found a nice shaded spot to stop for an extended lunch, took our packs off and basked in where we were.

The canyon below Quicksand Alley, growing in width and height

        After a few hours had passed by we decided to head back out, within a mile or two we reached the LCR Overlook on Canyon left and then finally the gauging station.  In the preparation phase of this trip I was hoping to get by on a gallon of potable water per day.  As it turned out I had about half a liter left of my first days’ allotment at this time and still had a good 10 miles of walking to go.  Our thinking on this was twofold; first, the water situation in the upper canyon was questionable at best.  There were no reliable springs and we had been watching the LCR gauge since March and it had been dry for weeks now.  Second there was an old abandoned large, open pit, super-fund uranium mine just upstream from the bridge at Cameron, and our thinking was that any puddle water in the canyons was not very clean

The gauging station, about 12 miles in

     We didn’t really have a choice however.  The gauging station was preceded by a long, difficult boulder garden slog, which we got to enjoy in the high sun and heat of the late afternoon.  We walked a little further down canyon and came upon a set of massive murky green pools.  We were both so thirsty at this point and were down to the end of our day’s water supply.  We looked at each other with a kind of shrugged shoulders expression and decided to give it a shot.

The first big pools down-canyon from the gauging station

       Having had so-so luck with my gravity filter set-up on the trips I had down in the SW the last few years I opted to bring Aquamira chemical treatment.  It ended up being a good choice, and also fitting as it left the water a glowing yellow color, perfect for the radioactive cocktail that ended up being quite-refreshing.  After chugging about 2 liters, we felt a bit of a weight lifted and the general mood of the long day began to improve….for a very short time.

More water pools and an increasingly deep canyon

       We were originally shooting for a landmark known as “Hell-hole Bend” at mile 22.5 from Cameron.  However, when coming up with the schedule we had assumed that the canyon would be flat packed sand providing for easy walking.  What we had not expected were the long and increasing larger (in size and length) boulder fields, which did a great job of slowing our pace down to a crawl.  Another wonderful factor that aided in our snail pace was the incredible windstorm that kicked up reducing visibility, breaking cameras, and generally making things more awesome.

Jarrod looking extra happy at the start of one of the smaller boulder fields

     As a result, the mood turned a bit sour again, heads went down, joyous chatter ceased, and the mind began to rebel.  Eventually, around mile 15 we decided to hunker down between some large boulders as sand blew into our faces and all around us.  It was around 6pm at this time and we looked at each other and came to terms with the fact that we were not going to reach Hell-hole Bend and decided to just try and walk until it got dark.  We shot for an “hour of walking, fifteen minutes of rest” schematic and shoved off once again.

The super fun afternoon sandstorm

Sand blowing down canyon towards us......this shot was the last Jarrod got on his camera before the lens became so jammed with sand it would no longer open.

      We got go mile 17(ish) around 830 as the wind luckily started to die down.  At the start of yet another long boulder field we found a nice flat grassy patch that we threw down on.  Dinner consisted of a melted snickers bar, 800mg Motrin and a liter of water by headlight.  It had been a long day.  And, because of missing our planned mileage would make for an even more epic second day.

Camp night 1

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Little Colorado: Cameron to Confluence Part 1

     Little Colorado: Part 1

      Horse Trail Cache

     Memorial day 2011.  That’s the first time I ever did the Hopi Salt trail, leading down to the Little Colorado River (LCR).  It was an incredibly memorable hike for a variety of reasons, and is documented via video here.  The rugged terrain, pristine nature of the canyon, and time spent with friends made it a stand out for 2011 trip of the year.  Driving home from the trip we crossed a bridge in Cameron, AZ with a sign that read “Little Colorado River.”  It was at that moment that the Cameron to Confluence hike was born.

     Cabin fever was building as I sat at home this last winter thinking about upcoming trips.  The Salt Trail trip had left an indelible mark on my hiking conscious and I couldn't shake the idea of hiking the entirety of the lower canyon of the Little Colorado from Cameron, AZ to the Confluence with the Colorado River in Grand Canyon NP.  To be sure there were some great trips already planned and on the books, but the excitement of the unknown posed by the canyon of the LCR seemed to consume my thoughts.  At this point I began scouring the Internet to find information about this hike… which I quickly realized, didn’t really exist.  It’s impossible to say how many people have done it, but the number of people who have done it and written about it numbered in the single digits.  So it began in Dec/Jan that the logistics began to be planned and those who’ve done the hike were contacted.  All were super helpful, enthusiastic, and had amazing things to say about their time spent in the canyon. 

   E-camper at the Horse Trail TH

        The biggest impediment to a successful trip seemed to be the water situation.  The problem is a bit complex.  The season for doing this hike is incredibly short, book-ended by the spring runoff of the LCR in April on one end (which has in fact been kayaked) and the start of monsoon season in June.  Based on what I’d heard from those who’d successfully hiked the canyon, it was not even worth considering hiking if there had been a recent rain or there was still water flowing under the bridge in Cameron.  The quicksand was just too much.  Further, the positives benefits of the meek winter here in the four corners had to be tempered with another reality.  It was roughly 44-46 miles to Blue Spring where the first “reliable” water source was.  On top of this fact was the controversial nature of said water itself.  The LCR is known for its incredibly turquoise hue, which is due to a very high mineral content.  The resulting potability is questionable at best.  Some have consumed it and been fine and some warned me to not even use it to cook with due to “extreme” diarrhea that ensued.  This, in conjunction with the fact that my experience drinking it the year prior when doing the Hopi Salt Trail was less the enjoyable.  The taste was not the biggest problem, (it was horrible) rather the high salt content did little to actually hydrate me, and if anything seemed to dry me out faster.  We were later lucky then to find a large cache of Arizona Fish and Wildlife water under an alcove to balance the scales.  My thoughts of a “quick and light” approach began to fade very quickly as I realized I would be forced to take a large amount of potable water from the beginning.  

Down-climb entrance to the Horse Trail

  


As the winter wore on and I found a buddy, Jarrod, to join me for this trek, I started to pour over the maps of the lower gorge.  The confluence was roughly 56 miles from Cameron with a few other landmarks in between.  I had received info and read about the limited entry and exit points into the canyon along our route.  There seemed to be a hierarchy of difficulty and they all seemed to fall in the lower 1/3 of the canyon.  The easiest of this hierarchy appeared to be what is simply called “The Horse Trail.”  Kelsey mentions it briefly in his book “Non-Technical Guide to the Colorado Plateau” but other than that I couldn’t find much about it.  Thankfully I connected with a local hiker and Dr. working in Tuba City by the name of Bill Ormann, author Stephen Cole and Sierra club guide Michael Wise.  Bill, Mike and Stephen promptly answered my emails, provided topos, and helped immensely with the logistics of the lower canyon.  Around this time I also contacted epic distance hiker Jamal Green to get advice for caching food and water.  After all the help I received from these great folks I decided that the Horse Trail, which is about 40 miles from Cameron and 16 miles above the confluence would make an ideal cache spot for re-supply in order to keep weight as low as possible from the start.

View from first dry-fall of the Horse Trail.  The lit up canyon in the distance is the Little Colorado River Gorge

   

            So with that said Jarrod and I packed a couple of plastic buckets with food, water, booze, stove and fuel, and plastic pool doughnuts for the lower canyon and I headed out to find the Horse Trail with the assistance from my girlfriend roughly 2 weeks before we were to depart Cameron.  Finding the actual trail-head proved to be a little difficult as the canyon is about 20 miles off of US-89 just north of Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation.  Eventually, with assistance from a portable GPS we were able to find the trail-head.  Arriving as the sun was going down we decided to pack our bags and camp, with hopes of getting an early start.  

   

Cammie approaching the long climb down

   

            We got on the trail around 7am the next morning with packs loaded with plastic buckets and 5 gallons of water split between us.  Luckily we were shaded for the majority of the hike down, which ended up being close to 3 miles one way.  The hike begin with a rocky down climb in a side drainage before meeting up with the primary side canyon.  A series of large dry falls had to be navigated on canyon L but there was a faint trail which aided immensely.  One last crossing of a dry fall lead to the “big climb” of the hike, a long rock strewn field that lead down to a flat boulder garden at the base of the side canyon.  Eventually we got to the final down-climb leading to the sandy (but with water) floor of the LCR.  This was the “crux move” of the hike.  Having no good way down, you slot yourself between huge rocks and come upon a “bridge” made of pieces of wood with some rock slabs placed on top.  This bridge must be taken in order to get on an exposed ledge and down climb to the eventual traverse back across canyon to a scramble down to canyon floor.  

The first view of the LCR looking down-canyon

   

            Right before reaching the point where the supplies would be cached I was sliding down a loose scree field when I felt and heard a gushing of water from the bottom of my backpack.  I instantly stopped to figure out what had happened.  As it turns out as I was sliding down the scree the lid on one of my gallon containers came open and the entirety of the water spilled out through the bottom of my pack.  I was not thrilled to say the least.  I had finished 99.9% of the hike down with the extra 8 pounds of this gallon in my pack.  In my mind, it was going to be extra water that Jarrod and I could chug after what would be a grueling second day of hiking……but no more.  

Sketchy makeshift bridge on the last descent

     Shortly after we found a nicely protected overhanging ledge at the bottom of the side canyon that we used to stash the supplies and covered them up with some loose nearby rock.  I marked the spot on my GPS and we began the long, steep, hot hike back to the car, on which Cammie thoroughly kicked my ass.   

The cache spot

    

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