This trip takes us to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. From Jacobs
Lake, Arizona we travel over forest service roads to one of the trailheads at Jumpup
Canyon, Slide Canyon, or Snake Gulch, all of which offer access to Kanab Creek. Jacobs
Lake, at an elevation of over 8,000 feet, is situated in beautiful ponderosa pine forests.
The trailheads lie on the Kanab Creek Wilderness boundary at an elevation of 5700 feet in
the pinion/juniper zone. From this point of initiation, we descend to an elevation of 3800
feet on the canyon floor. As one of the major side canyons of the Grand Canyon, Kanab Creek is awesome in scope. The canyon bottom is a quarter mile wide in most places, with abrupt 800 to 1500 foot cliffs forming the walls. The geology of the top half of the Grand Canyon wall is revealed in these cliffs through which we have just descended. In addition to the dominating geology, the area offers abundant evidence of the
previous residency of archaic Indian, basket maker, and pueblo cultures. Although there
are few ruins to be found, the rock art is truly amazing. Pictographs and petroglyphs
offer an historical account of habitation by these ancient peoples. These archaic,
polychromatic panels, contrasted with the desolate remains of pioneer homesteads, some
abandoned as late as the 1930’s, produce a vivid image of what the transaction of
life in this place has looked like over the last 1500 years. Before we begin our inevitable return to civilization and turn from Kanab Creek, the final vista down canyon reveals the massive cliffs of the Grand Canyon itself. Here, on the boundary of the National Park, we get a glimpse of the power and scope of the natural forces that shaped our planet. This trip is not for the casual or out-of-shape hiker. Each route involves at
least one day’s travel of 10 miles or more. In addition, water is typically in short
supply and varies with the season. We occasionally make one or two dry camps using only
the water carried by our hard working llamas. In particularly dry years we may even need
to use water cached ahead of time. No excess for primping here, just the bare essentials
of drinking and cooking.
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