Royal Arch Loop

Day 1

It had been a late night and cold morning, so we got up at 7, packed, and ate breakfast. Joelle and I both started at 31lbs. Daniel’s pack was 40. We decided to drive the boundary line road for a while, but parked when it got more rocky because I remembered an impassable section before reaching Pasture Wash road. After walking 1.5 miles, we found that a new bypass for this crux had been created and we could drive all the way to Pasture Wash. Daniel and I ran back to get the truck so we could drive the remaining 1.5 miles today and also cut off 3 at the end of the trip. The boundary line road went well, and is now a great option for anyone with a high clearance vehicle. It would've been really tedious in our RAV4.

As I accumulate more days in the geologically intricate landscape that is Grand Canyon, patterns start to emerge. Eventually, with enough evidence, some of those patterns can become rules. The Point Huitzil route is an exception to a rule. The Coconino Sandstone cliff is not not completely vertical, nor is it broken down into a rock slide in the way that some are. It remains generally vertical, but can be penetrated via an unlikely series of sloping ledges, moqui steps, and holes. 

Despite my tendency to copiously research trip beta, I managed to avoid seeing a photo of the most incredible secret of the Point Huitzil route, and I enjoyed the surprise. In an effort to pass along that joy, I'll leave some photos out. But I will say this: follow the cairns, don't be discouraged, and look in unlikely places. it is definitely incredible!

The descent took a long time, and we ate lunch near the beginning of it. But every section of it was amazing and fun, especially the cave. Once we got to the bottom of a steep Hermit Shale slope, we began our new mission of following the watercourse on it's way towards Royal Arch. We descended and bypassed countless Supai pouroffs, many small and some large. The biggest involved a very extended bypass, rejoining the creekbed at the top of the Redwall. It was 4:30.

Hiking through the Redwall narrows was beautiful, and early on I was struck by a stunning example of how it gets it's color via staining from the red rocks above. Daniel and I marveled at huge, but temporary, swaths of white gravel that had washed in from a couple of side canyone, hypothesizing what sort of event it came from. 

As dusk fell and we still weren't close to Royal Arch or seeing many flat camps, the magic began to wear off. The canyon floor was often choked with huge boulders, making the going very slow. We had been seeing water earlier, but now weren't, so we had to keep going. Eventually, at about 7:45, we arrived at nice Muav ledge camp near a big deep trench of water. It had a scummy surface and brown hue but was plenty clear underneath. Good enough! After another too-late night, we were in bed by 9:30.

Day 2

We had agreed to still wake up at 7, and at that time it began to rain and the wind got pretty intense. We packed up inside the tents and then ate breakfast in the shelter of a large boulder pile. Eventually we meandered down to Royal Arch, finding clear flowing spring water almost immediately. 

Royal Arch was truly incredible! The massive overhangs provided nice shelter from the rain, and the grandeur of the terrain was stunning. The elegant trickle stream of water really made it though. Unfortunately I was feeling a lot of anxiety about our pace, which made lingering at the Arch less joyful. 

We retraced our steps and finally left the streambed at almost 11 as a light rain started. The trail that traverses the rim of the canyon had a couple of spots that really freaked Joelle out, and kept our pace from improving as much as I hoped it might. We made it to the rappel around 12:45, worked through it efficiently, and ate lunch at the landing ledge. It's a really cool spot, another unlikely route that penetrates a huge cliff in its thinnest spot. The strange cliff band looks mostly like Redwall, but is distinctly below the Redwall and covers up the Muav and Tapeats, only on the south side of the river. Apparently it's travertine. We saw plenty of formations to support this but I still wonder how it came to be here.

We got down to the river quickly enough, and decided to commit to the side trip. I was really worried about time, and leaning towards skipping it but the river was running brown and I forgot my Water Wizard! The appeal of clear water and a beautiful place was strong. The trail felt really slow on the way there, and took over 90 minutes. 

Morale improved a lot as soon as we hit the creek! We followed the popular river runner route up towards the classic waterfall with a big pool. There we spent a long time filtering upwards of 2p liters of water, and enjoying some chips and guac that Daniel surprised us with. It was really pleasant.

The hike back seemed to go a lot faster and we barely made it to our packs without needing headlamps. Pushing on into the night felt silly when we kept wasting so much daylight in the mornings. We decided to camp as soon as possible, and Daniel found a couple of decent sand patches nearby. We agreed to wake up at 6am tomorrow, knowing that we very well may have to hike 15 miles to the next water source, back at the river. 

We were a lot less far along the route than I had hoped to be, and I completely gave up hope of  hiking the Esplanade to exit the Point Huitzil route for a closed loop. Now I was just hoping to make it out of the Canyon safely and without too much suffering!

Day 3

The earlier morning went well, and we didn’t waste too much daylight before hitting the trail. But the trail was rough for at least a mile before gaining the Tonto proper at Garnet Canyon. Even before reaching Garnet, we found a tiny flow of super mineralized water. The morning light was beautiful, and we found some amazing mica deposits.

The short climb out of Garnet was a lovely surprise, with some of the coolest Tapeats terracing I have seen! The Tapeats is my favorite layer and I always get excited when we find it showing off.

The Tonto trail is usually an uneventful but meditative experience, and ours was no exception. It was pretty much just a steady cruise to the junction with Bass. We took our time and didn’t make it until dark. The post-storm weather was clear and cool, helping us conserve water, but we were lucky to find a nice big rainpool in Copper Canyon, saving us from having to go all the way to the river. As evening fell, Daniel and I fell behind many times gazing down at Bass Camp and into the expansive Shinumo Creek watershed. We found a nice flat camp by following the Bass trail down a short distance, and all slept under the stars for our coldest night in the Canyon. Daniel described to us how to find Cassiopeia and Andromeda.

Day 4

From here the mission was simple: climb up to the Esplanade, out to the rim, and walk the 4.7 road miles back to Pasture Wash ranger station. We enjoyed comfortable weather and nice trail as we fell into a variety of conversations.

Notes

• We had light rain on the trip, but cool weather and heavier storms one and two weeks prior. These blessed us with good rainpools in the drainages of the upper Esplanade, and in Copper Canyon.

• I went back to my trusty TX3s for this trip, scoring a "like new" pair on eBay that arrived the day before we left. Either they were more used than I though, or I'm dependant on fancy insoles to use these, because my feet haven't hurt this much in years! After a few miles in a day it began to feel like I had been walking barefoot on concrete

• As of this time, and car could drive FR328 to the Reservation boundary if it is dry. It would be a lot more pleasant in a decent car like a Rav4, but was great in the Hydra. From there, one could walk the very rocky fence line road to Pasture Wash or drive it with a true high clearance vehicle (we didn't need 4wd but you could)

• The walking is basically all rough up until Garnet Canyon, and all easy after. The worst/slowest part is definietely the boulder choked limestone gorge in Royal Arch creek.

  • So, even though it felt like we were really behind, we were fine. 4 days is fine but 5 would be great and I could probably do 3.