Notes

After screwing up the permit twice, and seeing a greater than 60% chance of heavy weather on our exit day, I thought we might be in for another one of those hikes that I have become known for. Fortunately, we only had a few minor changes in the plans which in hindsight proved to be very smart. Jason covered the basics for this hike. I just want to add some of my own notes for those of you considering this hike and/or care what I think.

Water

We spent three nights on the river, and one up above tonto level. I have been in the canyon several times, and the river is always full of silt. If you are lucky, the spillway that you are camping at has a stream running through it to give you some clear water. On this hike none of our camp sites had this luxury. On a past hike, we brought a water filter. Your water filter will be punished by this silt. We used Iodine instead to save us the havoc.

Silt Combat

For silt combat, I brought a 12 oz squirt bottle and some coffee filters. The basic idea is to fill the squirt bottle and put a coffee filter under the lid. That way, all your water will pass through the filter before entering the bottle you are going to iodine, but don't squeeze to hard or you will break the filter. This seemed to work some because I could see the dirt stuck in the filter. The other advantage is the fact that you don't have to dip your bottle in the river.

Heights

For those of you that are afraid of heights, this is NOT a hike for you. The Day three climb that Jason has in the trip report is pretty much a technical climb. Especially in packs. Most of the "climbs" that I have run into in the canyon have been in teh range of 15 feet. This climb was more along the lines of 50ft. we don't have pictures because I was not willing to remove one of my three points long enough to take it. If you are uncomfortable about heights, this section will take you a LONG time. DON'T try this hike in four days.

Opinion

In my opinion, this was one of the coolest hikes that I have done in the canyon. I rank it right there with the Boucher-Hermit loop. Great Views, Cool Camp Sites, not crowded, and just enough out of the Ordinarys.

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