[rubywrangler]

Julia suggested a spring Grand Canyon trip and we decided on this remote, half trail-less 37 mi north rim loop described in George Steck’s book “Grand Canyon loops 2” which I think is out of print now but can be found online. We knew both canyons are very scrambly, and neither of us are rock climbers, but based on trip reports and Julia’s previous experience in lower Tuckup we believed the route was within our capabilities. (It was…mostly… ) Our biggest concern was route finding out of Stairway canyon, which had stumped at least one previous party. After a delayed departure due to some annoying last minute shenanigans* in Seattle, I made it to our rendezvous location at the Schmutz spring trailhead the night before our start date. The last 8 miles of road to the trailhead was horrible and the CRV barely made it without getting high centered. Julia fared slightly better with 1.5” more clearance in a RAV4 the next morning. We hiked down to the esplanade and then into the wash of upper Tuckup canyon. The beginning of the route is used to dayhike to the shaman’s gallery, a huge rock art panel. The upper trail is also lined with tons of crinoid fossils - 300 million year old sea creatures! We walked right by the shamans gallery at first and had to backtrack to it… It is pretty spectacular. Would be even more amazing if “annie schmit” and others hadn’t written their names over it.

entry

crinoids

shamans gallery

shamans gallery

shamans gallery

Eventually the walls got taller and the wash got narrower and we began to encounter some easy obstacles - boulders, short dry falls, etc. Tuckup makes a long, slow descent through the redwall and is really beautiful. Just before the junction with cottonwood canyon, we passed a solo backpacker - the only other hiker we saw on the route. Just after the junction, we came to a huge boulder obstacle that took us awhile to figure out. We didn’t bring a rope, just a bit of 6mm accessory cord for lowering packs. I was afraid we might not be able to get down but Julia just went for it eventually. She has about 5 inches on me which ended up being important to our success on this trip! We hiked for another hour or so and then found a campsite on a flattish spot near a good spring.

tuckup cyn

cottonwood cyn jxn

tuckup cyn

the difficult boulder obstacle from below

tuckup cyn

Tuckup continued to wow us on day 2. There were tons of pretty pools and springs along the way. We quickly reached conglomerate arch, then several more scramble obstacles and a fun, narrow high bypass trail. Then we took another apparent high bypass that seemed to dead end. We thought this was just a goat trail but it actually leads to a steep descent route described in Steck’s book and several trip reports. However we knew (from another report and Julia’s experience) that the boulder obstacle this route is meant to bypass is actually downclimb-able and we descended it without much trouble. Before noon we reached the canyon mouth and the Colorado!

conglomerate arch

tuckup cyn

whee!

tuckup cyn

tuckup cyn

bypass

tuckup boulder

A river rafting trip full of friendly folks arrived shortly after us. They fed us pozole and gave us beer so we were happy to share the beach with them. The next morning they also gave us a ride to stairway canyon which saved us ~6 miles of bushwhacking. And we got to take a little side trip up National canyon, across the Colorado, on the way! Pretty sweet.

national cyn

We were tempted to spend another lazy day on the beach at the mouth of Stairway, but decided to push on in case route finding problems necessitated an out-and-back exit out of Tuckup. We hiked into stairway, got spooked by dry potholes, and hiked back to the river to fill up on water. We could each carry ~6L and didn’t know if we would find more in the canyon. There would be a couple of springs on the esplanade the following day, but they are reportedly highly mineralized and cause severe intestinal issues so we were hoping to avoid them. We hiked back into stairway, weighted down and much slower than before. Stairway is also a beautiful canyon, and so different from Tuckup. Steck and other TRs describe several obstacles increasing in difficulty as you go upcanyon: a series of dryfalls, a chockstone tunnel, a 50’ pouroff with a couple different bypass routes, and a 300’ pouroff with a bypass trail ending in a crack climb. The first two were easy to identify. Then we came to a 30’ falls not mentioned in the book or most TRs. I’m guessing most parties use an earlier bypass that skips this but it was one of my favorite parts, though a somewhat awkward scramble with heavy packs. Then we came to a 10’ wall across the canyon which is described in the book. We topped off our water from a pool here - it was clear, but yuck.

stairway cyn

first dryfall

another pouroff

chockstone tunnel

awkward scramble up 30' falls

top of the 30' falls

Our bypass around the 50’ pouroff - a steep gully - was directly above this wall on the left side of the canyon. This was where one previous party had lost the route, so we were relieved to identify it pretty easily. But we wandered further upcanyon to see the pouroff before continuing. So lovely! Full of pretty, deep pools and very noisy frogs.

stairway cyn

stairway cyn

stairway cyn

50' pouroff

the only quiet frog

From the top of the gully bypass we could see the 300’ pouroff ahead. There were a few more scrambles along the way but nothing difficult. From the base of the big pouroff, the route climbs a talus slope, wraps around a cliff, and then climbs a stream gully to an easy diagonal crack. At first I thought this was the final crack that led back to the top of the redwall. But no.

approaching top of the gully

300' pouroff ahead

top of 50' pouroff

300' pouroff

on the bypass trail

julia climbing the easy crack

Other reports had not made much of the last crack through the redwall. When we reached it, I thought we were screwed. As I said, not a climber. Also, short. I gave it a try, explored an alternate crack nearby, rinse, repeat. Julia gave it a try, added a few rocks to the pile below the crack, rinse, repeat. Eventually she figured out how to work her way up. Now I was at the bottom with 2 heavy packs. We struggled to haul them up, it took a long time. Then it was just me left down below, and it was quickly getting dark. I added a few more rocks to the pile, hoisted myself up and shoved myself into the crack. Shimmied up ungracefully. Julia was probably pointing out handholds and whatnot but I could only hear myself cursing and feel my sweaty hands and legs slipping out of the crack. It was terrifying. Also, there were cacti. Ow. But I made it. Running on adrenaline and relief, we hiked up to the top of the 300’ pouroff and set up camp there among a very large resident daddy longleg population. I ate tons of cheese and salami, drank too much of my meager water supply, and slept fitfully.

only picture from climbing the crack

In the morning the view from camp was spectacular, but we got a late start. We were VERY lucky to find a small pool of water, complete with frisky frogs, a little ways up stairway wash. We filled up again and continued climbing. It was several more hours of scrambling and route finding to the esplanade, and once we got there, we’d have 18 miles back to the car. And it was hot. I resigned myself to drinking mineralized spring water the next day. At the top, we took a long break in the shade of a pinyon juniper and then set about finding the tuckup route. It was mostly easy to follow but would occasionally disappear completely. GPS was helpful. It was a long, long way around all of the side canyons and fingers of Willow Canyon. We stopped for another shade break at Willow spring but didn’t find much water. Camp was a nice flat slab between Willow Canyon and Fern Glen Canyon overlooking The Dome.

stairway canyon from camp

i camped on the sand patch

looking over

on the esplanade

tuckup point

the dome

On our last day we got an early start to make the most of the cool morning and we got some help from clouds too. It was a long, long way around all of the fingers of Fern Glen canyon and then Cottonwood canyon but eventually we made it to Cottonwood spring where we supplemented our dwindling water supplies with the supposed mineralized water (we didn’t end up feeling any signfiicant effects from it). Then it was a long, hot walk back to the trailhead. I ran out of water just as I made it to a liter I had stashed on the way in, and ran out again just as I made it to the car. We replenished with cold water, Lacroix and beer from my cooler as the wind picked up. A dust storm was brewing and within a few minutes we couldn’t even see the canyon behind us.

esplano

around another finger

Between the terrain, limited water, and weather, this loop was pretty grueling. Definitely the hardest Grand Canyon trip I’ve done. Might be easier in earlier spring with cooler temps and pothole water on the esplanade. Still, overall it was a spectacular adventure with awesome scenery and was really fun despite a couple scary moments, new shoe blisters, plantar fasciitis, and a long hot death march. Now time to start planning a fall trip! More photos * 2 nights before I planned to leave, my car was smashed-and-grabbed for the third time! It was parked in front of my house in NE Seattle. There was nothing of value inside; the only thing stolen was tire chains. But cost to replace window $290. Yes I know this is not only a WA or Seattle problem but it sure feels like it to me. I basically lived out of my car during a 9 month road trip and left it at remote trailheads across the southwest, CA and OR with no issues...

[GaliWalker]

What a great report! Tuckup Canyon alone looks worth the trip.

[Eric Hansen]

Wow! Congrats on a great trip and trip report.

[Nancyann]

Looks like a super fun and fairly challenging adventure. Great pictures as usual!

[zephyr]