08:00 am - Climbing Nankoweap Mesa

Oye! This route so far is harder than expected and the hard part is still to come. I am behind schedule but I can't even say by how much because I don't know exactly where I am. Well, I do know exactly where I am but not in relation to where I should be at the moment. I guess I am running 30-45 minutes behind my plan. I left camp on time right at 6am. Right now I am on a nice flat area overlooking the drainage that ascends to Nankoweap Mesa. I will feel better once I can get around this and see the final ascent to the top. I can actually make out trees on the top from here though.

Somehow I ended up confusing my saddles and I think I downloaded the waypoint for the wrong one to my GPS. When I got to the correct one my GPS told me I was still too low so I went higher looking for another break. I found one but there was a deep gorge between me and the other side and then a cliff on the other side of the gorge going down to where I needed to be. Crossing over was not easy. Going back down this route is NOT going to be fun at all, at least not if I try to go back the same way I came... which I probably shouldn't.

09:30 am - Climbing Nankoweap Mesa

I made it through the talus slope in the Supai cliffs. I am getting close to the base of the Coconino and I can see the route to the top. The top looks like it's only about a quarter mile away... as the raven flies according to my GPS anyway.

10:30 am - I give up

I am ready to bail! I don't know what happened but somehow I ended up off route with no easy way to get back on route... especially since I have no idea why I am off or where on-route would actually be. I should be on-route but things just don't fit. It totally sucks to be so close to the top with no way of getting there from here. It's all just cliff above and around me now though and I already had to break out the rope to lower my backpack down a climbing mistake.

I wish I could figure this out but I can't. It could be I am in the wrong drainage but my last waypoint check was very close to where I should be. The next one is over in an abyss somewhere I can I can't see how to get there without contouring along a very steep cliff for a long distance and that doesn't match up with the other waypoints. The picture just doesn't fit with reality and I guess Nankoweap Mesa was just not meant to be for me. I am also having serious doubts about my route finding abilities and whether I should attempt Marion-Seiber for the route out.

Going back down this mess scares the crap out of me now as well. There is some very steep and loose slopes to go down and camp is a long way away.

12:30 pm - Climbing Nankoweap Mesa

I am down below the Supai again and as I suspected it scared the crap out of me going down. There was no solid footing anywhere and everything was just slip-sliding away beneath me. It was more like a controlled slide than anything else, one in which loosing control could mean loosing your life.

I found a nice spot of shade under a juniper and I am having lunch here. There's still a good distance to cover to camp and I am not going back exactly the same way. Two wrongs won't make it right. I am going to go back down this drainage until I can see a way up to that first saddle I was on during the hike up, the one I was supposed to come down from. It isn't the right saddle according to my map/GPS but that one wasn't "right" anyhow.

I look back up at the top of Nankoweap Mesa from here and feel quite sad. I still don't know where I went wrong and I hope I can figure it out by talking with people who have done this route successfully after the trip. I hope this failure doesn't set the mood for the rest of the trip.

04:05 pm - Back at camp

I am back at camp---got here at 310. I technically had about 3 more hours to play around with looking for a way to the top but from the point I stopped I really had no idea how to proceed. I was not likely to have much time on the top even if I did finally figure it out and all of the good views of the river are on the other side of the mesa. It sucks.

I had seen a couple of cairns very close to where I was so I just don't know what happened. Maybe I was supposed to climb those cliffs but nothing I read and no one I talked to mentioned climbing on this route. I really don't like to climb when I am alone like this.

I did some camp chores: unpacked, tried to clean some sand out of the tent, hung the food bags back up. I also took some photos of critters along the creek: lizard, frog and damsel flies.

It's quite lovely here today, a beautiful day to be in the Canyon. I can hear the bubbling and gurgling of the creek, the occasional bird, and once in a while a bullfrog chimes in. There is quite a bit of helicopter activity in this area and that is somewhat annoying.

The wind died down shortly after dinner yesterday and it has been calm ever since. There was the occasional gust up on the higher parts of the route today but nothing down here so far. It may gust up again around sunset, that's pretty common anywhere in the Canyon.

I still need to filter some water so I better get to that.

07:15 pm - Checking in

I just did my check-in with Robin via the satellite phone. It sure was good to hear her voice even if only for a few minutes. The next check-in is Thursday, following the Kolb Arch day hike. I told her about today's mis-adventure. Tomorrow is easy, just down to the river early morning and then move camp up creek in the afternoon. What could go wrong there? Dare I ask?