Obi Canyon ruins

Once through the jungle the trail becomes fairly easy to follow. There still seems to be more than one route as going up we were primarily on the south side and coming back we were primarily on the north side. The trail crosses the creek occasionally but the two routes still seem independent of one another. It took about 30 minutes to figure out how to get through the jungle section and another 45 or so to get to the head of Obi Canyon. After considerable searching we finally managed to locate the ruins.

The ruins that remain are really not that impressive, there is one structure left that looks like it could have been a granary, and there are other numerous walls and foundations. The structure was probably quite impressive before it deteriorated and probably ran for a good distance along and beneath the face of the cliff. A woman from the Grand Canyon Association who gave a talk at Phantom Ranch the next night we were there claimed that archaeologists had found split twig figurines at this site. We didn't see any of those and they were likely to be in caves if anywhere but there were numerous other artifacts in the area that had been set out for display. A surface collection had been done by some indians from one of the pueblos in the area. The nicer artifacts have been removed for preservation but there are still lots of pottery shards, stone hand tools and other items left.

If you do visit the site please do not take anything with you. A ranger that I talked before doing this hike claimed that the collection has been shrinking over the years due to people wanting to take pieces home with them. It always amazes me that people who would take the time to hike to a remote location like this can be so ignorant of its value - take only photographs, leave only footprints!

We spent about an hour exploring the site before we headed back to our Clear Creek campsite, arriving back there at just around 11:30.

Dry falls

I noticed a high, dry fall further back up in the side canyon that joins Clear Creek from the northwest and decided to go check it out before lunch. It was a little tricky to get to as there is no actual trail and you need to pick the route on your own. You have to follow the creek bed for most of the way, no water here though, and work your way around a couple of areas where there are falls and some others that are clogged with boulders. The fall was quite impressive even if it was dry and had to be over a hundred feet high. It would probably have been magnificent if there had been water flowing over it. The full roundtrip hike was only about 45 minutes though and when we returned to camp we were finally hungry enough for lunch.

East Clear Creek

About a tenth or so of a mile in there is another tributary canyon that joins East Clear Creek from the south. I had heard that this was interesting and so I took a little side trip to explore a little of it as well. It made me wish that I was still not in my Tevas and that I had put my hiking boots on. Tevas are great for hiking along and through creek beds but they are not that great for climbing, which I was having to do more and more of in here. There were a few high, dry falls that need to be climbed around and I did not feel comfortable without my boots. After the third one, at maybe a half to 3/4 mile in, I turned back towards East Clear Creek.

I felt much better when I finally got back to East Clear Creek and continued my hike up this to the east. Very shortly the canyon began to close in around me and the walls of Tapeats Sandstone began to soar higher and higher, up to 300 or 400 feet. It was now getting to be later in the afternoon and the high cliffs were actually supply some shady spots in the canyon. This was good as it was quite hot up there in the full sun.

The further I went the more narrow the canyon became and I could now see at least 2 other other rock layers on top of the Tapeats. After a couple more twists and turns in the bed the creek itself reappeared and I assumed that it must have been running underground in the lower section of the canyon. There were a number of small pools in the creek and all of them were teaming with tadpoles. Shortly after the creek reappeared the walls really closed in and at the narrowest point the walls where only a couple dozen feet apart. At one point the little water that was flowing here tumbled over a little fall that was quite pretty even if was only a couple of feet high.

Finally the walls gave way to a large clearing that offered a magnificent view of Wotans Throne and Angels Gate just ahead of me. I wished that I had more time to explore up East Clear Creek but I knew that the longer I stayed away from camp the more worried Robin would become. It was now about 3:30 and I decided to head back. I took my time going through the narrows section and stopped to take some photos and I was back in camp around 4:30.