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Trip Report - April, 2006 - Nankoweap backpack plus Drippings Springs and Horseshoe Mesa day hikes |
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This was a great trip, not entirely a success or completed as planned, but still much better than most. I don't think I have ever had a Grand Canyon trip get pulled off completely as planned and it's frequently just a matter of time before something goes wrong. You just need to be able to play it by ear and roll with the punches, it's just the nature of the beast beauty.
This was also my first truly solo trip in about two years and it really felt good to get into the Canyon by myself again for a while. I met one person hiking out on the first day when I was heading up to the Saddle Mountain saddle. I met two more on the second day while resting (hiding from the wind) on Tilted Mesa. The last people I saw were on the fourth day, a couple of people from various river trips that I met at the Nankoweap granaries. Apart from that I had the Canyon to myself and I saw not another soul while hiking up to Kolb Arch or over near Mystic Falls. It was just mostly magnificent solitude... except for the dang helicopters which run pretty much non-stop ALL. DAY. LONG. I'm thinking Tilted Mesa would be another good place for an anti-aircraft battery... in addition to Columbus Point.
The only real failure of this trip was an aborted attempt on Nankoweap Mesa and although it had been a priority for the trip it was not the one and only. The failure started the trip off on a bad note since it was so close to the beginning but... it got better.
The trip highlights...
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Photo map
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