Sierra Club Outings | Kanab Creek Wilderness Service, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.

Kanab Creek Wilderness Service, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
April 6-13, 2008

Highlights:

Help improve trails for other visitors to this spectacular area
Explore dramatic side canyons or soak in a cool stream during a day off

Includes:

All meals
Training in a variety of trail maintenance skills
All group cooking equipment

The Kanab Creek Wilderness is one of the most spectacular areas of the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Kanab Creek covers an area of 68,340 acres. Its tributaries have cut a network of vertical-walled gorges deep into the plateaus, creating a maze of water- and wind-carved fins, knobs, potholes, and slot canyons. After four days of trail work, we'll hike down to Mountain Sheep Springs, a beautiful inner-canyon spring. We'll spend a day there relaxing and soaking in the cool creek or exploring dramatic slot canyons in the area.

We try to offer a relaxed atmosphere, with relatively few organized activities besides the work project. You may fill your free time with canyon hiking, searching for petroglyphs, bouldering, and general fun and exploration. We will teach and follow "Leave No Trace," minimum-impact ethics on this trip.

Our work will be on one of the more popular trails, located beneath Jumpup Point with spectacular views of a large part of the Kanab Creek canyon. Our work project here will entail clearing brush, making trail tread, and building cairns. There are ancient petroglyphs in the area that we should be able to visit in the evenings.

Each of you will be viewed by the people who come in contact with our trip as a representative of the Sierra Club. We are proud of our reputation -- not only for getting a lot of good work done but for being considerate in the wilderness and in the places we pass through on the way to the wilderness. We trust you will help us uphold this reputation.

Our trip will officially start early Sunday morning, April 6 th , at the ranger station in Fredonia , Arizona . We'll drive to the trailhead above Jumpup Canyon , and hike down approximately 2,000 feet into the canyon over a distance of 4 to 5 miles to our base camp below Jumpup Point. After setting up our camp, we'll have some tool safety instruction and perhaps a couple of hours of trail work. We will work along this trail for the next four days. In the evenings, after our work is done, we can check out an impressive concentration of petroglyphs in the area. In prehistoric times, this area was a thoroughfare between the plateau above Kanab Creek on the North Rim and Havasu Canyon on the South Rim.

Following the work project, we will hike along a relatively flat bench past Jumpup Canyon to Sowats Canyon . We will hike down to Mountain Sheep Springs, an inner-canyon Shangri-la with a beautiful spring, cottonwood trees, cool pools, and cliffs with petrogylphs. The next day, trip members can relax at the springs, or day hike around the area. There's a moderately strenuous loop hike down Sowats to Jumpup, down Jumpup to Kwagunt Hollow, up Kwagunt Hollow to the bench and along the bench back to Sowats and down Sowats to Mountain Sheep Springs. There are shorter, less strenuous day hikes down Sowats to Jumpup and either up or down Jumpup and returning back to Sowats.

Our hike out, on the last day, will be strenuous. We will hike up Sowats to the bench and over to Jumpup Canyon , and up Jumpup Canyon to the trailhead and our vehicles. Anyone who prefers to do only the work project can arrange to hike out with the ranger the day after our work ends.

Transportation to and from the trip is your responsibility. The trip leader will send out a roster of trip participants to assist participants in arranging carpools. We will informally meet on April 5 th in Fredonia and will find a place to camp nearby or stay in a local motel for the night.

The best -- meaning the closest, and, usually, the cheapest -- airport to fly into is Las Vegas , Nevada . Flagstaff , Arizona , and Salt Lake City , Utah , are alternatives. If you are flying, you should plan to arrive the day before the trip departs, and if you are leaving after the service trip, you will probably not get out of the canyon before noon on the last day, so plan your return flights accordingly.

This service project takes place in the backcountry. We will backpack in to our base camp, carrying all of our "accommodations" -- tent, pad, and sleeping bag.

All meals from lunch on the first day through lunch on the last day will be provided. You will need to plan to eat breakfast before our 8:00 a.m. meeting time on day one. While there are obvious limitations to the sort of food we can prepare for a group in a wilderness setting, we try to pleasantly surprise our trip members. We do our very best to accommodate the dietary needs and preferences of trip participants. Please be specific when you fill out the food preference section of the questionnaire. If we can accommodate you, we will. Our exceptional cook will prepare delicious fare; because of refrigeration limitations, though, most meals tend towards the vegetarian end of the spectrum. All trip participants are expected to assist in meal preparation on a rotating basis.

The hike into and back out from our work site will be moderately strenuous. Hiking in canyon country is challenging. We will be on trails, but the terrain includes lots of steep downhill and uphill hiking. You will need to be in good shape, able to hike with a backpack, and comfortable hiking in rocky terrain. We may encounter places with moderate exposure. Prior backpacking experience will help to make this an enjoyable trip. Spring temperatures should be moderate but could be cool or even cold (if we get a late-spring storm) or quite hot (if summer hits early). We usually expect warm days (70s), cool evenings (40s-50s), and dry weather, though it's important to plan for the extremes.

The leader will provide a detailed equipment list to registered participants. We will have pack support for our food and cooking equipment, but each trip member is expected to carry his or her own personal gear: tent, clothing, etc. You should have a day pack large enough to carry lunch, water, first-aid kit, etc., during our work days. Because we will be doing lots of hiking (into and out of our base camp, and during our work days) it is imperative that you have comfortable clothing. Think layering, so you can take off or put on different clothes as the temperature changes. Comfortable, well-broken-in boots, gloves, and packs are crucial. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the leader.

Conservation issues abound here. Grazing allotments, wilderness designation of the Grand Canyon , controversy over the release of California condors, and visitor use fees. Participants will also have opportunities to discuss their environmental issues of interest.

The payment of a deposit does not confirm you as a member on the trip. Participants must be approved by the trip leader. After signing up for this trip, you will be sent a confirmation packet containing approval materials (Participant Approval Questionnaire, Medical Form, Liability Release Form). Each applicant (including those on the waitlist) must fill out these forms and promptly mail them to the trip leader. The leader will review the approval materials and notify you of your acceptance in a timely manner.

Fred is an avid outdoor enthusiast, who has led and participated on several service backcountry trips. He lives in Bend, Oregon, and is a frequent hiker in the Oregon Cascades, where he enjoys the wonderful solitude of the backcountry. His objective is to get you to enjoy the backcountry. He has recently (almost) retired as a contract researcher for the U.S. Government. Fred is happy to individually answer any questions participants may have about the trip or the area, and will send bulletins prior to the trip with further details and names of other participants.

E-mail: tanisfred@bendcable.com

Maureen Kurtz started participating in service trips about 10 years ago, and has been staffing trips for five years. She likes service trips because of the sense of satisfaction she gets from the work, the excellent relationships with our partner agencies, and from getting to know the wonderful participants. She loves to provide tasty, hearty food, and plenty of it, to our dedicated volunteers.

E-mail: m_kurtz@bellsouth.net