It was cold last night, even with my car camping gear, so we sleep in until around 7:00, pack our stuff, eat, and get away at 8:30. A person who went to the Arch last week reported there was no water at our intended camping spot tonight, so we are each carrying an additional three quarts of water. One of the hard things about the Point Huitzil route is finding the proper descent point at the rim. I plotted our initial course on a topo map and found it to be 307 degrees true. Since the magnetic variation in this area is twelve degrees east, I calculated our indicated magnetic heading will be 295 degrees. I also put in three waypoints in my GPS between here and the rim to help guide us to the initial descent point, a small drainage descending to the northwest. Jonathan will be cross-checking with his compass to make sure I don't get us off course. The terrain is mostly flat as we leave Pasture Wash. A little weaving and bobbing is required to get around the numerous juniper trees. About one-third the way to the rim we come across the old telephone line that used to run down to the Village of Supai. It's been very dry and we only find a few flowers along the way.
We then pass my second GPS waypoint and start a gradual uphill climb toward the rim. Just as we reach the third GPS waypoint we come to the small drainage we were expecting to find and begin our descent. We are right on track to reach the correct spot at the rim.
At the bottom of this drainage, we turn westerly and follow the creek bed all the way to the edge where we take a break. We then start the steep descent to the base of the rock outcropping shown in the lower center of the far right picture below.
At the bottom of a series of small, but steep switchbacks, there is a ledge with a 6-8' drop-down you have to negotiate. While there is a small pile of rocks below the ledge to stand on, they are wobbly and care must be taken here. Click here for a short video clip of Jonathan making his way down. The Rabbit Hole is just on the other side of where Keith is sitting on a slanted ledge. One would not normally look for a way down that close to the edge, but that's where the Rabbit Hole is. There is some mild exposure as you make your way around the far edge and start down a crack in the rocks.
We ferry our packs around the corner and then I descend the pole to the bottom. When I did this hike before, our group roped packs down, but we found it much easier just to hand them down to the person at the bottom of the pole. That was also less damaging to the packs.
Jonathan and Keith make their way down the pole. This would be a tough spot to pass if this pole were to break. Click here for a short video clip of Keith descending the pole.
Just to the north of the Rabbit Hole are an amazing number of Petroglyphs on both the wall and floor. The rock floor slants at about a thirty degree angle, so it's a little uncomfortable walking on it while taking pictures. Click here for a short video clip of the Petroglyphs.
We descend below the Petroglyphs and make our way to the south to a point just above the Moqui Steps. These are indentations carved in the rocks to form a crude series of steps. This feature is much steeper than these pictures make it seem, so I brought 75' of one-inch webbing to use as a hand line. I wrap the webbing three times around the base of a large bush, tie three half-hitches, and then work my way down to the base of the Steps.
Jonathan does not think much of my knots and reties them with a bowline knot. OK. I admit it. I flunked out of Boy Scouts. Jonathan then descends to the base of the Steps. Just as Keith is starting down the Steps, a bottle of his Gatorade slips through a tear in the mesh pocket on his pack and careens downward eventually going out of sight. After he reaches the bottom, we decide to leave our webbing here to use on our return in two days. Click here for a short video clip of Jonathan going down the Steps or click here for Keith's video clip.
We make our way back to the north a ways and then descend a series of steep switchbacks to the creek bottom and have lunch. Jonathan is used to having lunch much earlier than this, but he hasn't hiked before with Keith and didn't know his trail name is "The Taskmaster."
After lunch, we start walking down Royal Arch Creek. Surprisingly, we find a couple of large potholes of water in the creek bed. There are a few pouroffs to get past and then it's easy walking to where we are camping for the night.
We pull into camp at 3:00 and find quite a bit of water at our campsite, so we wish we hadn't carried all that extra water down with us. However, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Keith and I set up our tents near each other on a flat rock area. Jonathan sets up his bivy a little ways off with Point Huitzil visible in the background.
Tomorrow should be an easier day and we should reach the Arch just after lunch. MAIN INDEX | HIKING INDEX | BACK TO PREFACE | FORWARD TO DAY 2
|
