mattvogt7
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- Joined
- Jan 20, 2012
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- 108
Links to the rest of the trip reports from this series:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Tuesday May 22nd, Jarrod got off work and we headed to Flag. After chowing down on some amazing burgers and micro brew at Diablo Burger we headed to our hotel and crashed out. We had originally planned to get a super early start the next morning but this enthusiasm was thwarted by forgetting about the time change and then being pulled over by a cop in Flag for forgetting to put my headlights on.
We got to Cameron and parked at the trading post around 0700. I knew I needed to provide my vehicle information to the security office since we would be leaving the car there for the better part of a week. It took us a little bit of time to find our way down to the actual river bed from the trading post, having to enter from a little side drainage and scramble down. As the morning sun peaked above the old suspension bridge spanning the dry river we bushwhacked through our first set of tammies and took a moment of pause in realization of finally starting a trip that we had been talking about incessantly for roughly 6 months
The Bridge over the LCR @ Cameron
The first 8 miles from Cameron were neither very scenic nor particularly enjoyable. It was dry, hot, and dusty. We saw occasional 4 wheeler tracks and came upon multiple horses and cattle that seemed to look at us with a reserved curiosity.
Around the 8 mile mark we came around a left hand bend and instantly realize that one side of the Canyon had turned to sheer red sandstone and in the distance we could see the other side also change to a steep vertical sandstone wall. We both knew that this was the official entrance to what would become a massive canyon. Having done our research we knew that access to the LCR canyon was guarded by something that Kelsey termed as “Quicksand Alley, or a quicksand deathtrap.”
Typical scenery the first 8 miles
This section of the hike had been the point of much conversation between Jarrod and I and between the various people who had hiked it and I. I had been told that it was the narrowest the canyon got on the whole trip and as a result of its narrow and steep walls providing deep shade for most hours of the day, there would likely be nasty quicksand. In fact Mike Mahany had warned me on his write-up here that though he had hiked it when the river was dry he had found this section tricky and required a high-water slick-rock traverse. I had also been forwarded an article by a group of guys who did the hike in December back in the 60’s with pictures of them stuck up to their waste in this stretch. Jarrod and I both were a little nervous knowing that we were finally here, a place we had been talking about for months, and so took our packs off for a nice 20-minute break before beginning it.
The view from the main portion of "Quicksand Alley" - note the old footbridge spanning the canyon
As we shoved off and headed on, the canyon began to narrow drastically. It was fantastic to see the physical rock and later old suspension bridge that we had viewed through pictures over the winter. We made our way down canyon and noticed thick muddy looking sand at the base of the canyon walls still in shade but the center shoot, now in full sun, stayed dry and firm for the duration. Eventually, we came around another corner, encountered our first of what would become massively huge and long rock gardens and the canyon transformed from a small minor drainage to a massive sheer red-rocked chasm. We walked with our heads gawking towards the top of the cliffs in front of us. This was what we had come for, and it was just the first day! We found a nice shaded spot to stop for an extended lunch, took our packs off and basked in where we were.
The canyon below Quicksand Alley - growing wider and deeperAfter a few hours had passed by we decided to head back out, within a mile or two we reached the LCR Overlook on Canyon left and then finally the gauging station. In the preparation phase of this trip I was hoping to get by on a gallon of potable water per day. As it turned out I had about half a liter left of my first days’ allotment at this time and still had a good 10 miles of walking to go. Our thinking on this was twofold; first, the water situation in the upper canyon was questionable at best. There were no reliable springs and we had been watching the LCR gauge since March and it had been dry for weeks now. Second there was an old abandoned large, open pit, super-fund uranium mine just upstream from the bridge at Cameron, and our thinking was that any puddle water in the canyons was not very clean.
The gauging station about 12 miles from Cameron
We didn’t really have a choice however. The gauging station was preceded by a long, difficult boulder garden slog, which we got to enjoy in the high sun and heat of the late afternoon. We walked a little further down canyon and came upon a set of massive murky green pools. We were both so thirsty at this point and were down to the end of our day’s water supply. We looked at each other with a kind of shrugged shoulders expression and decided to give it a shot.
The first big-pools down-canyon from the gauging station
Having had so-so luck with my gravity filter set-up on the trips I had down in the SW the last few years I opted to bring Aquamira chemical treatment. It ended up being a good choice, and also fitting as it left the water a glowing yellow color, perfect for the radioactive cocktail that ended up being quite-refreshing. After chugging about 2 liters, we felt a bit of a weight lifted and the general mood of the long day began to improve….for a very short time.
We were originally shooting for a landmark known as “Hell-hole Bend” at mile 22.5 from Cameron. However, when coming up with the schedule we had assumed that the canyon would be flat packed sand providing for easy walking. What we had not expected were the long and increasing larger (in size and length) boulder fields, which did a great job of slowing our pace down to a crawl. Another wonderful factor that aided in our snail pace was the incredible windstorm that kicked up reducing visibility, breaking cameras, and generally making things more awesome
Having a lovely time, later afternoon
As a result, the mood turned a bit sour again, heads went down, joyous chatter ceased, and the mind began to rebel. Eventually, around mile 15 we decided to hunker down between some large boulders as sand blew into our faces and all around us. It was around 6pm at this time and we looked at each other and came to terms with the fact that we were not going to reach Hell-hole Bend and decided to just try and walk until it got dark. We shot for an “hour of walking, fifteen minutes of rest” schematic and shoved off once again.
We got go mile 17(ish) around 830pm as the wind luckily started to die down. At the start of yet another long boulder field we found a nice flat grassy patch that we threw down on. Dinner consisted of a melted snickers bar, 800mg Motrin and a liter of water by headlight. It had been a long day. And, because of missing our planned mileage would make for an even more epic second day.
Camp night 1
Links to the rest of the trip reports from this series:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
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