click here to view a gallery and slideshow of all 38 photos from this hike
On November 21, 2009 I had the good fortune to accompany Rich Rudow, Todd Martin, and Todd Seliga for a day in the Little Colorado River Gorge.
There’s a tricky route that enters the “LCR” near the easternmost developed overlook between Desert View and Cameron. The guys were going to enter the LCR through this route, and exit via the Beamer and Tanner trails. They needed a ride from Lipan Point to the LCR Overlook – that’s where I came in, and invited myself along for the first day of their trip. Rich and Todd are basically living legends of canyoneering in the Southwest, and I was excited to be hiking with them.
The route itself was very interesting and unlikely. As I stated, it’s located at the easternmost of the two developed LCR overlooks west of Cameron. There’s a distinct drainage east of the parking area at the overlook. The route begins down the first side drainage on the eastern side of this larger drainage. You should be facing west for the first descent, as shown in the photo immediately below. The route involves one or two short pitches of simple hand and toe climbing, and well-developed scrambling and route finding skill. Climbing helmets are recommended for the descent, for fear of rocks and objects tossed by kids from the overlook that lies directly above. There was quite a bit of litter in the drainage.
sizing up the top of the route
in the bed of the Little Colorado
Following the river east about a mile from the foot of the descent route, we came upon a very cool, old dilapidated suspension bridge spanning the width of the gorge – pure Indiana Jones style. For some stupid reason, I left my camera behind for this side trip.
After checking out the bridge (With some genuine quicksand beneath it), we began heading west through the gorge. They were on a multi-day trip and I had to be out that evening, so I simply watched the clock and chose a turnaround time to ensure I’d get up and out the route by sunset.
Conversation with Todd Seliga (Backcountry Ranger at Toroweap) revealed one of those little coincidences that I love. Today we met for the first time, and discovered that we were backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas at about the same time, just two months ago in September. I was on the John Muir Trail and he was on the Sierra High Route. I asked if he encountered any other hikers on the High Route, and he described a young couple from New Zealand – it turns out that I gave the same couple a ride as they were hitchhiking out of Yosemite!
the top of the exit route
click here to view a gallery and slideshow of all 38 photos from this hike
