Saturday, May 6, 2016 - Day 1
Sowats Point to Sheep Mountain Spring
12:30 PM - 4:45 PM
5 Miles
Elevation Loss: 2,200

We were up, packed and checked out by 6 AM. We stashed our gear in the van and headed north. After driving east on historic Route 66 we turned north onto Interstate 89. This is beautiful, high desert country. We drove through the Painted Desert and passed the Vermillion Cliffs. The day was cool and cloudy and when we arrived at Jacob's Lake two and a half hours later it started to snow. Some people were in warm motorcycle clothes and some in shorts. I enjoyed watching people scramble for warm clothes and look amazed at all the white stuff pouring down. This was our last bit of civilization before we headed into the backcountry. Last toilet, last non-camping food and drink.

Back on the road, almost immediately we took a left off 89A and headed down a forest service fire road. There were signs of controlled cutting of Ponderosa Pine. Big piles of slash dotted the woods, waiting to be burned. This cutting and burning kept the forest floor open, nothing like the deciduous jungles you find in the New England mountains. There had been recent rain so quite a few mud holes and deep ruts had formed in boggy areas. Stefan drove through all of them at top speed, and we were thrown about the car, held in place only by our seatbelts, and mud trashing the sides of the car. An hour and 45 minutes later we pulled up at the trailhead parking area at Sowat's Point. Stefan set up a shelter and prepared lunch - turkey and cheese rollups.

I was entranced by the view, looking out over the Esplanade and seeing such a different part of the Canyon. I felt excited and happy, despite my trepidation. Stefan pulled our stuff out of the car, packs, poles and 9 stuff sacks containing group food for the next 7 days. He asked that we each take 3 food sacks. My pack was already pretty full, but I crammed three bags into the top of my pack, closed and cinched everything back up and put on the rain cover as the clouds were still occasionally spitting rain. After a final look around, we heaved on our packs, adjusted the straps, and headed into the Canyon.

This was a 5 mile hike, not 3.5 miles as stated in the Wildland Trekking Company itinerary on the web site. The trail was constantly heading down, changing only in how gradual or steep the descent was. The steepest downhill section of the hike was tough. It was maybe a mile and a half of descent and I felt the impact of the pack weight on my knees shortly after we started going down. I was feeling ok though, and deluded myself into thinking my training for this trip had been good enough to get me through without too much discomfort.

The trail wound around the side of cliff. A misstep or loss of balance toward the side of the path leading down and I would have met my death. The pitch off the side of the path was so steep. Stefan and Haley took the lead, with Nancy and me bringing up the rear. The pace was a bit fast for me. I felt rushed when I stopped to take pictures. I felt like there was some urgency about moving at a steady pace so we would arrive in camp with plenty of light to set up our tents and cook dinner. I, however, wanted to stop and look and take pictures. Instead I compromised and lagged behind for a few seconds, time enough to take a picture, then hustled to catch up to Nancy. We took our first break after the steepest part of the descent in a small oasis of Cottonwood trees. It felt really good to take my pack off. I tried not to think about how heavy it felt. There was nothing I could do about it - I had to carry it...period.

The walk along the Esplanade was fairly flat, but the pack weight was so much more that I had trained with that it increased the hiking difficulty by half. Nancy and I were pretty quiet, both of us either completely in, or close to, survival mode. My legs actually began to tremble from fatigue. I don't remember the last time I felt that happen. I was also suffering from intestinal issues, and had to ask the group to stop for a break so I could relieve myself. Lots of discomfort and some embarrassment for me. We started moving again and clambered down a steep but fairly short drop into Jump Up Canyon. Once down we a hiked along a creek bed until we pulled off and walked into camp.

We camped at Sheep Mountain Spring that first night, setting up our tents on a ledge above the creek bed with red silty dirt as soft as talcum powder. Our tents were partially sheltered by the overhanging canyon walls. While Stefan walked to the spring to get water and begin to prepare dinner, Nancy and I went through the process of figuring out how to set up our ultralight tent. The early evening was cool enough and the weather unsettled so we put on the rain fly, which effectively shut out all possibility of feeling a breeze. The actual tent was more of a screen above us and down the sides with only the last few inches of the sides and the bottom being made of a water resistant material. Although it was considered large enough to sleep two, we were really crammed in there and I wondered how we were actually going to be able to sleep with any comfort. Haley had never set up a tent before so between us and Stefan we set up her single ultra-light tent in no time.

We camped at Sheep Mountain Spring that first night, on a ledge above the creek bed with red silty dirt as soft as talcum powder. Our tents were partially sheltered by the overhanging canyon walls. While Stefan walked to the spring to get water and begin to prepare dinner, Nancy and I went through the process of figuring out how to set up our ultralight tent. The early evening was cool enough and the weather unsettled so we put on the rain fly, which effectively shut out all possibility of feeling a breeze. The actual tent was more of a screen above us and down the sides with only the last few inches of the sides and the bottom being made of a water resistant material. Although it was considered large enough to sleep two, we were really crammed in there and I wondered how we were actually going to be able to sleep with any comfort. Haley had never set up a tent before so between us and Stefan we set up her single ultra-light tent in no time.

I felt tired and happy to be safe and sitting with a hot drink while Stefan prepared dinner: curried chicken, rice and fresh veggies. I'm not much of a curry eater, but I joyfully went back for seconds. I was so hungry and it tasted so good. Watching the sky turn from blue to mauve to black. Bats flying above us searching for insects and hearing many a nocturnal bird song. Clouds scudded and cleared so we could see stars dotting the limited view of the sky that we had from our narrow canyon. Stunning...

I've never felt comfortable sitting around camp using rocks as stools. I like a chair, a camp chair or camp stool would work, but rocks are hard and my butt gets sore after 10-15 minutes. The evening had only been dark for a short while before it began to shower lightly. I excused myself and got into the tent to lie down. Oh my god, lying down, not having the pack on, not sitting on a rock, but actually being prone and semi-comfortable felt delicious. Nancy joined me and we maneuvered ourselves into a sleeping position where we weren't in each other's space and eventually nodded off listening to the occasional rain drop plopping onto the rain fly of the tent.

I ended up getting up in the night three times to pee. Emptying bowels and bladders on a backpacking trip in the Kanab Creek wilderness was definitely a challenge. It took several tries for me to get good at it. Although having a bowel movement in the outdoors was not completely foreign to me, and pooping in a hole was not something I practiced often. We had toilet paper and the expectation was for us to store all our used toilet paper in plastic bags and carry all 7-day's worth out of the Canyon. For a bowel movement, we moved away from camp, dug a 6" hole (Stefan had a shovel), and poop into the hole. Well, easier said than done. I kept missing the darn hole. Oh well, nothing a stick couldn't move into the hole afterward. Then I covered up the hole, cramming the soiled toilet paper into the plastic bag and walking back to camp. There is no "nice" place to store that plastic bag containing the used toilet paper in a backpack. It was just something I was going to have to get used to doing and smelling.

Day 2