There's a good reason the Park Service considers the Nankoweap the most difficult of the named trails in the Canyon:  It's one tough SOB with lots of exposure. 

     I don't normally go into great detail in this area of my trip reports, but I had a hard time getting this information from any single source, so I thought I would compile my thoughts here for future Nankoweap hikers:

Trailhead Access.  The official Nankoweap trailhead is at Saddle Mountain at an elevation of 7,580'.  The two car parking areas are as follows:

• The low area is accessed via Forest Road 8910 leaving Highway 89A in the House Rock Valley area.  This road is sometimes called the House Rock Valley Road or Buffalo Ranch Road.  It is 27 miles each way on a fair to poor gravel road and takes about one hour.  The elevation at the parking area is 6,455' and views are limited.  Due to its lower elevation, access to this area will not be affected by weather as much as the high area.  It is 3.5 miles from the parking area to the trailhead and is generally uphill the whole way.  However, one ridge requires a descent and subsequent ascent of about 400' of wasted elevation change.

• The high area is accessed via Forest Road 610 leaving Highway 67 just before reaching the North Rim entrance station.  The turnoff is about one mile past the Kaibab Lodge.  It is 14 miles each way on a good gravel road and takes about twenty minutes.  The elevation at the parking area is 8,848' and the views of the inner Canyon from here are absolutely stunning.  Due to its higher elevation, adverse weather will be more of a factor at this area.  It is 2.0 miles from the parking area to the trailhead and is generally downhill the whole way.  However, one hill near the start requires a climb and subsequent descent of about 200' of wasted elevation change.  Click here for a mini trip report of a day hike I did from here to the trailhead to cache some water.

Most people on the Grand Canyon Hikers Forum recommend starting and ending at the low parking area.  However, after hiking both routes, I think I prefer starting and ending at the high parking area, especially if you are spending your last night at Saddle Mountain.  My reasoning is that pack weight is heaviest at the start of a hike and most people carry a one or two gallon water cache to Saddle Mountain, which may be up to an additional eighteen pounds.  I would rather be carrying this much weight downhill to start my hike.  There is also a great disparity in the distance from the parking areas to Saddle Mountain with the high area distance being 2.0 miles and the low area distance being 3.5 miles.  So, the real question is:  which distance and grade would you rather have at the start and end of your hike (nope, you can't have it downhill both ways).

Exposure.  There is mild exposure all the way from the Saddle Mountain trailhead to Tilted Mesa.  Two areas between Marion Point and Tilted Mesa have medium exposure.  They are discussed and pictures of them are shown in Day 6 of my trip report.  There is high exposure for the first one to two miles below Tilted Mesa.  There is mild exposure on the ledges at the top of the trail going up to the Nankoweap granaries.  If you are afraid of heights or uncomfortable with exposure, this is NOT the trail for you.  The area with the most exposure is just below Tilted Mesa.  When we did this hike, there had been several recent scree slides below Tilted Mesa.  There were very few foot prints going across the scree slides and the trail was indistinct at best.  Worse yet, we had a lot of concern that the scree would give way under our feet, all at a time when the trail was steep and the exposure was great.  We found this section a little easier going uphill.  I suspect the trail across the scree slides "may" get trampled down and firmed up some with time, which should make this section a little less scary.

Water.  There is no water from either car parking area until you reach Nankoweap Creek below Tilted Mesa.  Most people carry water from the parking area and cache it at the Saddle Mountain trailhead.

Campsites.  We found the following campsites on this hike:

• Saddle Mountain has numerous spots for tents.

• Marion Point only has room for a few tents and the ground has a slope to it with no level spots available.

• Tilted Mesa has three camping sites, one on top the other.  The upper site is the largest, but possibly has the most small stones on it.  The middle site has two to four tent spots.  The lower site has two to three tent spots, but also has ants.

• The Nankoweap Creek camping area is 300-400 yards downstream of where the trail meets the creek on the left on a small plateau nestled among Acacia trees.  It is fairly large with numerous tent spots.

• The hikers' camping area at the River is a few hundred yards upstream from where the rafters usually camp.  There are numerous tents spots here.

Petroglyphs and Ruins.  We found some good Petroglyphs on a rock just upstream from where the trail meets Nankoweap Creek.  Click here for pictures and detailed directions for finding the Petroglyphs.  As you proceed down Nankoweap Creek nearing the Colorado River, crest a small ridge, and get your first view of the River, turning left at the trail junction will take you out on the ridge to some base or foundation stones of some Puebloan ruins.  The right fork eventually takes you down to the campsites.

Sand bars in Nankoweap Creek.  We found that most of the sand bars beside Nankoweap Creek had trails on them that were much easier than cobble stone and boulder hopping in the creek bed.

GPS Coordinates.   Click here for GPS coordinates for all pertinent areas on this hike.

New Equipment.  I tried out two new pieces of gear on this hike: a Thermorest Neoair sleeping pad and a Sublite Tarptent:

• The Neoair pad is about half the weight of my old Thermorest Pro Lite 4 and packs to half the size.  Yet, it's a thicker and cushier pad.  Even when sleeping on my side, I don't hit bottom, so it gets a big Thumbs Up.

• The Sublite Tarptent weighs about one pound, saving me around four pounds of weight, and packs to an amazingly small size.  It is not a free standing tent and only accommodates one person.  It is made of a soft Tyvek material that does not heat up in the sunlight like regular tent material, so you can now take afternoon naps in this tent.  This tent also gets a big Thumbs Up.

Food Protection.  Numerous critters such as mice, ravens, squirrels, and ringtails are a threat to attack your food in the inner Canyon.  For many years, there were two widely used defenses against critter attack: the Ratsack Cache bag, a mesh, stainless steel bag, which came in three sizes, and the Ursack, a bag made with a Spectra material.  I bought both, but preferred the Ratsack because it was larger, cheaper, and had a superior Velcro closure system.  Even though the Ratsack company website is still active and will accept your money, most people now indicate they never received their order, their money was never returned, and they could not get the company to return a phone call.  Due to the widely reported difficulties and lack of response from the Ratsack company, that product is no longer carried by the General Store in Grand Canyon Village.  Two new products have recently come forward to fill the void:  the Outsak and the Foodsack.  Both are similar in design to the Ratsack and utilize a mesh stainless steel bag with a Velcro closure system.  The Outsak is a lighter duty version and some people report that animals were able to penetrate it.  The Foodsack is the heavy duty version and appears to be bullet-proof, so it is the product that I recommend.  I have and use the Foodsack.

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