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Day 2 - Tilted Mesa to Nankoweap Creek, Nankoweap Butte hike

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Tuesday, September 26, 2000

05:30 Wake up, have breakfast, start packing up gear.
06:00 Packed up and ready to go but decided to stay put to watch the gorgeous sunrise that was in the works.
06:30 Start down to Nankoweap Creek.
08:45 Arrived at Nankoweap Creek with only a couple of very short rest stops (less than 5 minutes each) along the way. I am very glad that I decided to stay at Tilted Mesa last night. I felt pretty good when I got there and thought about heading for the creek but that would have been a bad idea. Lower Nankoweap is brutal and will destroy already tired feet, as I learned on my first trip.

Also decided to leave Nankoweap Creek on Thursday afternoon and head back up to Tilted Mesa to split up the hike out as well. I don't want to do it all on Friday as it will make for a very long and very tiring day.

The morning clouded up right after sunrise, which made for a very cool and comfortable descent to the creek. The clouds are now starting to break up again. Need to find a good campsite.

10:15 I decided to use the campsite right at the foot of the trail, where it descends to the creek. Setup camp and refilled all of my water containers. Trying to decide when to do the Nankoweap Butte hike. I can hear people coming. Met three guys from a private river trip on a day hike up Nankoweap Creek. Decide to start Nankoweap Butte hike around 11:00. I want to give my feet a little more time to rest from the descent. Need to take boots of for a while and change socks. Hike shouldn't take more than 4 hours - it's only about 2 miles each way. I will take food with me and find someplace to eat lunch along the way.
12:10 Stop for lunch in middle of drainage leading to Nankoweap Butte saddle. First part of hike up drainage was pretty easy. Section above that, in other drainage requires lots of scrambling over and around some very large boudlers. Above that it gets pretty easy again.
12:45 On the saddle. Nice views of Nankoweap Butte, Kwagunt valley and the Butte Fault.
13:45 Top of Nankoweap Butte - took a bit longer than expected. Awesome view. I can see a storm system and rain coming down from Marion Point. Can see camping area at Nankoweap Creek and can see my tent with binoculars. Checked out the visitor register inside the summit cairn and added my own entry. Made some modifications to the interior of the cairn to hopefully keep the mice away from the notebook, which they are slowly devouring.
16:00 Back at Nankoweap Creek. I encountered some thunder and lightening on the way down from Nankoweap Butte. It showered off and on all afternoon but never anything major. I hope it doesn't rain too hard tonight as I don't feel like putting the rain fly on the tent.

Stopped to talk with a group of 6 very nice guys who are camped about ¼ mile up the creek from me. They came down the day before I did and camped at the river last night. I told them about the Nankoweap Butte hike and they may give it a try tomorrow. We also discussed the Kolb Arch hike that I was planning to do tomorrow. We tried to figure out the mileage and it looks pretty long from here so I need to make sure I get an early start.

17:30 Back at my own camp. Eat dinner, filter water to get ready for tomorrow, wash up as best as possible. It got dark quick and now there are some mice running around. I was warned about the mice here.


Sunrise from Tilted Mesa

Camp for nights two and three at Nankoweap Creek

Strange erosion pattern

Saddle leading to Nankoweap Butte

Approaching summit of Nankoweap Butte

Butte Fault and Chuar Butte

View from the top of Nankoweap Butte

View from the top of Nankoweap Butte

Bob at the Nankoweap Butte summit cairn

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