Having been a bit player in the Grand Canyon slot explorations, I had listened in and gathered, with the Great Thumb closed to access, that a combo of 150 Mile Canyon, Matkatamebia, Panameta and Olo with a jaunt back up 150 Mile was considered by those in the know to be a real classic. I had done Matkat and Panameta already, so I knew that they were worth the price of admission all by themselves.
Still, it seemed a lot to take on. Not only did one have to bring hiking and camping gear, a full compliment of canyoneering gear, helmet, harness, webbing, wetsuit and much more, we would need pack raft gear for a crossing of the river and the float from Olo back to 150 Mile. So with packs headed toward and sometimes over 50 pounds, it seemed an extra day would be prudent. Ah but then you need more food. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It would have been easy for me to allow this trip to slip from the ‘dance card,’ knowing so many other fine and less demanding places to go on the plateau. But Jenny would not let me get away with my laziness and I was forced to embrace the daunting logistics and make it happen.
Jenny and I have a combined 120+ years on the planet, so I thought it prudent to recruit the young, the strong, the spirited and all with an ‘abundance’ of personality. Joining us were Bucky Glubitz, Mark Burnham, Aron Ralston and Matt Brechja. Six to go and for seven days. We gathered near Fredonia on March 6th, organized group gear, crammed into two vehicles and drove for hours to the trail head at 150 Mile Canyon. We embarked at 2 PM.
Ahhh the Grand Canyon. Where almost no step is free of much needed concentration. Hiking on bowling balls. Knee brace and ski poles give me a fighting chance. We hike for only 3.5 hours, past a few fine Supai sites, to the top of the Redwall and camp. I have no shelter. None of us do. With a good forecast for the week and with this night being the most ‘iffy,’ we take our chances. I tuck in under a ledge. Others sleep in the open. So I get to watch, all snuggled in my nook, everyone scramble at 3 AM when the rain comes. It does not last long and we have clear weather the rest of the trip, making the choice not to bring shelter one that worked.
The next AM we decide to drop into the slot immediately, bypassing the bypass for two rappels. Over the next few miles we wade and swim the Redwall slot and set the rappels with parachute cord and notes asking that the cord be left for our return up the canyon five days later. We also directly descend other bypass–able narrows, with several rappels, further downcanyon. 150 Mile Canyon is perhaps the longest slot I have been in in the Grand Canyon if you add the Muav and Temple Butte layers to the Redwall. We use metal mesh bags to leave a cache of food, near where the North Fork comes in, for our return trip later in the week.
Near the bottom of 150 Mile, we traverse a thin ledge with full packs. Or at least everyone but me did. I got Mark to take my pack. Age has its privileges. On the river corridor now, we had hoped to cross toward Matkat Hotel area, but we are running out of daylight. When a member of the crew slips and gets a barrel cactus puncture, we avail ourselves of the a small and pretty drainage with waterpockets to call it a night. Spirits remain high but, I wonder, did we leave enough time for the adventure?
Up not so early the next morning, Jenny and I are first out of camp at 9:30 AM. We hike the ¼ mile to the break and down to the river and note that a river trip came around the corner and is coming over to check us out. Man, some of those people look familiar. Ahhh, is that Dave Nally? And A.J. Pastula. And Dean Brooks and Marty Smith and a bunch of relaxed smiling and interesting looking people we don’t know? Yup! Small world. The rest of our crew comes along and an impromptu reunion occurs. I knew they were on the river but had thought them further along than they were. Jenny and I hitch a ride with DNally across the river, saving us the hassle of changing from hikers, to pack rafters and back to hikers, all for a 50–yard passage. Matt and Mark jump in with another boat. Bucky and Aron blow up their rafts and paddle it. Our friends are soon on there way.
Once on river left, we pack up and do the up–and–down hike all the way into Matkat, stopping when we get to the stream. Water is gotten and treated and a hike to the river down the beautiful lower gorge and back ensues. We see one more person from another rafting trip. He is the last person we see on our trip.
Matkat is a tough canyon to get up with big packs. Huge boulders block the way. Sometimes its hard to know which way to go. We haul the packs in a few places and eventually exit the southern most fork of the canyon, near the top of the Redwall. Six miles or so, takes six physical hours. We enter a new world, walking the top of the Redwall for over five miles, using burro trails, spying the occasional burro, dodging all the poop and enjoying the vistas, on the way to the the top of the Panameta Fork of Matkat (SE fork).
We even have an hour or so of daylight to enjoy after setting up camp. We are back on schedule. The next day is a joy. Why you ask? We are in DAY PACKS!! The descent of Pamameta is one of the best in Grand Canyon. Glistening white and polished Redwall Limestone, with deep swims in between. Rappels down two and three drops at a time, to save building difficult anchors and just to quote Rich Rudow ... “Drop Dead Gorgeous!” A top–five Grand Canyon slot on my list.
Once the slot ends, we hike a bit to the bottom of the Dump Truck Fork (NE Fork), seeking and finding sun. Drying our gear and warming our bodies, we have the afternoon to wander down the fork, intersect the route from the day before, and do those final seven miles or so again back into camp.
Mark suggests getting our water a little higher up at a spring. Jenny volunteers. When she gets back she notifies us that a burro is dead in the pool below the spring. We wander up for a look. Yup. Quite dead is the burro, in the water source above where we have been drinking out of the last 24 hours. It is 15 days now and no reports of illness. Hopefully the Aquamira and Stripens did the job. Another hearts game, then to bed. Much lay ahead.
We wake early. It is Day 5 of 7 and we are still moving further away from where we started. Enough dead burro water too! We head up Dump Truck fork and it is a delight. Redwall rim gives way to Supai ledges, one after another. Up, up, up, a ledge here, a bypass there, a boulder everywhere. One cliff band is technical. Aron fines a new and easy way up a hidden chimney, then out the top on the Esplanade at the top of the Supai—views in every direction. After gawking about for a time, we find the fault canyon and head down into the Olo drainage. The sun beats down. My clothes soak in sweat, working hard to stay up ... and failing in that effort.
Finally at the canyon head, we declare ‘far point’ from the cars and start to work our way home. First is a 100–foot free rap and a short but pretty Redwall slot. A few hours of walking on bowling balls ensue and then the Temple Butte layer, the layer, along with the Muav, that the canyon is famed for. The most amazing campsite comes along but it is only 3 PM. So on we pushed.
We set camp at a nice spot four or five turns from the river. That night the wind blows. Up the next day and we descend through more amazing narrows, dancing on ledges, trying to keep mostly dry. Soon we are rapping out to the beach by the river by late morning. We settle in for some lunch and blow up the boats for the ride ahead.
For five and a half days I have carried these pool toys. Time to inflate and cast off to whatever awaits. I have done enough pack rafting to know that I am not particularly good at it. Also smart enough to recognize that this is a REAL river. I have seen these things dip at the nose hitting what for me is an invisible eddy wall. Scared and respectful, I draft along behind some talented and experienced partners.
Bucky tests his raft out in the Olo riffle and looks so smooth. Three will run the Matkat rapid. I will not be one of them. For 2.5 miles we fly, float, swirl and glide down the river. We are sitting in 48 degree water. The sun is there and warms. Then comes the shade, just before 150 Mile Canyon. I glide along the right wall, terrified of getting caught in Upset Rapid. My pals drag me in. We work incredibly hard to earn these two and a half miles and we relished it.
At the mouth of 150 Mile, the sun is gone and the wind starts to blow. I go to shivering. Matt climbs the wall and set up belays. Jenny follows and starts a pack hauling system. It takes a few hours to get the next 100 feet. We head into 150 Mile Canyon and in an hour or so arrive at our welcome food cache. We take the rigorous bypasses up and around technical sections and arrive at the base of the Redwall section at 3:45 PM. Above us is six challenges. We consider stopping for the night because, once we start, we have to finish all six challenges as there is no good and safe place to camp until past them all.
The group decides to give it a go, ratcheting up our efficiency. One upclimb and then we are faced with four chockstone barriers between 15 and 25 feet high. On the way down, we had set each drop with thin cord tied in a loop. We attach the rope to the cord, put a biner block 25 feet down the rope and thread the rope thru the ring, way above us. A cleaver idea offered by Todd and Rich.
Once the rope is set, Mr. Brechja goes to work. He jugs up, sets an assist and hauls us up, the second person up, then takes a second rope and moves to the side and starts the pack hauling process. People and packs literally fly up the drops. With time and daylight running out, we pass each drop, from arrival to exit in 12–16 minutes—six people and their packs too. A long wet narrows must be passed between the first two and last two drops. Finally a 100 foot, low fifth class face must be climbed to get to the top of the Redwall. Success! We have passed the challenges in two hours and forty–five minutes.
I am ready to stop, but with less than 45 minutes of daylight, much of the group pines for the Supai campsites above. I acquiesce. We arrive at a small cave in a side canyon, with an overhang, at last light. Dinner and to bed. The next morning is a casual ascent back up to the cars and drive out to the pavement. We were out in the canyon for 144 hours. Gear makes it way back to its owners and the group scatters to the winds. The memories are fresh and will linger for a long time. I thank everyone for their high spirits and generosity. Something of great value when physical limits get tested a bit. The ‘light’ was in everyone’s eyes.
Ram
© 2014 Steve Ramras, Aron Ralston, & Martin Glaubitz