Day 7 - Sept 19 mile 133.5-151.3 Upper Ledges Camp part 1 of 2
Mile 133.5 Racetrack Camp - a great place to wakeup
Sunrise on Redwall with diabase sill intruded into Bass Limestone below - our camp backed up to diabase
Mile 133.6 as we pull out of Racetrack and approach Tapeats Rapid we see a giant slump on river right that blocked the original channel and rerouted the river - this slump is seen on both sides of the river and seen all the way up into Surprise Valley above Thunder River
Mile 135 Granite Narrows - narrowest point in Grand Canyon - the river is 76 feet wide and 100 feet deep in this young channel carved into the Vishnu Schist after the Surprise Valley slump blocked the old river channel
Mile 135.2 Christmas Tree Cave
Mile 136.2 Deer Creek Falls - note the great unconformity just below where water exits the narrows
note the great unconformity just below where water exits the narrows
Mile 138 middle Granite Gorge has ended but this is still an impressive area along the river
Mile 14x a pouroff above in the Redwall must be impressive when running - see the boulders along the river!
Bighorn boulders - there are a number of pouroffs with boulder fields and lots of bighorn sheep today!
End of Part 1 - Day 7
Day 7 - Sept 19 mile 133.5-151.3 Upper Ledges Camp part 2 of 2 Matkat
Mile 147.9 15:00 we climb up Matkatamiba Canyon (a great place if you like Muav Limestone up close and personal) - here a chimney move is needed
Last part of climb up dry fall - access a more level trail leading to Matkat patio
15:39 Matkatamiba patio had a number of seeps - here is one with ferns and ivy growing out of the seep
Of course the seeps have geologic impact - they are a major contributor to erosion via spring sapping as seen in the lower part of the cliff below where large block have fallen
Before leaving MatKat a butt dam is formed - from left Brenda, Cheryl Ossenfort, Louise, Sue Alcott, Sueanne Kubicek, Gloria Mancusco, Gail, Inge, x, Rob Eliott (right) - Jan standing behind
Mile 149.75 16:23 we run Upset Rapid (which is in the Muav Gorge - this started back around river mile 140 and extends roughly 40 miles)
Mile 151ish Muav Gorge is even better in this view looking upstream
Mile 151.3 We camp at Upper Ledges
Sueanne and I hiked down to Ledges Camp at mile 151.5 - I did the easy climb up above cliffs and contoured over then down to river level while Sueanne went straight up by the chimney above our camp and over on a ledge (this was impressive to watch!)
here is the lower part of Ledges with Crimson Monkeyflowers growing out of a seep
Mile 133.5 Racetrack Camp - a great place to wakeup
Sunrise on Redwall with diabase sill intruded into Bass Limestone below - our camp backed up to diabase
Mile 133.6 as we pull out of Racetrack and approach Tapeats Rapid we see a giant slump on river right that blocked the original channel and rerouted the river - this slump is seen on both sides of the river and seen all the way up into Surprise Valley above Thunder River
Mile 135 Granite Narrows - narrowest point in Grand Canyon - the river is 76 feet wide and 100 feet deep in this young channel carved into the Vishnu Schist after the Surprise Valley slump blocked the old river channel
Mile 135.2 Christmas Tree Cave
Mile 136.2 Deer Creek Falls - note the great unconformity just below where water exits the narrows
note the great unconformity just below where water exits the narrows
Mile 138 middle Granite Gorge has ended but this is still an impressive area along the river
Mile 14x a pouroff above in the Redwall must be impressive when running - see the boulders along the river!
Bighorn boulders - there are a number of pouroffs with boulder fields and lots of bighorn sheep today!
End of Part 1 - Day 7
Day 7 - Sept 19 mile 133.5-151.3 Upper Ledges Camp part 2 of 2 Matkat
Mile 147.9 15:00 we climb up Matkatamiba Canyon (a great place if you like Muav Limestone up close and personal) - here a chimney move is needed
Last part of climb up dry fall - access a more level trail leading to Matkat patio
15:39 Matkatamiba patio had a number of seeps - here is one with ferns and ivy growing out of the seep
Of course the seeps have geologic impact - they are a major contributor to erosion via spring sapping as seen in the lower part of the cliff below where large block have fallen
Before leaving MatKat a butt dam is formed - from left Brenda, Cheryl Ossenfort, Louise, Sue Alcott, Sueanne Kubicek, Gloria Mancusco, Gail, Inge, x, Rob Eliott (right) - Jan standing behind
Mile 149.75 16:23 we run Upset Rapid (which is in the Muav Gorge - this started back around river mile 140 and extends roughly 40 miles)
Mile 151ish Muav Gorge is even better in this view looking upstream
Mile 151.3 We camp at Upper Ledges
Sueanne and I hiked down to Ledges Camp at mile 151.5 - I did the easy climb up above cliffs and contoured over then down to river level while Sueanne went straight up by the chimney above our camp and over on a ledge (this was impressive to watch!)
here is the lower part of Ledges with Crimson Monkeyflowers growing out of a seep
Sueanne goes ahead to upper fall
While I relax near the shore
Looking back at Upper Ledges campsite from Ledges (the white specs are the boats)
Upper Ledges Campsite - did I mention sharing campsites with large friendly boulders? They do make great camp furniture but are poor foot-friends in the dark!
Rob Elliot cooking
no chair circle needed in this camp - lots of seating
End of Part 2 - Day 7 done
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