2023 Grand Canyon Nankoweap Kwagunt Trek

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. —Helen Keller

After a lot of research and planning, Lenny, myself, and his daughter Misa scored a permit for Nankoweap. I, particularly, wanted to do a trip that involved a “real” trail, having done a few serious Grand Canyon backcountry hikes.

We took two days to drive from Colorado so that we would arrive in daylight and have time to hike the three miles and 1400 ft to the Saddle Mountain saddle, which is also the park boundary. You don’t need a permit to camp here.

Started from the lower Saddle Mountain trailhead

That night, the temps dropped and the winds howled. Seeing the other downed and dead trees that had already fallen in previous storms, I laid awake wondering if another tree would fall on us. These dead trees are called “widow-makers” for a reason. I didn’t know that Lenny had already scoped the site out and we should be fine. Fortunately, nothing fell and we woke up to sunny but cold skies.

Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wait. There’s a trail on this cliff? Well, yes. Somewhere. Somehow. And, path is more like it. This path is not maintained and we crossed rubble, downed trees, small rock slides, and missing parts of the path. Sometimes, it was only one shoe wide. From there, it falls off into oblivion. Careful not to trip or slip! Check it out in this video clip.

After three miles of this narrow, cliff-edge exposure, you reach what is called Tilted Mesa. Fortunately, because of the mesa part, you get a bit of a reprieve. It’s relatively wide and flat. I thought the worst might be behind us. But, I was wrong.

After about a quarter mile along the mesa, you drop off the side of what is now a steep, slippery slope.

Slow going and steep

When you see a new trail, or a footprint you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing. — Uncheedah, grandmother of Ohiyesa, Dakota

Good morning sunshine! What a relief it was to be at the bottom. Today would be a fantastic day of exploring the creek and getting up to the famous Nankoweap granaries. Let’s go!

It was a lovely three mile walk down the creek to the Colorado River. The temps were cool but the sun was warm. Lots of trickling water, plants, and pretty rocks.

As we rounded the corner at the river, we looked up on the redwall and saw them. The famous Nankoweap granary windows! We picked up a trail that began heading downriver and toward the granary. The trail was rocky but in really good shape. Soon it began to climb and we decided to leave our heavy backpacks at the junction where it heads away from the beach and up to the granary. I happened to glance under a rock and found the most exciting thing – a piece of pottery! We all took a look then put it back in its hiding spot.

We continued up the steep but well-kept trail, climbing an additional 400 ft from the junction (600 ft from the river) and finally arrived. The granaries were amazing and the views of the river were stunning. This is what we came here to see.

We ate our lunch here and spent time looking around. Lenny even climbed past the granaries into some smaller rooms on the redwall face. I was nervous watching, so I looked away and hoped he would be ok.

Time to move on downriver. As we were heading back down the cliff, a National Park Service helicopter came, landed on the beach, and loaded up a man from a rafting trip who was having breathing problems. Nice to know they’re out there. Hope to never need them. A short while later, we decided to call it a night early and made our camp on a small beach. The sunset was spectacular.

Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. – Walt Whitman

Short day today as we made our way downriver to Kwagunt Creek/Canyon. You cannot walk along the river as it’s choked with Mesquite trees and Tamarisk bushes. There’s a “high trail” that runs about 100 ft above the river. It seems fairly well-traveled though sometimes there were obstacles like cactii, Mesquite branches and thorns, and just very steep-sided parts that drop off sharply. Lenny did quite a bit of trail improvement by removing the parts of cactii and thorny branches that were growing across the trail.

In just a few hours, we reached Kwagunt Canyon beach. We found a beautiful spot, obviously used by boaters. There were trees that provided shade for our tents and a nice, soft, and pretty flat, sandy beach. The afternoon was toasty but we cooled off in the river and got our camp setup.

At this point, we decided that instead of continuously moving throughout Nankoweap, Kwagunt, and Malgosa canyons, we would use this as our basecamp and just do day hikes instead. We all felt relieved with this new plan.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. —Henry David Thoreau

Today we day hike up Kwagunt canyon. It’s so nice to leave our heavy packs behind and just enjoy the views as we make our way up the canyon. Turned out the Kwagunt creek flows year round which was nice to be able to get wet and get drinks anytime.

The first part of the canyon is wide open with small rocks to continuously hop on and over. Then it narrows into beautiful sections with higher walls.

We scouted this upstream area both for a campsite and for the route back over the saddle to Nankoweap. We’d be doing this route in a couple days. We found what had obviously been used as that campsite and the entrance to the route.