Photo: Bob Moffitt Grand Canyon North Rim Trail Maintenance and Backpacking, Kanab Creek Wilderness, Arizona Highlights:
Includes:
Trip Number: 09063A Price: $ 495 Deposit: $50 Capacity: 12 Leader:
The Trip  Photo: Bob Moffitt The Kanab Creek Wilderness, all 68,340 acres of it, surrounds the largest tributary to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon area. Kanab Creek and its tributaries have cut a network of vertical-walled gorges deep into the Kaibab plateau, creating a maze of water and wind-carved fins, knobs, potholes, and slot canyons. Limited access to the Kanab Creek area adds a measure of remoteness -- the hallmark of true wilderness. The leader has worked on numerous Sierra Club service trips on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Both the work project and the backpack trip will feature incredibly beautiful scenery. The Project  Photo: Bob Moffitt Our work project will entail four days (Monday – Thursday) of relocating a 300-400-foot section of the Horse Spring Trail so that horses and pack animals can use it. We will be car camping at the trailhead amidst pinon pine and juniper trees on the Kanab Canyon rim with spectacular views down into the Kanab Creek drainage. We'll be hiking around three-quarters of a mile each day to/from our work project. After our work project, we are planning a backpacking trip down to beautiful Mountain Sheep Springs in Sowats Canyon (a tributary of Jumpup Canyon). We'll hike down Friday morning, spend Friday afternoon through Saturday day hiking through side and slot canyons for an inner-canyon experience, and hike back out on Sunday morning to our vehicles. If you would prefer just to do the work project and not do the backpacking trip down to Mountain Sheep Springs you can drive back out after the work project is done. This will be a moderately strenuous trip, both the work project and the backpack trip. It is imperative that you be in strong, good physical condition and have previous hiking and backpacking experience. We will be hiking down to/back up from our work project each day and the trail work will be very physical (cutting trees, making trail tread); the backpack trip will be around 8-10 miles (4-5 hours, depending on how fast we hike) each way, and around 2,000-3,000 foot elevation loss (hiking in) and gain (hiking out). Please consider that you are going into the wilderness with a group of people, not on your own. There is a fair amount of flexibility on our trips, and we try to allow time to enjoy the solitude of the wilderness to those who want it. We expect trip members to be reasonably tolerant of the human frailties of fellow trip members, and to be prepared to make some sacrifices for the good of the group. Each of you will be viewed by the people who come in contact with our trip as a representative of the Sierra Club. We are proud of our reputation -- not only for getting a lot of good work done but for being considerate in the wilderness and in the places we pass through on the way to the wilderness. We trust you will help us uphold this reputation.
 Photo: Bob Moffitt We'll meet early morning on day one at the North Kaibab Ranger Station in Fredonia, AZ (near the Utah border); you'll want to arrive in Fredonia the afternoon before day one. There are motels in Fredonia (and nearby Kanab, UT ) or you can camp at the forest service work area near the ranger station. The leader will send a map and additional information about where we can camp. Transportation to and from the trip is your responsibility, but participants will be sent a trip roster to help plan carpooling. The best -- meaning the closest, and usually the cheapest -- airport to fly into is Las Vegas, Nevada. Flagstaff, Arizona, and Salt Lake City, Utah, are alternatives. If you are flying, you should plan to arrive on Saturday, April 11, and if you are flying back home after the service trip, we will probably not get out of the canyon and back to Fredonia before noon on Sunday, April 19, so make your return flights accordingly. After a brief trip orientation at the ranger station Sunday morning we'll drive to our work campsite at the Horse Spring trailhead, where we'll set up camp/commissary, go over tool safety and perhaps do an hour or so of trailwork.
 Photo: Bob Moffitt This service project takes place in the backcountry. During the first (work) part of our trip, we'll be car camping. We can carpool from the ranger station to our campsite; the ranger suggests high clearance (although not necessarily 4-wheel drive) vehicles, and we can sleep in tents or (if you have one) your vehicle. We will backpack the last three days of our trip with everything (personal clothing, food, commissary gear) in our packs and on our backs. Our cook will plan more compact, lighter-weight food/meals for this part of our trip, but you should have a large backpack to carry your own plus part of the group gear/food. All trip meals are provided beginning with dinner on day one and ending with breakfast and lunch on the last day of the trip. You will need to plan to eat breakfast before our 8 a.m. meeting time on day one and bring a pack lunch with you to eat that day on the trail or at camp. While there are obvious limitations to the sort of food we can prepare for a group in a wilderness setting, we try to pleasantly surprise our trip members. We do our very best to accommodate the dietary needs and preferences of trip participants. Please be specific when you fill out the food preference section of the questionnaire. If we can accommodate you, we will. Our exceptional cook will prepare delicious fare; because of refrigeration limitations, though, most meals tend towards the vegetarian end of the spectrum. All trip participants are expected to assist in meal preparation on a rotating basis.
This will be a moderately strenuous trip, both the work project and the backpack trip. It is imperative that you be in strong, good physical condition and have previous hiking and backpacking experience. We will be hiking down to/back up from our work project each day and the trail work will be very physical (cutting trees, making trail tread); the backpack trip will be around 8-10 miles (4-5 hours, depending on how fast we hike) each way, and around 2,000-3,000 foot elevation loss (hiking in) and gain (hiking out). Hiking in canyon country is challenging; while we will be on trails or hiking in the canyon bottom, the vertical terrain means lots of steep downhill and uphill hiking. You should be in good shape -- or plan to get that way before our trip. Your legs and knees should be able to support you with a heavy pack on your back, and you should feel comfortable hiking in rocky terrain. We may encounter places with some moderate (though not dangerous) exposure, so if heights frighten you this may not be the trip for you. Spring temperatures should be moderate but could be cool or even cold (if we get a late-spring storm) or quite hot (if summer hits early). Usually we can expect warm days (80-90s), cool evenings (40-50s), and dry weather, although it's important to plan for the extremes. If you have not done any previous backpacking, you'll need to do some prior to our trip. This is not a good trip for inexperienced hikers or backpackers.
The leader will provide a detailed equipment list to registered participants. You should have a large backpack and a day pack large enough to carry lunch, water, first-aid kit, etc., during our work and day-hiking days. Because we will be doing lots of hiking (into and out of our worksite, and during our backpack trip) it is imperative that you have comfortable clothing. Think layering, so you can take off or put on different clothes as the temperature changes. Comfortable, well-broken-in boots, gloves, and packs are crucial. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the leader for advice.
Maps The leader will send you the names of the USGS maps for the areas where we'll be working and backpacking if you want to get these beforehand. You don't need to purchase these and the leader will have a copy of these topo maps as well as the North Kaibab forest service map. Books
Conservation We will discuss frazing allotments, noise from scenic airplane overflights, wilderness designation of the Grand Canyon, the controversy over the release of California condors, and visitor use fees. We will teach and follow "Leave No Trace," minimum-impact ethics on this trip, and we'll have a participatory environmental/conservation session during our trip when we will share environmental issues (both challenges and successes) in our hometowns/regions and we'll discuss environmental issues in the Grand Canyon ecosystem. Participants will be encouraged to identify issues they feel passionately about and join regional environmental organizations (like Grand Canyon Trust and SUWA) which are addressing these issues. The trip leader will provide information on regional environmental organizations working to protect the larger Colorado Plateau and canyonland areas.
See the How to Apply for an Outing section for more details on registering for this trip and details about our Reservation and Cancellation Policy. The payment of a deposit does not confirm you as a member on the trip. Participants must be approved by the trip leader. After signing up for this trip, you will be sent a confirmation packet containing approval materials (Participant Approval Questionnaire, Medical Form, Liability Release Form). Each applicant (including those on the waitlist) must fill out these forms and promptly mail them to the trip leader. The leader will review the approval materials and notify you of your acceptance in a timely manner.
 Charlie Reimann has led Sierra Club outings for more then 20 years, mostly with the Service subcommittee. He has been traveling the globe for more than 35 years, visiting five continents and dozens of countries. He has been leading trips in Costa Rica for several years. He loves this part of the world and is eager to return. When he is not off on a trip, Charlie lives in Pasadena, California, and works for Caltech.
General Notes About Sierra Club Trips
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Tim Wernette has been leading Sierra Club service trips for more than 25 years. He is an avid "canyon rat" and has led numerous Sierra Club service trips on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, including previous trips in Kanab Creek Wilderness. He also leads international trips (to Nepal, Bhutan, Belize, Ecuador/Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica). Tim is semi-retired and continues to work part-time at the University of Arizona doing educational equity work. Tim enjoys hiking/backpacking and, with his wife, tandem recumbent bike riding and sea kayaking. The canyon country we will visit is Tim's geographical "spiritual home," and he loves sharing it with fellow Sierra Club members.