George Steck's Grand Canyon Loops

futurafree

futurafree

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Does anyone have his two books or experience with any of the loops? I'm curious if they all require class 5 climbs or if some loops keep it at class 4 and below. I found a Caltopo that seems to map out many of the routes and it's intriguing. Also, I found this old blog from a guy reminiscing about an attempted Steck loop in '90 that turned into a disaster. He later became an expert in the Grand Canyon, but this sounded like a tragicomedy of errors.


Or anyone have other guide book recommendations for off-trail GC adventures?
 
Bob said:
You may find info you are looking for on one of theses sites. They are two that pioneered the GC country.....
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Thanks--some of the older maps feel like following the treasure map from Goonies. Just needs more skulls/crossbones and burn holes in the paper.

There must be something about the name Bob that makes a man go out in the wilderness for long stretches. Bordasch, Ribokas, Marshall, you.
 
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I have been on his route where he has pinned abandoned packs but coming from Kanab Crk. I think Kanab Crk is way nicer than Tapeats. That way is known as the Cranberry Route, he calls it "the chutes". I have a trip report here and on utube. It is one of the few places I place the skull/crossbones on my routes.

There is a trail from Thunder River to Deer Creek.
 
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If you can do hidden creek you can do cranberry or viceversa ..... It's one of the few places I've been scared. Wouldn't do it again . The climb up from the river is nothing . Then there is the steep scramble thru the redwall. After the Redwall you have to traverse a dirt, clay, shale layer that is steep and hardpacked. One slip here, you will slide to the redwall and over..... about 800 vertical....NO survival in that fall.

Here is our route:
Click here to view on CalTopo
Utube slide show:
About 6:40 to 7:50 is up and thru Cranberry.
 
Bob said:
If you can do hidden creek you can do cranberry or viceversa ..... It's one of the few places I've been scared. Wouldn't do it again . The climb up from the river is nothing . Then there is the steep scramble thru the redwall. After the Redwall you have to traverse a dirt, clay, shale layer that is steep and hard. One slip here, you will slide to the redwall and over..... about 800 verticle....NO survival in that fall.
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Ha, you even had a skull/crossbones on that map! Yeah, that was one of the loops I was NOT planning to do. I've been in the area a couple of times, gone off-trail from Deer Creek to Kanab (not fun), so the main part of that loop that would be new is the difficult-to-find chute and sketchy shale.
 
futurafree said:
Ha, you even had a skull/crossbones on that map! Yeah, that was one of the loops I was NOT planning to do. I've been in the area a couple of times, gone off-trail from Deer Creek to Kanab (not fun), so the main part of that loop that would be new is the difficult-to-find chute and sketchy shale.
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Hike from Kanab Crk to Deer Creek isnt bad. No real trail. The slope up to Cranberry is very definite.
 
Bob said:
Hike from Kanab Crk to Deer Creek isnt bad. No real trail. The slope up to Cranberry is very definite.
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Well, full disclosure/midnight confession: I hitched half of that distance in a boat full of government geologists. Pure heaven compared to the shoreline rubble.
 
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Ive have ridden twice (once full canyon, back in 1972. Other we got a ride from boat at Fishtail Rapids to Kanab. hiked once. Actually liked the hike along the river.
 
Just read that article..had t seen it before. They made a ton of mistakes, some of which he admitted to.
 
"Some of the people should not have been on this hike"

Yep!
 
I remember reading that account when I was prepping for our Deer/Tapeats trip last fall. It made quite an impression on me, and we made sure not to have an experience like that one.
 
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