Sunday May 28, 19.6mi/31.5km

Nankoweap Beach (584.1/2800ft) to Tanner Rapids (602.3/2720ft) (AZ) +1.1mi Nankoweap Granaries, + 0.3mi GPS correction

I was awake at 7am, knowing it would be a late start today. The rafting group that is camping on this beach with us agreed to give us a ride down the river tomorrow, but they aren’t leaving until 9:30am. So I decided to explore the local area and hiked a half mile up to some ancient ruins called the granaries.

They were pretty neat, but to me the best part was the view from up there. I could see pretty far down the river and where we were going to be going today.

I hiked the half-mile back to camp and made sure I was packed up and ready to go. Pretty soon a boat pulled up on the shore, which isn’t uncommon here. Then I realized it was the Park service boat, And the rangers were making sure everyone had the right safety information.

They were surprised to see hikers here, and we chatted for a few minutes about the Hayduke route, also they checked our permits. After they left, one of the kids in the rafting group showed me how to build a sand drip castle. Fun!

Eventually we all boarded the rafts and headed down river.

This family trip was a group of 10 people on 4 rafts, they were all super friendly and we kept changing the lead throughout the day.

The Canyon was pretty wide here.

There were some little riffles, and one big set of rapids that we had to go over. I was able to get a photo of one of the riffles, for the big Kwangunt Rapids I had to put away my phone and hang on to the raft.

Around 2pm we pulled up to the Little Colorado River. The family would be continuing on down the river but this was our exit point. That was a very easy way to do nine miles!

The water in the Little Colorado is a bright blue, and it was amazing to watch it mix with the brown water of the big Colorado River.

We said goodbye, and the rafting group departed. I waded across the little Colorado which was mid-thigh deep.

I met up with shadow on the opposite shore, And we had lunch under the shade of a bush. After lunch we hiked the Beamer Trail all afternoon. It was great! It travels a couple hundred feet above the Colorado River with amazing views.

The confluence of the Little Colorado flowing into the big Colorado River.

The trail contoured around on the edge of a cliff for miles.

I could see the rapids far below on the river.

The Beamer Trail kept going….

And going….

The weather was ridiculously hot and we kept taking breaks every 30 minutes. I loved the Beamer trail, but perhaps doing it in the cooler hours of the morning would have been better. Near the end of the Beamer Trail, I ran into a hiker named Griggs.

The name sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. We chatted for a few minutes about upcoming water sources and other trails we’ve hiked, It was so random to run into him in the middle of nowhere! I continued down the rest of the Beamer Trail where it met up with the Colorado River again.

I refilled my empty water bottles, It was so hot I drank two liters in six miles. Yikes. It was now 6pm and cooler weather, and shadow and I hiked on a few more miles. The trail stayed next to the river which was nice, but the soft sand was not so nice.

Some of the rapids looked bigger up close. And loud!

Just before our planned camp spot at the Tanner Rapids, the trail climbed back up on a bench for the last mile. It was in the shade so I didn’t mind the climb, and the views were spectacular.

Looking down on the serpentine Colorado River:

The sun’s rays filtering through a side canyon:

We got to our camp spot at 7:30pm, which is definitely later than usual. The miles came slowly in the heat this afternoon, and we had a late start this morning, so it was expected. We set up camp a little ways back from the river, as the rapids were quite loud here.

After the usual routine of dinner and planning tomorrow, I went into my tent and instantly fell asleep. A very tiring day!