Recs for ~100 mile trip in southwest late March?

http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/the-royal-arch-loop-grand-canyon/
http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/dark-needles-loop/
https://adventurerun.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/happy-maze-loop/

Buy Steve Allen's Canyoneering 2. Do either of the Robbers Roost loops, they'll complement the Escalante quite nicely.

Thanks, Dave. I was able to get my hands on a 1995 edition of the book to have a look at those routes. As for skill level, the description states there is "Class 4+ climbing. The leader must be familiar with belay techniques and be capable of leading the climbing sections without protection." We are not climbers and do not have these skills. We have no problem with steep scrambles but do not carry ropes. Has the route changed since that printing or is this level of technical skill still required?

I'm too lazy to go get my copy out of the truck, but in general Allen is very conservative with his ratings. The north route I believe has some raps but I don't think there's anything technical in the south route. I think he might call the climb out of Rock Canyon class 4+ or 5.0 or something and it's a minor little scramble…not technical at all. I do think you might be able to come up with a little better route if you could somehow incorporate twin corral and sam's mesa box into the south route and maybe skip the upper part of Happy. The lower narrows of Happy are definitely worth seeing but the rest of the canyon isn't my fav in the area. No Man's is great, route over the Block is great, Lower Fiddler's Cove and Hatch are great…lots of possibilities.

edit: if you had an extra car or were willing to do a longish bike shuttle, you could drop a bike/car at the top of Larry or No Man's, head out to the big ridge to start, drop into upper Hatch, over the Block, down to the river, upriver to SMB (river walking can get to be a bit of a bummer but there's an old mining track above the river if it gets too bad…better views anyway), up SMB, down TCB, up to Larry (IIRC Allen has an overland route for this section…do that), then either go out Larry or dayhike the lower section and go out No Mans up to your vehicle. No idea how many miles that is but it'd be an excellent route.

I'd agree with Brendan that Allen tends to be conservative with his technical ratings. You don't need to be a climber to do the Robbers Roost routes; a background doing some scrambling with occasional exposure to bag peaks (etc) is quite adequate. A 50 or so foot rope for hauling or lowering packs is a good idea.

For the Roost North loop in particular, if you're comfortable doing some easy raps and downclimbing taking the variation which descends the upper slot of the South fork of Robbers Roost canyon is recommended. A very cool canyon.

You should look into Paria Canyon and Buckskin Gulch.

From Buckskin Gulch to Lee Pass is 50 miles of the best canyon terrain I think exists. It's so good, the next time I do it, I'm not going to arrange a shuttle and just turn around and walk back. There's your 100 miles. Also there are hardly any people there except the occasional backpacker. You need to get permits in advance but they aren't expensive. Except near the endpoints, there is no day hike access.

I did it in late March last year and conditions were absolutely perfect. Unlimited water, perfect temperature, no clouds.

Writing for Amy.

We have done at least four of Steve Allen's Canyoneering 2 routes and have these observations to offer. His routes have all been fun, challenging, interesting and have taken us into wonderful country. His directions are well written and very accurate at the time they were put down on paper. In my opinion, the comments about his overrating the routes are a little off target. If you look at the ratings from a strictly technical point of view, yes, he probably does overrate. But placed in the context of a hiker carrying a load often many days from a trailhead and with no possible prompt (any?) assistance if something goes wrong, then no, I think his ratings signal that you better be really careful in this area and don't get in over your head.

Descending Robber' Roost (Dirty Devil North) is a fine trip but requires multiple rappels. If you don't know how to do this safely and with the understanding that the last person to rappel will be unbelayed, the RR is not the place to learn. The class 3-4 ascent of the large cliff face early in the trip is exposed and on steep down sloping slabs. In my opinion, most people will want a belay here and for good reason.

The Dirty Devil South is a fine trip and the traverse over the Block is as good as it gets.

We greatly appreciate what Allen has done in writing his books. We didn't have the resources to plan the convoluted and rewarding routes in Utah that Allen put together based on his years of experience in the backcountry. If you have only done one trip in the area, there is so much more to see (we have done at least a dozen backpacking trips there) and Allen offers a way to do this by sharing his deep knowledge of the canyon country.

-James

James/Amy, it has been a decade+ since I did the Allen exit out of Twin Corral, so your recollection may be more accurate. I was solo and recall thinking "that's it?" after I topped out the cliffs, but I was climbing 5.12 regularly at the time so perhaps not the least-biased source. South Fork of Robbers does demand experience, but it's almost as easy as technical canyoneering gets. Huge reward for the effort. If folks doing the loop don't want to rap, the trek over to the Angel Arch trail into the canyon is pleasant, or one can walk the road and handline down the Moki exit into the North Fork.

I had a lot of desert miles in by the time I hiked Buckskin, which is perhaps why I found it underwhelming. In my book the lack of variety alone knocks it out of the top 30 if you're talking about 50 mile routes.

Shawn, something in the Grand Canyon might be worth looking at. I did a trip last month which went down Crazy Jug canyon into Upper Tapeats, and was really blown away with the variety and intensity of the scenery. The vegetated narrows of Tapeats are unique, and the Thunder River springs do live up to their hype. You could do a variation of the classic Deer Creek-Kanab loop by going down the Bill Hall, exploring Tapeats, then going along the river to Kanab and closing the loop up Indian Hollow, or some other variation.

Thanks, everyone, for all these great suggestions. I had been looking at the Tonto trail when I originally posted this thread.

David, I've looked at the route you suggested and the variation and it looks good. We haven't been to the Grand Canyon and my wife really wants to go. So, this trip is probably going to be there. We will be doing a yo-yo of the Zion Traverse in May. I think we may save the Robber's Roost area for another time, though the Dirty Devil south loop will remain a contender for now.

Definitely like the route David suggested (Bill Hall…Indian Hollow loop). I suspect there will be fewer people there as well given that it isn't on the Corridor trails.

Anyone else have a great loop suggestion in the Grand Canyon for end of March?

Thanks again for all the great ideas.

It is conceivable that getting to the Bill Hall/Indian Hollow THs might be problematic in late March, if the area gets a lot of snow and if said snow lingers. The chance is slight.

This page has some information about accessing trailheads in that area during the winter. I haven’t been out to try it, though. Maybe for my spring break, if I don’t go to Big Bend . . .

You can park at one of the Saddle Mountain Wilderness trailheads off FR 445 (Buffalo Ranch Rd) and catch one of the trails up to the North Rim. Saddle Mountain is one of the best kept secret in AZ.