Paria Canyon

[eric schultz]

My family and I are going to hike Paria Canyon from White House TH to Lees Ferry in mid March.  We are doing the hike over 5 days.  I am looking for some advice. I have never hiked through a canyon.

1. I ordered neoprene socks and I plan on using older shoes for the trip.  I have heard that your shoes will get destroyed.  Is there any other foot care precautions I should take?
2. Water, I heard that some of the springs are hard to find.  I have read several trip reports on line.  Many people have successfully filtered from the Paria.  I plan on bring aquamira drops and my gravity filter.  I was going to use Alum to help the silt settle but I was told that poly aluminum chloride works faster and is easier to use and dose.  I have ordered some.  I have never used Alum or PAC.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Eric

[Arthur]

I recommend the book Hiking and Exploring the Paria River by Michael Kelsey.  5 days will be a nice, easy trip.  Be sure you get to the confluence and turn back up the Buckskin gulch to explore that.  There is camping and water at the the confluence. Be sure to take the side trips, like Wrather arch, the cracks,  etc. Some springs are a little hard to find, others jump out at you.  The water from the river needs to settle. Overnight without alum works pretty well, I use Sea Summit folding bucket with a line to tie to a tree to keep if from falling over.  Alum speeds the process along to about 30 minutes.  Lots of grazing upstream on the river water.  My shoes were not trashed.  I have used non gortex merrills.  In the fall, i just used wool socks.  In march, neoprene should work.  Dry camp shoes are a must.  Be sure your shoes stay on your feet well.  The “quicksand” in the river pulls shoes off if you step in it.  LONG hike out with only one shoe.  Campsites are mostly sand, so a couple of sand stakes are nice but not required for the tent/tarp. Hiking poles are a must because you seldom see what you are stepping on in the river.  I have the same trip permits for March 13.  When are you going?

 

[Erica R]

We used sawyer 1 gallon containers for settling and a Katadyn hiker pro for a filter. The Katadyn has carbon in it, which you want for Paria, as there is Ag upstream. The Katydyn worked great. The prefilter did require cleaning. We took extra fuel and aquamira (along with straws so as to drink in 20 minutes instead of 4 hours) as backups, but we didn’t need to use them. If you are super cautious you could take an extra filter insert for the Katydyn. I experimented with Alum, but the taste is bad and not necessary. The coffee prefilters didn’t work and were unnecessary. Have a great trip!

[Arthur]

Too much alum will cause a bad taste. Ever tasted an alum stick for shaving?   1 gram per 5 gallons is all that is required and is so little, it is hard to measure in the field.  I used a Sawyer and it worked fine.  In my hands, prefilters are useless, the silt and clay in the river is incredibly fine. The clay will actually go totally thru many filters.

[Arthur]

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/72551/

Good thread on this topic.

[eric schultz]

Arthur,

We are going March 17th. So, I do not need to carry 6 liters as some of the websites suggest.  That is good news.

Thanks

Eric

[Arthur]

one more thing.  put snow baskets on your hiking poles.  the soft, gooey river bottom swallows poles with small ends.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I brought along several empty milk jugs as they weigh nothing.  You can fill them in the river and let them settle (alum if you wish) and use the upper 2/3 for filtering  I ended up using an MSR miniworks because you can clean the filter in the field and was worried about clogging the Sawyer.

If you get a chance, hike Wirepass to Buckskin for at least a day trip.  If you can get reservations, shoot for the Wave.  Have fun.

[Erica R.]

Curious how the trip was now that you’ve gone? I’m planning my trip for late April right now and trying to sort out the idea shoe option, and I’d love any spring/water source tips you have now! Any info is appreciated!

[Arthur]

Changed our plans and did 6 days in the Grand Canyon.  Sorry.  Lots of water flowing from the North Rim, so I would expect a fair amount of water in the Paria area.  Of course, the bad news is that in the desert, never rely on last week’s water reports.

[Author]

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