North Rim Passage, Bright Angel to Saddle Mountain - continued

5 May -- In the morning I still have 3 liters left with adequate hydration, and I can offer 1.5 liters to anyone who is a little short. Marshall and Danny each have less than a liter left and split my reserve. At 5:30 we start up. Usually, the top of a slope under a cliff is easy going, but not along the quartzite here; it's better to go up the middle of the slope as some of the others did. At the top of the ravine we regroup and I choose a lead up to another shale ledge. Footing is poor, but going on the level saves effort. We gain the other side of Hall Butte and look into the awesome depths of Vishnu Creek. To all accounts there should be assurance of water sources here, but as we continue to travel and use up our supply, it becomes a worry. Finally, at a rest stop Danny walks out to an overlook and reports sighting water. Two more small drainages and then the next one must be our descent (water 0 liters). Finally, crossing the slope into this third drainage, there is sign of travel going down and water visible below. At 8:00 we are all by a pool in the shade and making up for last night's missed dinner.

Then, following the bed a little and going out to the north, there is a descent ravine full of big boulders and another, obvious, matching break on the opposite wall. In the bed of Vishnu we are surrounded by quartzite cliffs and the easy access seems remarkable. There is not even a fault here to make this break, just a soft seam in the cliff.

The thick growth at the Vishnu bed suggests the water supply here is reliable, but GCLH-II identifies another spring farther up the bed if this is dry. A tiny waterspout squirts up out of a crack in the bedrock and a brief shower cools the air a bit. On the first of several occasions this trip, my hat goes missing for a time until Ed spots it hanging in some branches. After enjoying the spring, eating, and restoring our water supply, we start out again at 10:30 (water 4.0 liters) going for Newberry saddle. I choose to go out the opposite seam in the cliff and up the ridge toward Newberry rather than going down the bed to the slope that George Steck describes. Our route again follows a line that shows on Harvey Butchart’s map in HGBC. The ridgeline shows sign of use and travel. At the top, a narrow gravel slope above a Muav cliff leads to the saddle (11:30). Here, the wind probably never stops and anything you let loose would have gone flying back down into Vishnu.

The slope east of the saddle is easy enough as well, strewn with only a modest amount of weathered limestone rubble. This toothy material will grab hold of a boot anyplace you put your foot, and take off skin as well given the opportunity. We reach the bottom of the slope at 12:30 and start up the other side into very heavy Blackbrush. Then we follow the ridge before the next ravine up onto another friendly shale ledge that makes travel easy. Here we find the same solo bootprint going the other way, as in Nameless and a few other places along the way. At one stop the reality of things going so well brings silent, joyful tears: This is so much fun!! By 13:30 we are at the saddle on the ridge west of Asbestos.

There is an option to go down into the lower bed of Asbestos, but I have already decided to go around the upper end. Besides, the bed below looks dry. Going into Asbestos, we immediately find a faint track just below the dark shale ledge. This goes as far as the promontory dividing upper and lower Asbestos. Perhaps the track descends from here northeast into the bed. We continue above the Tapeats cliffs going for the springs marked in the forks at the upper end. Contouring until we can reach the bed of the west fork, we find a trickle of water. Checking the map again later, it seems likely that the real spring could be found lower down. Our rate of travel has been good and we are nearly on schedule again. Rather than chance finding a camp on the slopes east of Asbestos, we decide to continue to the east fork and camp there. Everyone has reloaded with water, but I have confidence the supply will be as good or better in the other arm. The sun goes below the cliff just as we start again.

The next arm proves to offer more of an obstacle to travel and we have to go north a bit to find a descent. The bed is dry at the bottom, but the spring should be down the bed a little from here. Down a small fall and around the bend the bed becomes a slot with chockstones and is still dry, but I can go along the ledge and look down into the bed again where there is a pool and water flowing. A crevice in the wall provides an access to the spring and a track leads back upcreek to the bend. Back I go for water bottles and then return and climb down to the spring. Once there, with bottles full, the bed below draws on me and I want to see were it goes. Heavy grass and growth line the banks, often just nubs ground down by rocks from the last flood, and more water flows as I travel along. Then, just before the two arms join, harder rock forms the bed and there is a slot and a fall into the next level. There is an access going up to the top behind a large tower and the slope appears to connect with the lower bed as well. There seems to be another boot track in the sand there, but I'm not so sure later. It looks as if the upper forks could be bypassed going through here and still be assured of water. In this short visit I can see enough to make me want to come back and spend several days exploring it all.

Nightfall brings a shower on while I'm dawdling and talking with Ed over dinner. The good news is that all my gear is still dry in my pack. The bad news is that I have to make shelter in the rain. The bad news is that Danny's sleeping spot on a rock has turned into a puddle. The good news is that I have a partner to help set my tarp. By the time the rain stops again we have the tarp spread over a good spot in the bushes just above the streambed. The headwall of Asbestos does not go to the rim, so we are not especially in danger of flood. It rains just a little bit more a few times through the night... perhaps enough to justify our effort.

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