Clear Creek Trail

Last updated
Clear Creek Trail
Clear Creek Stream.jpg
The Clear Creek Stream in the Grand Canyon
Length8.4 mi (13.5 km)
Location Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States
Trailheads Clear Creek Trail Junction with North Kaibab Trail
Clear Creek, Grand Canyon
Use Hiking
Backpacking
Elevation
Elevation change 1,300 ft (400 m)
Highest pointSumner Wash
Lowest pointClear Creek Trail Junction
Hiking details
Trail difficultyIntermediate
SeasonEarly Spring to
Late Fall
Sights Grand Canyon
Clear Creek
Phantom Ranch
Hazards Severe Weather
Overexertion
Dehydration
Flash Flood

The Clear Creek Trail [1] is a hiking trail below the North Rim, from lower Bright Angel Canyon into lower Clear Creek Canyon of the Grand Canyon National Park, located in the U.S. state of Arizona.

Contents

Description

The campgrounds located at the end of the Clear Creek Trail Clear Creek Camp.jpg
The campgrounds located at the end of the Clear Creek Trail

The trail begins near the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of Phantom Ranch at a junction with the North Kaibab Trail. From the trail head, the trail ascends 1,150 feet (350 m) to the Tonto Platform over the first 1.7 miles (2.7 km). Once on the platform, the trail heads east around the south side of Zoroaster Temple, a large butte on the north side of the river that's easily identified from Grand Canyon Village on the south rim. The trail follows contours around the temple for several miles until it reaches the Ottoman Amphitheater, and then descends into the Clear Creek drainage. Total trail length to Clear Creek is about 8.4 miles (13.5 km).

Camping in the Clear Creek area is "at large" with two exceptions: No camping is allowed between the trail head at the junction with the North Kaibab Trail and Sumner Wash, and in the Clear Creek drainage from its mouth at the Colorado River upstream to the first major side-canyon entering from the east. Most creek beds along the trail are dry. Perennial water is only available at Clear Creek at the eastern terminus of the trail. All water in the Clear Creek area must be filtered, treated, or boiled before consuming.

History

Construction of the trail was a Civilian Conservation Corps project during 1934 and 1935. [1] It was originally used as a mule trail for visitors from Phantom Ranch, but this ended during World War II. Clear Creek Trail is the only trail that traverses the Tonto Platform on the north side of the Colorado River.

See also

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Tanner Graben

Located directly downstream of the Little Colorado River confluence with the Colorado River, the Tanner Graben, in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA is a prominence and cliffside rock formation below the East Rim. Tanner Graben is located riverside, on the Colorado River, on a north-northwest bank at Mile 68.5, and lies opposite Tanner Canyon. The Tanner Rapid, created by Tanner Creek lies at the riverside foot of the graben. The graben is a pronounced feature because of the black Cardenas Basalt that forms the middle section of the graben, presumably free of debris accumulation by its cliff face steepness, and winds, and airflow drainage that course through the Colorado River's canyons; unprotected side canyons of Cardenas Basalt show accumulations as a slope-forming geologic unit, with little showing of black basalt.

Zoroaster Temple

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The first ascent of the summit was made by Rick Tidrick and Dave Ganci in September 1958 via the NE Arete (class 5.9+). Other climbing routes include Screaming Sky Crack, and SE Face, a challenging class 5.11+ route that was first climbed in 2012. The 1958 Zoroaster ascent was the first technical climb in the Grand Canyon, transforming the Grand Canyon into a climbing mecca and setting off a rush to climb the many summits. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Zoroaster Temple is located in a Cold semi-arid climate zone.

Swilling Butte

Swilling Butte is a 6,785-foot (2,068 m)-elevation ridgeline summit located in the eastern Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, United States. The landform is in a group of nearby summits, Colter Butte, west, and Hutton and Duppa Buttes, east. All four buttes are at the north of the east-flowing Kwagunt Creek and Canyon drainage to the Colorado River. Swilling Butte is 3.0 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Atoko Point, East Rim of the Walhalla Plateau, and 4.0 miles (6.4 km) west of the (north)-East Rim, Grand Canyon; the south-flowing Colorado River is west and adjacent to the East Rim. Swilling Butte is a triangular-platform summit of bright-red, tall Redwall Limestone. Being a cliff-former, the Redwall is also a platform-former. The upper platform of the Redwall Limestone supports a remainder-debris of the Supai Group. Of the two lower units, no. 2 is a cliff-former, hard rocks (cliffs), of the Manakacha Formation; the slope-former,, the Watahomigi Formation, forms most of the Supai debris upon the Redwall. Below the Redwall Limestone are members of the Cambrian Tonto Group, the Muav Limestone and the slopes of the Bright Angel Shale.

Topaz Canyon

Topaz Canyon is a linear, narrow canyon in western Grand Canyon, below the South Rim. It lies in a region of four canyons, and a fifth smaller canyon, all trending mostly northeasterly towards the west-flowing Colorado River, in western Grand Canyon National Park. The name of Topaz Canyon was named by the Board of Geographical Names for precious stones of the region. Topaz Canyon is the southeast border of the linear major forested-landform, Diana Temple; .

The northeast terminus of Topaz Canyon intersects with the outfall of Boucher Canyon and the tract of the Tonto Trail. The Boucher Trail starting in Hermit Canyon,, ends at the termini of both Topaz and Boucher Canyons.

References

  1. 1 2 "Clear Creek Trail" (PDF). National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. March 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-01.

Coordinates: 36°06′39″N112°05′27″W / 36.11081°N 112.09078°W / 36.11081; -112.09078