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Home , Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, Kanab Creek, Kanab Creek Wilderness

Natural & Cultural History Backpack April 17-24, 2020

with Christa Sadler

CLASS INFORMATION AND SYLLABUS • Modern erosional processes: mass wasting, flash floods and debris flows - widening and The little-used Area adjoins the deepening the , formation of rapids on the North Rim west of Jacob Lake. • The River: modern processes and This is an area of sweeping views, deep limestone slot environmental battles and abundant springs. • Grand Canyon Geomorphology—shapes and forms on the landscape From the red expanse of the Esplanade to the cool • Formation of the canyon—ideas and depths of Kanab Creek’s 1500-foot limestone canyon, this controversies hike is rich in history, , paleontology, and archeology. • Mormon history in the region. In addition, the route traverses several life zones from pine • : his exploration of the forests to the ’s riparian zone. river and the region, and his ideas for settlement of the West. Natural and human history subjects discussed • Mining history in the area: the Kanab “gold throughout the class include: rush.” • Archeology of the canyon and the region. • The concept and associated biotic • Modern peoples of the region and the communities within the Grand Canyon. importance of their Traditional Cultural • Introduction to many of the and Properties. animals within each community and description of their key features and natural Special Considerations histories. • Floral and faunal adaptations to Grand • You MUST have the rubber tips for your Canyon’s desert environment. poles. These will make them easier to use on • The formation and importance of seeps and rocks, and they will not damage the Esplanade springs at Grand Canyon. sandstone surface. • , including the political history • You will need to be flexible and creative with leading to construction of the dam, how we campsites on this trip when we are camping in are working to mitigate these effects, and Jumpup and Kanab Canyons, as the camping plans for future study and dam alternatives. areas are often small. • Water politics and the history of attempts to • You will need extra containers for water for build dams in the Grand Canyon. our dry camps. You’ll want to have six liters • The background, consequences, and future of total, but you will not be carrying that amount exotic and invasive species within Grand the entire time. Canyon. Overview of NPS efforts to combat their spread and the effectiveness of these DAY 1 efforts. • Sedimentary rocks: how they form and how Meet in Kanab at the BLM - this is reflected in texture, color and Escalante National Monument Office on Hwy composition 89A (Google Map) at 10:00 am TIME • Fossils and ancient environments for introductions, last minute arrangements, and • Geologic time—deep time, lost time and introductory materials. Carpool out to the unconformities Gulch Trailhead (about 1.5 hours). Camp at Snake • Grand Canyon through time: the environment Gulch Trailhead. and geography from the Precambrian to the Late and beyond. • Faults and folds: movement within the earth

DAY 2 NOTE: We will need two or three extra high clearance vehicles for the drive out. Four-wheel Hike approximately seven easy miles to Table drive is not required. Rock, exploring the rock art and ecology along the way. Elevation change: roughly 600 feet. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

DAY 3 Christa Sadler has worked with the Field Institute since its inception in 1993. She is a geologist, Hike back to our cars and drive to Jumpup-Nail educator, and naturalist with a serious addiction to Trailhead near Sowats Point. Camp on the rim or rivers, deserts and mountains. She has pursued hike to the Esplanade. If we hike to the research in archaeology, geology and paleontology Esplanade, it will be roughly three miles, with across much of the globe. Christa teaches geology about a 1,500-foot elevation change. DRY CAMP and guides in the canyons and on the rivers of the Southwest in the spring and fall, and escapes to DAY 4 Alaska in the summers. She also runs This Earth, a small business that takes Earth Science programs Hike to Sowats Canyon and Mountain Sheep to children around the country, and designs Spring, then to the with Jumpup exercises, programs and field trips for students in Canyon and ultimately to the confluence with grades K–12. Christa’s writing and photographs Kanab Creek. This route starts on a trail, then have appeared in Journal, Sojourns, and Earth moves into canyon bottoms with uneven footing Magazine. She is the editor of the anthology There’s of cobbles and boulders. Mileage, six to nine miles This River … Grand Canyon Boatman Stories, and the with an elevation change of 400 to 2,000 feet, author of Life in Stone, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Where depending on where we camp the night before. Dinosaurs Roamed, and The Colorado. DRY CAMP. RECOMMENDED READING DAY 5 Anderson, Michael F. Living at the Edge: Explorers, Hike to Scotty’s Hollow near Showerbath Spring Exploiters and Settlers of the Grand Canyon Region. on Kanab Creek. We will explore Scotty’s Hollow and camp at an overhang. Mileage: roughly seven Coder, Christopher M. An Introduction to Grand miles. Elevation change: negligible. Walking is in Canyon Prehistory. the water, over boulders and cobbles. Houk, Rose. An Introduction to Grand Canyon DAY 6 Ecology.

Day hike to Whispering Falls (roughly nine miles Price, L. Greer. An Introduction to Grand Canyon round-trip with a daypack, very rough walking, Geology. lots of climbing boulders, possible deep wading, etc.) Ranney, Wayne. Carving Grand Canyon. Elevation change: negligible. Sadler, Christa. Life in Stone, The Colorado. DAY 7 These books and other interpretive aids can be Hike back to Esplanade (roughly 9 miles) purchased at Grand Canyon Association Elevation change: approximately 500 feet. DRY bookstores on the north and south rims, online at CAMP www.grandcanyon.org, or by calling 800-858- 2808. GCA members receive a 15% discount. DAY 8

Hike out Jumpup-Nail Trail to our cars (roughly 3 miles with an elevation change of about 2,000 feet).