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| Harvey, Sandra, Betty, Dan, Diane and Larry with Powell Plateau in the background. |
Trip Leader: Dan. 3-day/2-night backpack with friends Harvey, Sandra, Betty and Larry. The drive out to Swamp Point requires that you bring a full-size spare or two. Larry can attest to that. He took his van out there and got a flat time on the way. On the way back, he got another flat which meant that he had no spare. We loaded him and his first flat in our car and drove him to Jacob Lake to get it repaired. That is a 3 hour drive, one way. It was a long time before we got home, but we made sure that Larry could get his van home too. A lot of work for a short backpacking trip. If you plan to drive out there, I recommend to plan to spend more time out there enjoying the wilderness rather than shuttle tires to town.
After the long drive out to Swamp Point, we set up camp in the parking area. Then, carrying only a day pack, we each took at gallon of water down to Swamp Point and up to Powell Plateau since this was going to be a dry camp. The next morning, we loaded our packs with another gallon of water and headed out to Powell Plateau, picking up the gallon of water we cached the night before. The temperature was unusually warm for that time of year, feeling like it was in the 90s. Because of that, we set up our first camp was not too far out and planned to day hike to Dutton Point the next day. With only one day to explore, I was disappointed that we couldn't locate the nails in the trees that held the mountain lions bagged by Teddy Roosevelt, but we did see some Indian ruins and great views.
I would do this again.
Here are the photos from this trip.