Carbon and Lava Canyons, Approximately mile 65

We walked up Carbon Canyon at mile 64.6, crossed sort of a saddle, and descended down Lava Canyon at mile 65.4 while the crew rowed the boats down to the camp at Lava Canyon. They got the camp, and that's where we stayed that night.

The walk up Carbon is rough and steep. Lots of scrambling around and over rocks, and there's a steep pitch very near the end. Crossing over to Lava Canyon, at one place there's a bypass around an obstacle of some sort--I think a dry falls in the bed of the wash there. Aside from that, it's just a stroll down the sandy wash all the way to the river at Lava Canyon Rapid.


This is at the top of the steep part of the climb up Carbon Canyon. We gathered at the top, on a narrow ridge that extends out to a small promentory. There, Ivo held forth about the local geology. Of particular interest in that area (see Ivo's chart) was the Grand Canyon Supergroup of late Precambrian age. This place is also near a fault that has produced folding, breaking, and overthrusting.


A short walk from here brings you to the place where the trail crosses over to the Lava Canyon drainage.