On our second ‘layover day’ on the river, camp was made at the mouth of Stone Creek. I really liked layovers, but they were few so I took advantage of the opportunities to “Stretch” my legs. Tom Martins book ‘100 Hikes from the River’ had suggested a loop, I believe travelling up Stone Creek, up and over the saddle to Galloway Canyon and then the short meander back down the rivers edge to Camp at Stone Creek. I liked this idea and had planned on it! Well..it seems that Duffy and Tolease had plans of doing it the other way around and who was I to argue with experience? I joined in the walk up the river and then a quick jaunt up Galloway until Duffy pointed to the cliffband high up and on our left. He explained that he thinks this is where there is a weakness in the cliffband (90’ chimney) that will put us on the ridge separating Galloway and Stone. Up we go on the loose shale and ‘ballbearings’ to the cliffband bottom. Just around the corner, a small boulder move and here we are at the entrance to the most beautiful full body chimney I’ve ever seen! It was as though it was made to climb. Duffy started out and I waited to see if Monty and Tolease were coming? Around the corner they scrambled, so up I went. I caught Duffy about 70’ up at a restriction formed by a needle of rock jammed sideways and required a tenuous “twister move” to climb through the hole it formed with the rocks jammed above. Duffy hesitated and I stemmed wide over him and slid through the “cave”. It was so cool to play the game of Twister with one more dimension thrown in to the equation! Now it was a short 15’ of face climbing to get to the top! We all made it after 10 minutes and started the trek toward the saddle above. At the saddle the views showed the depths of each canyon on our sides, but once again as on our Shinumo Creek Hike, the real impression was the Canyon with the big river below! Downward we go into Stone Creek. I spotted what looked to be a desert oasis on the mountainside far up Stone and really wondered? My decision was made. I could watch Duffy and Monty descend to the one and only weakness that allowed access into Stone, mark it, head over the slope and several rocky washes for a mile and find out for sure then backtrack to find the steep descent into Stone later? Tolease decided that she would tag along, so off we went. It was an oasis filled with what I normally would expect to see in the tropics. The Redbuds were in full bloom and the rieds and ferns were lush. Tolease was convinced that this would be an area to search for remnants of ancient civilizations past, but I wanted to take full advantage of the layover day and headed down toward the descent. Monty had not descended yet so he and I decided to work our way up stone creek above the barrier fall that prevented most river hikers from continuing further upstream. We found the delightful waterfall that I posted earlier in the thread and each proceeded to take our first really refreshing shower of the trip. I still wasn’t satisfied with exploration, so I left Monty to await Tolease (BTW..Our guide, Duffy had headed home long ago) and I scrambled and manuevered my way up the slowly drying Stone Creek until I found its source. The water was seepage draining from between the Muav and Redwall on the right side of the drainage. Still not satisfied I continued up the rocky “Stone Creek Drainage” for another mile or so until I realized it was getting a bit late and decided to turn around and try to solo my way down the chute that bypasses the Slot Canyon that normally impedes hikers from continuing. Just downstream from the “Water Source” of Stone I ran into Monty and Tolease coming upstream. I explained that I had found the water supply, so we all meandered back up to the seepage together. Satisfied now with our adventure, the 3 of us started the trek to the chute, into Stone Creek and the casual trip back down to the river and camp….once again…just in time for dinner and stories to be told by the “best” Colorado River Storyteller of all time…. OC…. as we all gazed into “Cackles” perfect campfire.
