Day 6, Sun. Apr. 27, Boulder City, NV to Tuweep, AZ.  

Tuweep is not a town, just a dirt strip on the north side of the western Grand Canyon.  From here you hike 6.5 miles (or get a ride) to the campground at Toroweap overlook.  This was an ambitious plan for us gals, but amazingly it worked.  We chatted with a nice air-tour pilot in Boulder City before departing, and he had landed in Tuweep before so gave us lots of tips and encouragement.  There's no phone or water, but there is a ranger station about a mile from the airport.  We never saw a ranger but there's a nice outhouse there.  They've really improved outhouse technology with these composting machines.   They are not unpleasant.  

Most people go to Toroweap via 4-wheel drive on a 60 mile jeep trail.  Because it's a long trip, it's not very crowded.  

This page has a lot of pictures.  You may have to go make some coffee and bake a cake while waiting.  




on the way to Tuweep




the valley we are going to land in.  




Turning final for the first low approach, to scare off the cows and other critters.   The actual landing was a little fast and long.  I think I suffered from the famous optical illusion where a downsloping runway causes you to come in too high.  Also the winds were light enough that I probably should have done an uphill landing even though it would have been with a tailwind.  And the plane was pretty heavy with all the extra water we brought (in case we get stuck here due to bad weather).  




The pilot is very proud of herself.  You can't see the big smile on my face from this distance.   There's a tiedown area at the end of the runway, with chains.  So we didn't have to try out the stakes we brought.




A lizard greets us.




Marilyn is ready to go with her 45 lb pack.  We had to carry our own water.  ugh.




I don't think planes fly into this strip very often.  So it was quite a surprise to see a plane landing as we were getting ready to go.  It was Andy from Boulder, CO in a yellow scout.   He was having fun landing on various strips on his way back to Colorado.  He also gave us useful tips on adjusting our backpacks.  We said goodbye and starting walking away and then remembered to take a picture as he was getting ready to depart.   It looked like a fun plane to fly.  

I don't have pictures of the wonderful folks who gave us a ride to the campsite.  We had hiked about 2 miles when they drove by and cracked many jokes and eventually offered us a ride.   They were from St. George UT and seemed to be having a good time.  There were four of them but they had a giant SUV so there was still room for us and our packs.   They called us Thelma and Louise.



View from our campsite.  (I used slightly different zoom in the middle picture so the stitching isn't perfect but you get the picture).   It was the best campsite ever.  There are 11 campsites--9 at this location and 2 at the overlook, about a mile away.  On Sunday (today), six campsites were occupied.  On Monday, it was only us and one other group at our location, with 2 groups at the overlook sites.  So not a lot of people around.




We dumped our packs at the campsite and headed to the overlook.  saw some pretty flowers along the way.



View from the overlook looking west.  Actually you can walk all over this area and see great views.  There's no one spot for the overlook, and no rails or fences to keep you from falling off.  




 Marilyn is still happy that we only had to walk 2 miles with packs.



Looking west.

Time to head back and set up camp.