Conditions:Royal Arch Creek-20250304033939

Latest:	1 Mar 2025 (20 days ago)

Reported by:	RFontaine (247 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:
Wetsuit:
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	3 days

Team: 7 people

Trip report URL:

Comments: A rugged Grand Canyoneering backpacking adventure!

Day 1:

We drove up and met in Tusayan. We consolidated gear and people into our 2 4x4 vehicles and left the other in the woods near the highway. Drive on forest roads took us 1.5hrs to get to the abandoned Ranger Station where we car camped at the start of Point Huitzil. Roads were not terrible only 2 spots that high clearance 4x4 was helpful. Was nice to air down the tires though! Trails super narrow last half, wouldn’t recommend taking a fullsize truck, my Frontier barely fit!

Day 2:

We hiked in via Point Huitzil trail. The trail starts out meandering through sparse woods/fields. After 45min-1hr you arrive at the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Following steep cairned scree trails down and traversing along, down climbing cracks (one of which was 30’ and a very fun big downclimb) and other obstacles, we eventually made it to the esplanade. We found the ropewiki track to be slightly off. Follow the cairns and you should be good.

The esplanade continues mostly flat for awhile. Slick rock water course, traversing around drop offs. Eventually you get to some large drops that are easily bypassed by a traverse trail high DCR. In hindsight it would have been fun to stay in the watercourse at this point and rig the larger drops but no anchors were present and we wanted to save the webbing for the next day’s descent. (This would have eaten up alot of time too.)

After rejoining the water course the canyon walls narrow in slightly and the long rock hopping walk broken up by many downclimbs eventually brings you to a flowing spring with pools of water, easily traversed around. Shortly after, just around a corner, the arch can be seen. Atlast our campsite!

With some slower hikers in our group, we moved at a leisurely pace, making it to the arch in 9hrs.

A few of us decided to climb to the top of the arch and rappel the 150’ freehang for fun!

Day 3:

We descended Royal Arch Canyon. First rappel is only a few hundred feet away from the arch. The canyon is decent, the 2 big raps were enjoyable but much of the canyon is bypassed by traversing the sides and crossing over portions of the watercourse. Still very pretty but I wish we had brought wetsuits so we could have stayed in the watercourse.

The water course drops looked fun and no anchors were present. They were all flowing and all dropped into swimming pools. The final drop at Elves Chasm looked particularly neat. I was able to traverse a ledge and rappel into the chasm without getting wet then ascend out without swimming. The descent took us 2 hours and we spent an additional 2hrs enjoying the Chasm before exiting.

Hike out took quite some time. We eventually encountered the infamous 20’ climb. The climb is rated at 5.8 and there is an accessory cord rigged to an anchor up top with tied loops to clip into that protects the first climber.

Once one of us got up we dropped our own rope and provided an active top rope belay for the rest of us. We probably spent an hour here.

Eventually the trail parallels Royal Arch canyon and we could see our campsite 400’ below us. We hiked the trail until the wash was only about 200’ below us and 2 of us decided to rig an impromptu rappel rather than hike all the way around.

Sure enough, we read the topo lines right and my 222’ rope made it with 10ft to spare. Everyone else decided to take the long way around.

Made it back to camp in a leisurely 8hrs.

Day 4:

The exit. We decided to split into 2 groups on the hike out. 3 of us were able to make it back up to my truck in 6 hrs at a fairly brisk pace. Quite the contrast to our 9hr approach!!

Overall, a very fun trip out! Alot of hiking, much of which I found fairly uninteresting, punctuated by a few really neat parts and good memories! I enjoyed the trip, but the pay to play ratio is a bit out of balance for me personally.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
1 Mar 2025	Good				3 days	7 people	RFontaine (247 reports)
Comment: A rugged Grand Canyoneering backpacking adventure! Day 1: We drove up and met in Tusayan. We consolidated gear and people into our 2 4x4 vehicles and left the other in the woods near the highway. Drive on forest roads took us 1.5hrs to get to the abandoned Ranger Station where we car camped at the start of Point Huitzil. Roads were not terrible only 2 spots that high clearance 4x4 was helpful. Was nice to air down the tires though! Trails super narrow last half, wouldn’t recommend taking a fullsize truck, my Frontier barely fit! Day 2: We hiked in via Point Huitzil trail. The trail starts out meandering through sparse woods/fields. After 45min-1hr you arrive at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Following steep cairned scree trails down and traversing along, down climbing cracks (one of which was 30’ and a very fun big downclimb) and other obstacles, we eventually made it to the esplanade. We found the ropewiki track to be slightly off. Follow the cairns and you should be good. The esplanade continues mostly flat for awhile. Slick rock water course, traversing around drop offs. Eventually you get to some large drops that are easily bypassed by a traverse trail high DCR. In hindsight it would have been fun to stay in the watercourse at this point and rig the larger drops but no anchors were present and we wanted to save the webbing for the next day’s descent. (This would have eaten up alot of time too.) After rejoining the water course the canyon walls narrow in slightly and the long rock hopping walk broken up by many downclimbs eventually brings you to a flowing spring with pools of water, easily traversed around. Shortly after, just around a corner, the arch can be seen. Atlast our campsite! With some slower hikers in our group, we moved at a leisurely pace, making it to the arch in 9hrs. A few of us decided to climb to the top of the arch and rappel the 150’ freehang for fun! Day 3: We descended Royal Arch Canyon. First rappel is only a few hundred feet away from the arch. The canyon is decent, the 2 big raps were enjoyable but much of the canyon is bypassed by traversing the sides and crossing over portions of the watercourse. Still very pretty but I wish we had brought wetsuits so we could have stayed in the watercourse. The water course drops looked fun and no anchors were present. They were all flowing and all dropped into swimming pools. The final drop at Elves Chasm looked particularly neat. I was able to traverse a ledge and rappel into the chasm without getting wet then ascend out without swimming. The descent took us 2 hours and we spent an additional 2hrs enjoying the Chasm before exiting. Hike out took quite some time. We eventually encountered the infamous 20’ climb. The climb is rated at 5.8 and there is an accessory cord rigged to an anchor up top with tied loops to clip into that protects the first climber. Once one of us got up we dropped our own rope and provided an active top rope belay for the rest of us. We probably spent an hour here. Eventually the trail parallels Royal Arch canyon and we could see our campsite 400’ below us. We hiked the trail until the wash was only about 200’ below us and 2 of us decided to rig an impromptu rappel rather than hike all the way around. Sure enough, we read the topo lines right and my 222’ rope made it with 10ft to spare. Everyone else decided to take the long way around. Made it back to camp in a leisurely 8hrs. Day 4: The exit. We decided to split into 2 groups on the hike out. 3 of us were able to make it back up to my truck in 6 hrs at a fairly brisk pace. Quite the contrast to our 9hr approach!! Overall, a very fun trip out! Alot of hiking, much of which I found fairly uninteresting, punctuated by a few really neat parts and good memories! I enjoyed the trip, but the pay to play ratio is a bit out of balance for me personally.