Raven's Balcony - 1/13/20

North Bowl of Fire from Raven's Balcony

Muddy Mountain Wilderness behind the North Bowl

Ghoulish Goblin

Starting up the Main Wash serving the North Bowl

Surrounded by mountains and hills of the Horse Spring Formation (17 to 12.5 million years old), the up thrust of Aztec Sandstone (180 million years old) has formed what we refer to as the North Bowl of Fire. Distinguishing itself from the South Bowl of Fire by the formidable cliffed ridge of red facade, the North Bowl of Fire offers a large variety of scrambling opportunities. One of the most famous of the scrambles is a particular rabbit hole that is somewhat difficult for some hikers. This tunnel is required if you enter the North Bowl by the traditional north canyon entrance route. Today, we halved that 8 mile loop including a car shuttle and reached the ultimate view at Raven's Balcony without that rabbit hole!

Main Wash

We also cut the hike down to 6 miles by taking HCVs up Callville Wash Road to the North Bowl of Fire Main Wash Trailhead located ~2.7 miles northeast from the mile marker 16 down ramp that accesses the wash road.

Great Group of Hikers

Another trailhead that would not need HCVs is the Northshore Road mile marker 18 pullout. By hiking in a NNE direction from the pullout, the wash can be reached in ~.75 mile. However, this .75 mile is added to the end of the hike as well!

The First Step Up

North Bowl Cliffs to our Right - Raven's Balcony near Right End

Twelve hikers, that included almost all of the AtBF hike coordinators, came out to reacquaint themselves with the North Bowl. Hikes to Raven's Balcony have been scarce for the past couple of years. (Perhaps that rabbit hole had something to do with it!) Chuck H. led us out and back up the North Bowl Main Wash and it was still, indeed, a very good hike and small scramble.
   First, to address that ramp that goes down from mile marker 16 to Callville Wash Road, hmm. It is even more potholed that when we were here two weeks ago. One thing that might help is ... when you are ascending the ramp, don't stop then spin your tires. This digs the holes. Make sure you have the clearance, then go steadily up without stopping. If you stop, roll back and start again.
(Off-roading 101.) Sure would be nice if someone would re-enforce the ramp. But then, this is just another way to keep people away from Anniversary Narrows.

Main Wash Narrows

Callville Wash Road isn't in bad condition. Yes, it is bumpy and you have to watch out for the occasional big rock but, right now at least, it is drivable by any car that can deal with that ramp!

Main Wash

We drove to the North Bowl of Fire Main Wash Trailhead and parked. When we were ready, we started up the wide wash to the left sidling between large rocks meant to keep out vehicles.

Elephant Arch of North Bowl

Pool of Water in Main Wash

We started out at a good brisk walk. It was chilly in the morning but it warmed up quite a bit throughout the hike. At around .75 mile, there is a significant fork in the wash with a tall singular mound of rock in the middle of the fork. The right fork will take you to that canyon entrance I mentioned earlier that divides the cliffs on the Bowl's north end and is one mile away. We took the left fork and continued up the Main Wash. We stayed in the wash for our ascent and about 0.6 mile from this fork, we had to scramble up a sandstone obstacle. Another 0.6 mile and we zigzagged our way to the cairn junction. Here, there is a fork in the wash and a trail that goes up the hill to the left.

The Main Wash continues next to The Wall

The left wash fork continues up past the end of the North Bowl and takes hikers to a back corner of the Aztec Sandstone. There are a few nice arches in that area.

Climbing the Trail up to Plateau

The trail that leads up the hill to the left, is a shortcut trail that covers our most previous .75 mile in only half a mile of easy trail. We usually use this trail on our return.

Plateau

Arriving on Plateau

The last choice is the narrowed wash that continues straight in the right fork. Although it is narrow here, it is still a major tributary of the North Bowl's Main Wash as we saw later. This narrow section is always full of brush and is sometimes wet. Forge your way through as everyone does and you are rewarded with a beautiful sandstone wash full of moderate scrambles. Soon, we noted the Elephant Arch (5th Photo up) of the North Bowl up on our left and, then, the Ghoulish Goblin (3rd Photo of entry) up a side canyon on our right. There was only one large pool of stagnant water in the wash that we easily skirted on the right side. (See David's photo, 4 photos up.)

Scattered Boulders

The wash started opening up and The Big Red Holey Wall came into focus as the wash widened and curved up to the right. The Wall is so monstrous!

Climbing the Crack

We continued climbing the wash usually taking a right fork when offered a choice. A large dry fall is not obvious from the bottom but, knowing it was there, we began climbing up to the right still next to the wall.

Through the Slot

Arriving at Raven's Balcony

We passed the usually used scramble not recognizing it from the bottom and continued up to an easier "top." By doing this we also discovered an easy shortcut back down to the Main Wash. We used this shortcut on our return as well and saved ourselves a little bit of climbing. But, this route also takes you away from the impressive view down the large dry fall before seeking an "up & around." Regardless, we continued around the bend of the Main Wash and came to the top of the wash with a hill climb up to the right. Seek and ye shall find a trail that ascends the hill just before you reach a small gorge. This trail climbs up to a narrow passage and on to the plateau above.

Newbie Chuck takes in the View

This is the plateau that has many many small boulders strewn about to the left. Pass the boulders and continue climbing veering slightly to the right.

Watching the Fight - Then, the Victorious Ravens Watch Us!

Yes, there it is! The crack climb up to where you can access a slot to the right. Through the slot and, voila, you have arrived at Raven's Balcony! And, what a beautiful sight it is!

Group at Raven's Balcony

David captured the Elephant Jail in the Slot

We sat for our break on the balcony of one of the North Bowl of Fire's cliffs. That so-called entrance canyon isn't far to the left of the balcony. There were 500 foot drop offs all around the balcony and, suddenly, we had a nature show that can't be beat! One raven and a red-tailed hawk were going at it in the sky above us. Dive bombing and everything! Then, another raven arrived and the 2 ravens ganged up on the hawk! Quickly, the hawk realized his faux pas and flew away. Next, we saw one raven, then two ravens sitting on a rock high above us. Yep, they know that hikers sometimes drop crumbs on the balcony for which are worth fighting off a hawk! ... No, not this time! We cleaned up after ourselves.

Back across the Plateau and Down the Trail

After our dinner and show, we went back down through the slot and carefully down the crack. Across the plateau, down the trail, down the wash, across the shortcut, down to the base of the large dry fall, and on down the Main Wash.

Descent after Up & Around Dry Fall

Being a group full of hike leaders, we had to make an effort to allow today's leaders, Chuck and Lettie, to make the decisions in front of us. In the end, I think they were last to arrive!!

Descending past the Dry Fall

Continuing down the Main Wash

We gathered at the Cairn Junction then climbed the hill to follow the trail overland to the re-entrance of the Main Wash. For the remaining mile or so of the wash, we cut across the zigzags as much as we could. It was a good group of hikers today and everyone was in it to learn. Chuck is a great teacher! The weather was warm by the time we got into our cars and drove off.

6 miles; 750 feet elevation gain; 4.25 hours; average moving speed 1.4 mph

Cairn Junction from top of Hill

Overland Trail

Hiking out the Main Wash