The Tuckup canyon is a non technical canyon deep within the north to north west region (AB9) of the Grand Canyon National Park. 

This canyon is one of the most scenic non technical canyons within the park and has access to the river which can be done as a over night trip, or could be included with a canyoneering trip by providing an exit to the esplanade.

The day before, my group hiked the Tuckup trail around the esplanade to Hades Canyon for a long day and 13 miles from the top of the trail at east tuckup to the confluence of Hades Knoll Canyon and Tuckup canyon.

The night before we were relaxing at our campsite and Justin got stung by a bark scorpion.  He wasn't doing so well so the decision was made to hike out and back to the car the following day.

The walls were reflecting a fiery color of reds and oranges when we started our hike out of the canyon.  We were also pleased to see the conglomerate arch just above camp.

River runners seem to get a bit more of a leisure by hiking from the river up through the best parts of the canyons and returning when they are ready. The top down hikes provide more of a remote back country challenge which has its own benefits.  

The walls towered over us, providing no escape from the canyon except for a downward or upward meander.

Small springs were seeping water from the walls and there was some reliable sources of water along the way.  This is a life saver and I can only imagine how hot this place must get in the summer months.

We continued to hike out and boulder hop and scramble are some massive boulders until we came to a series of narrow redwall limestone sections.

The walls were quite polished and looked similar to Hades Knoll canyon but with out all of the boulder obstacles the Hades Knoll provided.

There were some high corridors of polished limestone and some substantial varnishing from the sandstone above the limestone.

The narrow canyons continued to provide some interesting color as the sun started to reflect color from different directions as the days went on.

We also passed Dome pocket and Rocky point canyons. These are two side canyons that are worth running from the top down.

There is also a escape route just beyond rocky point that provides access to the esplanade and access to run both western tributary canyons. 

We continued to hike out and eventually the walls started to lower as we rose in elevation

There was one last feature that we went looking for and that was the Shaman Panel.

This was a really interesting panel with colored pictographs on the wall of tall standing people with outfits on, other designs, and silhouettes of animals.

unfortunately, some idiots also put their names in the panels.

The hike out took just over an hour and we had a cool breeze with sunny conditions.

Hiking out of the Tuckup canyon

I think this was the most ideal of situations as we did not have to go through as much water as we did when we hikes over to the top of Hades Canyon.