Soap Creek is a small stream that flows in to the Colorado River at mile 11.4. There is a large river campground just upstream of the creek and subsequent Soap Creek Rapid. The shorter fork of Soap Creek begins its journey to the river only a few miles to the north in the Vermillion Cliffs behind Cliff Dweller's Lodge. The longer section, South Fork of Soap Creek begins about 9 miles west of Cliff Dweller's Lodge. The two forks join together about 1.7 miles south of Cliff Dweller's. The length of the Soap Creek drainage can be hiked with some minor technical obstructions although there are pour offs and boulders to negotiate. It is a somewhat popular day hike for fishing the Colorado River.
This photo was taken on the arid, sandy bench above the greener shrubs of the beach campground. This is a popular rafter's campground because of its distance from Lee's Ferry. Most raft trip launches don't leave Lee's Ferry until about 10:00 a.m., after the safety orientation. Therefore, the first leg of the raft trip can be a short day with Soap Creek being a convenient place for the first night's camping.
You can view this, and many other panoramas of the Grand Canyon, including map locations and more detailed descriptions, at GCPano.org, . You can directly view this panorama at https://project.gcpano.org/?enterAt=SoapCreek.pan
GCPano.org