We initially planned to do the Boucher Trail, but with the amount of precip we didn't want to be on such a rugged trail, and fortunately due to the weather there were a few cancellations so we were able to get permits for the Tonto East area over 3 nights.
We got to the Grand Canyon on Thanksgiving, and it was snowing, and incredibly cold. The clouds were playing with the tourists, giving only brief glimpses of the canyon to everyone. The cloud level was about a 1/3 of the way down the canyon walls. We got to the Grandview Trailhead using a Xanterra taxi. What a rip! To get from the South Kaibab Trail Parking to the Grandview Trailhead, it cost us $43.
Fortunately even though there was 4 inches on the ground on the rim, the trail was relatively uncovered, unfortunately, our visibility was about 50 ft. It was kind of cool though, even though we didn't have any views for a while. It felt like some chinese based movie where they're on a trail in the mountains, and it's really foggy. It wasn't until we reached a saddle that we had any view of the canyon, but it was short lived. Once we dropped further down the clouds became fleeting and finally we were completely below the cloud level.
After another few hours of hiking we made it to Cottonwood Creek. There were a few campsites after heading down canyon a ways, and we camped at one of the first, with some shelter from trees, right where the flowing creek came in. As you continue down towards where the Tonto heads East below Horseshoe Mesa there are a few larger, flatter campsites on the rock shelves above the creekbed.
After that, things were again very characteristic of the Tonto Trail. Never climbing much, or dropping much, but extensive routes to the tops of drainages, and back to the river, all at the same elevation. Grapevine is supposed to be one of the worst drainages to navigate around. At the beginning, the other side is very close, but to get there you have to go 3 miles up and 3 miles back, but this is the Tonto - flat miles that go by quickly. We camped before Boulder Creek, just around the corner from Grapevine, and had basically the same vista to hike to as we did the morning before.
Lonetree was my primary water source. It's only been a week, but I can't remember if I filled up anywhere else. The potholes in Lonetree were still in the morning shadows, and it was a huge coldsink, and was freezing!
Our next night was Cremation Creek, right before the area boundary line. Cremation was a challenge to get through after a few days of easy walking. Instead of maintaining a constant elevation here, you drop in and out of a series of canyons. Close to the top of the last canyon is a campsite with rock benches, a huge overhanging rock for shade, and a large flat spot to camp on.
From there the fun ends. It's a nice climb up to the Tipoff on the South Kaibab and then the challenging climb up the South Kaibab. Foolishly I didn't eat my granola for breakfast, and my energy stores tanked halfway up. I didn't want to take myself on a blood sugar roller coaster ride by eating enough of something to get me the rest of the way out, so I put up with a shuffling pace, waiting for energy from fat stores to be freed up and muscle broken down for energy. It took a little longer to get out, but I did it. The total trip was just over 28 miles.
For Tonto Trail planning check out the All Hikers Website.
Photos from this trip
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Green River Kayaking - Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons - Canyonlands NP
The time finally came to go on a super long trip. This was one of my most complicated trips to plan, logistically speaking, but that's not saying much. Most of my trips are really simple to put together. The plan was to do 10 days on the Green River between the city of Green River, and the Confluence of the Green and Colorado River, traveling through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons. We setup a shuttle with Tag-a-Long to take us to our put-in and pick us up at the Confluence. I switched the put-in to be at Crystal Geyser instead of Green River State Park to avoid the hassle of dealing with a ranger. It also cut off a few mundane miles. If I could do it over, I would just put-in at Ruby Ranch and shave off a few more miles. There is some interesting stuff between Crystal Geyser and Ruby Ranch, but not enough to be worth it, in my opinion. The Labyrinth permit is free, and filled out in duplicate, and one is left at your put-in, the other taken with you. The Stillwater permit is $20 and there's no limit to how many groups are on the river, so if you request a permit, you get it. That's totally different than other permit systems I've come to know from our National Parks.
We took 3 kayaks and 1 canoe. Fortunately we had the canoe for carrying stuff like coolers, and a camp stove. It made things a lot nicer. We were at Crystal Geyser for a few hours getting our boats loaded up, and hoping that the geyser would go off. The wait paid off, and the geyser went off for about 10 minutes, shooting in short and tall bursts. Our shuttle driver waited around to make sure we could carry all our gear, but we managed to get it all in. I didn't have the advantage of having the kayak I was using to do a dry run with packing, so I'm glad that all of my stuff fit, and didn't weigh me down too much.
So we took off, and started down our long journey through the canyons. The current was slow at 1.5-3 mph depending on the section, so we paddled, a lot. We went through some class toddler rapids almost from the start, then everything was smooth. I knew we should expect some wind to deal with, but what we got the first 3 days, was over the top. The wind would make 12†waves that we'd be powering through, trying not to come to a standstill, or even worse, blown backwards. After the first 3 days though, the winds weren't bad at all.
I didn't recharge my GPS after my tests with the solar panel and battery pack, but I did try to let the battery pack recharge some. The GPS only lasted 4 hours, and I found out that I can't run the solar panel and expect it to charge the GPS at the same time. I turned the battery pack off so it couldn't try to charge the GPS and let the battery pack recharge during the day, then switched the battery pack on so it could recharge the GPS at night while it was off. That worked a lot better, but wasn't enough to keep the GPS alive the whole time I was on the river like I had hoped since one battery was always charging while the other was draining.
We had to carry all of our water, so at 1 gallon per person per day, it was a lot of water. I was cooking my lunch with river water that I filtered through a bandanna to get rid of the larger sand particles. The remaining silt was unnoticeable in the cooked food. Notwithstanding, we had a collapsible water bucket that we used to let river water settle out overnight, then we ran that through a water filter for dinner the next night. If we had two buckets we probably could've gotten away with not carrying all our drinking water – but filtering is such a pain.
We didn't encounter any other people until we made it to the Trin Alcove, then we saw them taking off before we got there. We didn't see them again until we were at the Bowknot Bend. They had camped at the site where the trail is that leads up to the divide. They were only doing Labyrinth, and had a large raft, and a ton of kayaks.
That night (night 3) we slept on a big sand bar, on our own island. The sunset was incredible, and someone had sculpted mud into a frog, a mouse, a little man, and something else. It was fun to be on our own little island.
When we got to Mineral Bottom, where there is a take-out, we didn't see anybody there. I was expecting to see a ranger, maybe a backcountry office, or something since some people mention talking to rangers there in their trip reports, but there were only a few signs, a few registries, and two pit toilets. So we had lunch there, and kept on going through Labyrinth.
When we officially entered Canyonlands the landscape opened up and we were out of Labyrinth. Stillwater wasn't as scenic as Labyrinth, but the far-reaching vistas of Canyonlands were cool. The cliff walls were fairly short until we got closer to the Confluence. It was here that we first started seeing people again. The first were on a sandbar spying on us with some binoculars. We later found out that they were looking for Tag-a-Long branding on our boats to see if we were the group they were taking out with. We didn't rent our boats, so they didn't know till we met in person that we were. We kept on until we got to a site further down the river where there are some ruins and an old cabin. We shared the beach with a man and 5 women in one group, and two guys in another group who read the bible out loud non-stop.
When we stopped for lunch the next day, a raven descended on our boats. It grabbed an empty trail mix bag and took off before I got down to them and tried to take off with it. It had a hard time doing that since the bag was half its size. Another raven came, and opened a zipper and tore into a small ziplock full of trail mix, and took off. I don't like ravens. They still haven't gotten into anything of mine, but I know they want to, and I don't want to give them the chance.
We hit a class 1 that day. I thought there was only flatwater, but it was really nice to see a small amount of action on the water. We had a massive campsite with tons of cottonwoods perfect for hammocks, and lots of shade, but it was a long walk from the boats through a tunnel of tamarisk. So we camped on the beach where it was cooler, and hung the hammocks up in the cottonwoods. The bible boys camped on a sand bar close by, and the group of women were further upstream. The bible boys kept on reading and talking away into the night.
The next day was really short as we were only going as far as the Turks Head so we could hike to the ruins. There was a great rock for jumping into the river there with 6' deep water, and a sandbar beyond that. The tamarisk didn't have a chance to encroach on this campsite. We camped on a 15' cliff. The next morning when we went up to the ruins, the trail was faint, and due to the ground cover of tiny rocks, was going to stay faint. I did some serious cairning to help future guys find their way. There were around 5 ruins of grainaries there, mostly intact overlooking a broad desert landscape with the river flowing around the bend beyond that.
We met the guys with the binoculars the next day and camped just downstream from them. The cliffs were starting to get tall again, and we were less than 10 miles from the Confluence. We had a fat squirrel in this campsite. I threw rocks to drive him away, and when he came back I chased him out of camp and threw rocks until he was a good ways away. It still came back and was rummaging around a tent out of view. After it was chased away twice from there it didn't come back.
The Confluence is an interesting area for the water. The blending of two waters with different levels of silt, and temperature produced bursts of water that would break the surface and push out the water that was on top. The water wasn't much faster, there was just more of it. We floated through another class 1 and then made camp at Upper Spanish Bottom with our neighbors from the previous night. We paddled down to Lower Spanish Bottom to check it out and hiked down around the bend to where the first whitewater in Cataract Canyon is located. It looked fun. I don't think it would be much fun in a raft, but in a kayak – definitely. Paddling back upstream, only half a mile, was exhausting, and gave me my first real workout since battling the winds at the beginning of the trip. At least the current wasn't so swift that we couldn't make progress against it. As much as I want to kayak through Brown Betty Rapids, and the rest of Cataract someday, I want to build some skills before I tackle those rapids.
Shortly before our jetboat came to pick us up a group of two couples came up and landed just upstream from us and annoyed everyone within a mile with their bickering. I guess 4-5 days of non-stop contact with each other is too much for some people. It made me really, really glad that my group was very chill. We were hoping that they wouldn't be on our jetboat....we were wrong. Thankfully the jetboat was super loud. We zipped on up to Potash in about an hour and a half. The jetboats can get up to 40 mph on the water. Maybe faster. The jetboat from there was towed back into town by our bus – where we found that a hotel was being built next to Tag-a-Long, and when we left there was only an empty lot. Nothing like seeing an entire first floor of a hotel being all framed out on a foundation that didn't exist when we left to remind us how long we were gone.
It was an awesome experience. I can't believe how fast it went by. I'm really glad I did it.
View photos from this trip
We took 3 kayaks and 1 canoe. Fortunately we had the canoe for carrying stuff like coolers, and a camp stove. It made things a lot nicer. We were at Crystal Geyser for a few hours getting our boats loaded up, and hoping that the geyser would go off. The wait paid off, and the geyser went off for about 10 minutes, shooting in short and tall bursts. Our shuttle driver waited around to make sure we could carry all our gear, but we managed to get it all in. I didn't have the advantage of having the kayak I was using to do a dry run with packing, so I'm glad that all of my stuff fit, and didn't weigh me down too much.
So we took off, and started down our long journey through the canyons. The current was slow at 1.5-3 mph depending on the section, so we paddled, a lot. We went through some class toddler rapids almost from the start, then everything was smooth. I knew we should expect some wind to deal with, but what we got the first 3 days, was over the top. The wind would make 12†waves that we'd be powering through, trying not to come to a standstill, or even worse, blown backwards. After the first 3 days though, the winds weren't bad at all.
I didn't recharge my GPS after my tests with the solar panel and battery pack, but I did try to let the battery pack recharge some. The GPS only lasted 4 hours, and I found out that I can't run the solar panel and expect it to charge the GPS at the same time. I turned the battery pack off so it couldn't try to charge the GPS and let the battery pack recharge during the day, then switched the battery pack on so it could recharge the GPS at night while it was off. That worked a lot better, but wasn't enough to keep the GPS alive the whole time I was on the river like I had hoped since one battery was always charging while the other was draining.
We had to carry all of our water, so at 1 gallon per person per day, it was a lot of water. I was cooking my lunch with river water that I filtered through a bandanna to get rid of the larger sand particles. The remaining silt was unnoticeable in the cooked food. Notwithstanding, we had a collapsible water bucket that we used to let river water settle out overnight, then we ran that through a water filter for dinner the next night. If we had two buckets we probably could've gotten away with not carrying all our drinking water – but filtering is such a pain.
We didn't encounter any other people until we made it to the Trin Alcove, then we saw them taking off before we got there. We didn't see them again until we were at the Bowknot Bend. They had camped at the site where the trail is that leads up to the divide. They were only doing Labyrinth, and had a large raft, and a ton of kayaks.
That night (night 3) we slept on a big sand bar, on our own island. The sunset was incredible, and someone had sculpted mud into a frog, a mouse, a little man, and something else. It was fun to be on our own little island.
When we got to Mineral Bottom, where there is a take-out, we didn't see anybody there. I was expecting to see a ranger, maybe a backcountry office, or something since some people mention talking to rangers there in their trip reports, but there were only a few signs, a few registries, and two pit toilets. So we had lunch there, and kept on going through Labyrinth.
When we officially entered Canyonlands the landscape opened up and we were out of Labyrinth. Stillwater wasn't as scenic as Labyrinth, but the far-reaching vistas of Canyonlands were cool. The cliff walls were fairly short until we got closer to the Confluence. It was here that we first started seeing people again. The first were on a sandbar spying on us with some binoculars. We later found out that they were looking for Tag-a-Long branding on our boats to see if we were the group they were taking out with. We didn't rent our boats, so they didn't know till we met in person that we were. We kept on until we got to a site further down the river where there are some ruins and an old cabin. We shared the beach with a man and 5 women in one group, and two guys in another group who read the bible out loud non-stop.
When we stopped for lunch the next day, a raven descended on our boats. It grabbed an empty trail mix bag and took off before I got down to them and tried to take off with it. It had a hard time doing that since the bag was half its size. Another raven came, and opened a zipper and tore into a small ziplock full of trail mix, and took off. I don't like ravens. They still haven't gotten into anything of mine, but I know they want to, and I don't want to give them the chance.
We hit a class 1 that day. I thought there was only flatwater, but it was really nice to see a small amount of action on the water. We had a massive campsite with tons of cottonwoods perfect for hammocks, and lots of shade, but it was a long walk from the boats through a tunnel of tamarisk. So we camped on the beach where it was cooler, and hung the hammocks up in the cottonwoods. The bible boys camped on a sand bar close by, and the group of women were further upstream. The bible boys kept on reading and talking away into the night.
The next day was really short as we were only going as far as the Turks Head so we could hike to the ruins. There was a great rock for jumping into the river there with 6' deep water, and a sandbar beyond that. The tamarisk didn't have a chance to encroach on this campsite. We camped on a 15' cliff. The next morning when we went up to the ruins, the trail was faint, and due to the ground cover of tiny rocks, was going to stay faint. I did some serious cairning to help future guys find their way. There were around 5 ruins of grainaries there, mostly intact overlooking a broad desert landscape with the river flowing around the bend beyond that.
We met the guys with the binoculars the next day and camped just downstream from them. The cliffs were starting to get tall again, and we were less than 10 miles from the Confluence. We had a fat squirrel in this campsite. I threw rocks to drive him away, and when he came back I chased him out of camp and threw rocks until he was a good ways away. It still came back and was rummaging around a tent out of view. After it was chased away twice from there it didn't come back.
The Confluence is an interesting area for the water. The blending of two waters with different levels of silt, and temperature produced bursts of water that would break the surface and push out the water that was on top. The water wasn't much faster, there was just more of it. We floated through another class 1 and then made camp at Upper Spanish Bottom with our neighbors from the previous night. We paddled down to Lower Spanish Bottom to check it out and hiked down around the bend to where the first whitewater in Cataract Canyon is located. It looked fun. I don't think it would be much fun in a raft, but in a kayak – definitely. Paddling back upstream, only half a mile, was exhausting, and gave me my first real workout since battling the winds at the beginning of the trip. At least the current wasn't so swift that we couldn't make progress against it. As much as I want to kayak through Brown Betty Rapids, and the rest of Cataract someday, I want to build some skills before I tackle those rapids.
Shortly before our jetboat came to pick us up a group of two couples came up and landed just upstream from us and annoyed everyone within a mile with their bickering. I guess 4-5 days of non-stop contact with each other is too much for some people. It made me really, really glad that my group was very chill. We were hoping that they wouldn't be on our jetboat....we were wrong. Thankfully the jetboat was super loud. We zipped on up to Potash in about an hour and a half. The jetboats can get up to 40 mph on the water. Maybe faster. The jetboat from there was towed back into town by our bus – where we found that a hotel was being built next to Tag-a-Long, and when we left there was only an empty lot. Nothing like seeing an entire first floor of a hotel being all framed out on a foundation that didn't exist when we left to remind us how long we were gone.
It was an awesome experience. I can't believe how fast it went by. I'm really glad I did it.
View photos from this trip
Monday, August 18, 2008
Death Hollow (Boulder Mail Trail to Death Hollow, then Escalante to the Hwy 12 Bridge)
Finally, the trip to do a stretch of Death Hollow came. We stopped at the Hells Backbone Cafe in Boulder for a few minutes. Just long enough to sit down, look at the menu, order water, and realize that was about all we'd ever be willing to pay for there. So we had burgers for dinner, and headed to the trailhead to camp. On the way we drove across the Old Boulder Airport dirt strip, and found a plane there! That was cool. I didn't think anybody used it anymore.
The next morning the owners of the plane came to fly it off, and we headed out. Sand Hollow came and went pretty quick this time around. I thought we had gone down Sand Hollow too far before the trail exited, based on the trail outline on the map, so we headed up one of the drainages that the trail would cross and started climbing out the West side of it only to hit the trail from the wrong side, meaning we didn't go nearly far enough. Oh well. At least we got that out of the way.
We hit Death Hollow within 3.5 hours. We dropped our bags, had lunch, and decided to head upstream a bit to find Squirting Spring. The actual source is sourrounded by soil, so there's a narrow opening to get water from the actual source. The water from there travels down a flat surface where it's difficult to collect. The water has iron oxidizing bacteria which causes the rust colored surface on the rock. Pretty sweet. From there we went for a swim in one of the pools and headed back down to where our packs were. The initial plan was to sleep in the campsite where the Boulder Mail Trail hits Death Hollow but we both wanted to move on.
The vegetation was pretty deep, and the quicksand was plentiful. There was flooding all through here a week before from heavy rains and that deposited a lot of new sand where there was solid rock in the creek before. The poison ivy was very heavy in some areas. Dragonflys were flying around all over the place, and there were no mosquitoes or biting flies. It was nice....except for the poison ivy. With the temperatures being on the warmer side, however, staying in the water to avoid the ivy was most welcome.
After we passed the point where I had never been before (where the Boulder Mail Trail climbs out of Death Hollow) things started to really open up – like a massive valley inside what was otherwise a fairly narrow canyon. We went cross country through the desert like areas to shave off some distance through the creek. Eventually, after 3-4 hours, we made it to the canyon where Mamie Creek comes into Death Hollow. There was actually a small flow of water. We camped just downstream of there on a new sand bar that was perfectly flat in an area which otherwise would have no good places to camp. I set the hammock up with a crack in a boulder, and a small rock, and a tree. Hammocks are the best when backpacking!
The next day, we went just a bit further downstream before we hit the only narrows section of the canyon South of the Boulder Mail Trail. Had it not been for the sand deposits making the unavoidable pools only waist deep, we would've had to swim them. I wouldn't have minded that, but keeping things dry for sure, instead of hoping they'd stay dry in the dry bags was better in my mind than having a quick swim. Not long after we were through the narrows, it seemed like we were really close to the Escalante based on the cliff patterns I remembered. Less than 2 hours after we left camp we were walking through the Escalante.
Death Hollow provided 90% of the water flowing in the Escalante. For some reason the Escalante was a trickle and Death Hollow had a good flow. We made our way downstream to the huge bend in the river where the cliffs overhang the entire river, and half of the beach and stayed there for a bit, seeing if we wanted to keep going, or stop there. We decided to stay.
Getting up in the middle of the night was a bit eery. I kept looking up and up and up for the sky and not seeing it, only weird shadow patterns instead. Finally I tilted my head back far enough to see the sky. That canyon wall is just massive.
The next day we explored the entrance to Sand Hollow. The quicksand was fast and deep at the first bend, so we didn't venture across the stagnant pool of water, but it looks like it would be a good springtime trip, before the brush gets too thick, and the mosquitoes come out.
We waited 15 minutes for someone to pick us up at the trailhead and give us a ride back to the trailhead. Which wasn't bad considering the small amount of traffic on Highway 12.
View photos from this trip
The next morning the owners of the plane came to fly it off, and we headed out. Sand Hollow came and went pretty quick this time around. I thought we had gone down Sand Hollow too far before the trail exited, based on the trail outline on the map, so we headed up one of the drainages that the trail would cross and started climbing out the West side of it only to hit the trail from the wrong side, meaning we didn't go nearly far enough. Oh well. At least we got that out of the way.
We hit Death Hollow within 3.5 hours. We dropped our bags, had lunch, and decided to head upstream a bit to find Squirting Spring. The actual source is sourrounded by soil, so there's a narrow opening to get water from the actual source. The water from there travels down a flat surface where it's difficult to collect. The water has iron oxidizing bacteria which causes the rust colored surface on the rock. Pretty sweet. From there we went for a swim in one of the pools and headed back down to where our packs were. The initial plan was to sleep in the campsite where the Boulder Mail Trail hits Death Hollow but we both wanted to move on.
The vegetation was pretty deep, and the quicksand was plentiful. There was flooding all through here a week before from heavy rains and that deposited a lot of new sand where there was solid rock in the creek before. The poison ivy was very heavy in some areas. Dragonflys were flying around all over the place, and there were no mosquitoes or biting flies. It was nice....except for the poison ivy. With the temperatures being on the warmer side, however, staying in the water to avoid the ivy was most welcome.
After we passed the point where I had never been before (where the Boulder Mail Trail climbs out of Death Hollow) things started to really open up – like a massive valley inside what was otherwise a fairly narrow canyon. We went cross country through the desert like areas to shave off some distance through the creek. Eventually, after 3-4 hours, we made it to the canyon where Mamie Creek comes into Death Hollow. There was actually a small flow of water. We camped just downstream of there on a new sand bar that was perfectly flat in an area which otherwise would have no good places to camp. I set the hammock up with a crack in a boulder, and a small rock, and a tree. Hammocks are the best when backpacking!
The next day, we went just a bit further downstream before we hit the only narrows section of the canyon South of the Boulder Mail Trail. Had it not been for the sand deposits making the unavoidable pools only waist deep, we would've had to swim them. I wouldn't have minded that, but keeping things dry for sure, instead of hoping they'd stay dry in the dry bags was better in my mind than having a quick swim. Not long after we were through the narrows, it seemed like we were really close to the Escalante based on the cliff patterns I remembered. Less than 2 hours after we left camp we were walking through the Escalante.
Death Hollow provided 90% of the water flowing in the Escalante. For some reason the Escalante was a trickle and Death Hollow had a good flow. We made our way downstream to the huge bend in the river where the cliffs overhang the entire river, and half of the beach and stayed there for a bit, seeing if we wanted to keep going, or stop there. We decided to stay.
Getting up in the middle of the night was a bit eery. I kept looking up and up and up for the sky and not seeing it, only weird shadow patterns instead. Finally I tilted my head back far enough to see the sky. That canyon wall is just massive.
The next day we explored the entrance to Sand Hollow. The quicksand was fast and deep at the first bend, so we didn't venture across the stagnant pool of water, but it looks like it would be a good springtime trip, before the brush gets too thick, and the mosquitoes come out.
We waited 15 minutes for someone to pick us up at the trailhead and give us a ride back to the trailhead. Which wasn't bad considering the small amount of traffic on Highway 12.
View photos from this trip
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Canyonlands - Needles
I've been wanting to do a trip in Needles for a long time. It's got a reputation of having phenomenally spectacular scenery. It's only fitting that I forget my camera on this trip, and only realize it when I have no opportunity to buy a mediocre replacement (something I've wanted to do anyway so I can pack that on mt biking rides instead of my nice one). I camped a few miles outside the park after 6 hours of driving, and the wind was howling under a moon-less sky with freezing temperatures. I didn't bother with a tent - I just slept inside the truck.
The next morning Brittany and I met up, but not before I was given 20 questions by a national park cop about why I was napping in my truck at 9am, and him not believing that I camped outside the park. Oh what fun!
Our first destination was the Confluence Overlook. It was a pretty sweet section of trail with an initial drop down into a canyon and a climb out the other side. From there it was up and over slickrock sections, across lengthy valleys, up drainages, and then through some fun, quick downclimbs. The Confluence was cool. I've never seen it before. It was like pea soup mixing in with lentil soup. Those were the colours du jour, anyway.
Our next leg was 2.5 miles through "Cyclone Alley" it was more like Tumbleweed Alley. The canyon itself was one long 500 ft wide stretch with straight canyon walls the whole way through, and it was just a collection bin for tumbleweeds. It sucked.
After a few miles of scenic hiking, we were at our campsite, DP1, in the Devil's Kitchen. The campsite is nestled in-between two sandstone fins. We had 12 ft piles of tumbleweeds on one side, stacked up against a tree, and in another tree, tumbleweeds were stuck all throughout it. While it was nice and warm outside the campsite, as soon as the sun dropped behind the fins around 5pm, it got cold, and the wind - which only existed at our site - made it colder. It would've been awesome a month from now when the temps were higher.
While I was sunning myself on some rocks outside the campsite I heard a group of people approach the turnoff for the campsite. Their conversation is as follows: Oh finally! That was the longest 0.2 miles I've ever hiked! Oh wait, DP1? Where the **** is DP1? Pull out the map.......wait......how in the hell did we get over here? Let me see that. Oh great, you were holding it the wrong way. That's just great. Conversation ends. They kept going the same direction. Apparently they got all bent out of shape after going the wrong way on a loop trail, and they weren't that far from the Devil's Kitchen 4x4 campground.
The next day we were off to Chesler Park! We were told that we absolutely had to check out the Joint Trail and that the cool stuff started out right from the trail junction we were going to hit. When I got there, I saw nothing but more valley, so I decided to head off and hope that the cool stuff started when I reached the rocky area in the distance. When I got there, the trail headed East through more valley. I was debating whether to keep going or head back. I heard voices, so I dropped my pack and headed towards them. When I found the people a girl in the group greeted me like I was someone they were waiting for....I wasn't him. So I told them my story, and they were like, well, it is really cool, and totally worth it, and it starts right here.
They pointed down a dark stairway which descended into the darkness of a crack in the earth. It was straight out of something from Indiana Jones. I felt like I should've been carrying a flaming torch. It was a surreal feeling as I descended the rock staircase and the cool air surrounded me. As my eyes, adjusted I looked down a long, straight section of narrows about three feet wide. Light intermittently broke the darkness. As I approached one of the lit sections I looked one way and the other down long stretches of cracks that were identical to the one I was in. Some were narrower than others. I went down the first set - sideways - and found that these canyons were just one big cross-hatched grid of narrows. I went back to the main section and kept heading down, deeper and deeper. Soon a series of massive boulders appeared, and I noticed a few cairns here and there. I made my way around them, and found a lot of cairns. I'm talking a few dozen in the narrows. As I walked through them, a cave like passage on the right opened up, with light coming in from the back, I saw over a hundred cairns lining the walls, and the floor. I was in total awe. The sheer number of cairns all over the place was mind-boggling. Some were tiny cairns, some were big cairns, some were cairns formed into arches. I dubbed it the Hall of Cairns. I didn't see any inukshuks though. That was disappointing. Reaching the end of the Hall of Cairns, I broke through into full light again and descended another series of rock stairs into a picturesque scene. This section of the Needles was stunning. I had much more to see that day, so I headed back, but not before building an inukshuk in the Hall of Cairns. I must say, he was the best one I've ever built.
After leaving the Chesler Park area into the area East, the scenery was just incredible. Deep canyons with towering cliffs everywhere. The rock alternated bands of red and white colors. I can't do justice of the scenery in text, so I won't bother. After we dropped all the way down into the creekbed of Elephant Canyon we made our way into the Squaw Canyon area. To get there we had to climb up and over a ridge complete with a ladder built out of dead tree trunks and limbs, held together with bolts, bailing wire, then up a series of moki steps, and down the other side on a more reassuring steel ladder. A little ways up the trail we climbed up a tree trunk with foot notches into a small cave/canyon between two fins. Initially you just hop back and forth, and walk with your legs spanning the gap, but towards towards the end it is too narrow to get through with a pack on, and logs have been dropped into the gap. After shimmying through that obstacle it wasn't long before we dropped into the creekbed and found our campsite, SQ2. This one had almost no shade, and tons of no-see-ums, fueled from the swamp like area all along the creek.
The rest of the trip out was unremarkable. It was somewhere between 25-30 miles...I think. It was a fantastic trip. The scenery is phenomenal. Chesler Park didn't do much for me. All the area around it is just awesome.
The next morning Brittany and I met up, but not before I was given 20 questions by a national park cop about why I was napping in my truck at 9am, and him not believing that I camped outside the park. Oh what fun!
Our first destination was the Confluence Overlook. It was a pretty sweet section of trail with an initial drop down into a canyon and a climb out the other side. From there it was up and over slickrock sections, across lengthy valleys, up drainages, and then through some fun, quick downclimbs. The Confluence was cool. I've never seen it before. It was like pea soup mixing in with lentil soup. Those were the colours du jour, anyway.
Our next leg was 2.5 miles through "Cyclone Alley" it was more like Tumbleweed Alley. The canyon itself was one long 500 ft wide stretch with straight canyon walls the whole way through, and it was just a collection bin for tumbleweeds. It sucked.
After a few miles of scenic hiking, we were at our campsite, DP1, in the Devil's Kitchen. The campsite is nestled in-between two sandstone fins. We had 12 ft piles of tumbleweeds on one side, stacked up against a tree, and in another tree, tumbleweeds were stuck all throughout it. While it was nice and warm outside the campsite, as soon as the sun dropped behind the fins around 5pm, it got cold, and the wind - which only existed at our site - made it colder. It would've been awesome a month from now when the temps were higher.
While I was sunning myself on some rocks outside the campsite I heard a group of people approach the turnoff for the campsite. Their conversation is as follows: Oh finally! That was the longest 0.2 miles I've ever hiked! Oh wait, DP1? Where the **** is DP1? Pull out the map.......wait......how in the hell did we get over here? Let me see that. Oh great, you were holding it the wrong way. That's just great. Conversation ends. They kept going the same direction. Apparently they got all bent out of shape after going the wrong way on a loop trail, and they weren't that far from the Devil's Kitchen 4x4 campground.
The next day we were off to Chesler Park! We were told that we absolutely had to check out the Joint Trail and that the cool stuff started out right from the trail junction we were going to hit. When I got there, I saw nothing but more valley, so I decided to head off and hope that the cool stuff started when I reached the rocky area in the distance. When I got there, the trail headed East through more valley. I was debating whether to keep going or head back. I heard voices, so I dropped my pack and headed towards them. When I found the people a girl in the group greeted me like I was someone they were waiting for....I wasn't him. So I told them my story, and they were like, well, it is really cool, and totally worth it, and it starts right here.
They pointed down a dark stairway which descended into the darkness of a crack in the earth. It was straight out of something from Indiana Jones. I felt like I should've been carrying a flaming torch. It was a surreal feeling as I descended the rock staircase and the cool air surrounded me. As my eyes, adjusted I looked down a long, straight section of narrows about three feet wide. Light intermittently broke the darkness. As I approached one of the lit sections I looked one way and the other down long stretches of cracks that were identical to the one I was in. Some were narrower than others. I went down the first set - sideways - and found that these canyons were just one big cross-hatched grid of narrows. I went back to the main section and kept heading down, deeper and deeper. Soon a series of massive boulders appeared, and I noticed a few cairns here and there. I made my way around them, and found a lot of cairns. I'm talking a few dozen in the narrows. As I walked through them, a cave like passage on the right opened up, with light coming in from the back, I saw over a hundred cairns lining the walls, and the floor. I was in total awe. The sheer number of cairns all over the place was mind-boggling. Some were tiny cairns, some were big cairns, some were cairns formed into arches. I dubbed it the Hall of Cairns. I didn't see any inukshuks though. That was disappointing. Reaching the end of the Hall of Cairns, I broke through into full light again and descended another series of rock stairs into a picturesque scene. This section of the Needles was stunning. I had much more to see that day, so I headed back, but not before building an inukshuk in the Hall of Cairns. I must say, he was the best one I've ever built.
After leaving the Chesler Park area into the area East, the scenery was just incredible. Deep canyons with towering cliffs everywhere. The rock alternated bands of red and white colors. I can't do justice of the scenery in text, so I won't bother. After we dropped all the way down into the creekbed of Elephant Canyon we made our way into the Squaw Canyon area. To get there we had to climb up and over a ridge complete with a ladder built out of dead tree trunks and limbs, held together with bolts, bailing wire, then up a series of moki steps, and down the other side on a more reassuring steel ladder. A little ways up the trail we climbed up a tree trunk with foot notches into a small cave/canyon between two fins. Initially you just hop back and forth, and walk with your legs spanning the gap, but towards towards the end it is too narrow to get through with a pack on, and logs have been dropped into the gap. After shimmying through that obstacle it wasn't long before we dropped into the creekbed and found our campsite, SQ2. This one had almost no shade, and tons of no-see-ums, fueled from the swamp like area all along the creek.
The rest of the trip out was unremarkable. It was somewhere between 25-30 miles...I think. It was a fantastic trip. The scenery is phenomenal. Chesler Park didn't do much for me. All the area around it is just awesome.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
New Bike - Hurricane Riding - Gooseberry & JEM Trails
I got my bike on Thursday at work. It was a little before lunch, and it was just barely within my view of my peripheral vision. It was driving me nuts! Just seeing it all packed up in a big brown box...I had to do something about it, so during my lunch, I freed it! I had it all put together and it went pretty smoothly. I took it for a spin up and down a normally empty hallway a few times. Later that night I took it for a few more test spins after making adjustments in the pool parking lot. I was liking it, but really wanted to try it on a trail....but it was going to have to wait till Saturday.
The bike I purchased was the Motobecane Fantom Elite DS. Overall I think it's an excellent bike, however the shock combo is a bit weird with their remote lockouts. The rear to be locked has to have the remote switch in the up positino and the front switch has to be down for a full lockout. I love being able to adjust the travel so I can get some air off jumps with a lower travel, or soak up the bumps on the trail with a longer one.
We tried to camp at the Red Cliffs Wilderness CG, and as we pulled through there around 11pm and found nothing open, we disappointedly decided to go to the one spot I knew would be empty, especially on Easter weekend. It's in an area called Crater Hill – where the Guacamole trail starts up. Nobody was there, except for some coyotes, who weren't afraid to howl at the full moon and call out to all their buddies in the vicinity.
Our trail of the day where I was going to pop my new bike's cherry was Gooseberry Mesa. I'd been through a few of the trails a few years ago on my hardtail, and it was a lot of fun. It was even more fun with a full suss. We did the practice loop, came out on the main road, found our way to the point, came back out, did the yellow trail – which is a hoot, did the damn trail section, and came back for some food. We headed back out and did the first stretch of the south trail and called it a day. I was impressed with the handling of the bike. My only complaint is the pedals. I prefer flat pedals, and these were hybrids, so I couldn't get started in complex areas because I couldn't get the right side of the pedal when I needed it. Those will soon be ditched. I thought about getting clipless shoes, but I don't think I want those.
That night we went up to Smith Mesa to check things out up there. It's where the supersonic test track is for testing ejection seats. It was a USAF proving grounds, but is now a private company's test site. There were plenty of no trespassing signs, and mentions of video surveillance. It looked like there were tons of areas to camp up there, and it would probably be great in the summer, but it was colder up there and tons of wind. So we went back down and drove part of the JEM trail looking for a site....didn't really see one. In retrospect, pulling off the road on one of the pullouts and camping there would've been just fine. Rather we found our way up on Little Creek Mesa just south of Gooseberry and camped in a quarry. What fun!
Our last day was spent on the JEM trail. It's a long, boring ride up a gradual slope to the foothills of Gooseberry Mesa, then a riot from there all the way back to the TH. I wish I had a hardtail for that trail. All the jumps and possibilities for air left and right, it was just awesome. The only downside was the cows using the trail for travel when it was muddy, making it pot holed and rough. It probably won't even be noticeable in a few weeks with enough use.
I just love being down there in an environment with so many bikers. Everyone is just really happy to be out having fun. It's such a different experience than everyday life. So I'm just asking myself, when am I going back? Soon....very soon. Or maybe to Moab, or Fruita....
The bike I purchased was the Motobecane Fantom Elite DS. Overall I think it's an excellent bike, however the shock combo is a bit weird with their remote lockouts. The rear to be locked has to have the remote switch in the up positino and the front switch has to be down for a full lockout. I love being able to adjust the travel so I can get some air off jumps with a lower travel, or soak up the bumps on the trail with a longer one.
We tried to camp at the Red Cliffs Wilderness CG, and as we pulled through there around 11pm and found nothing open, we disappointedly decided to go to the one spot I knew would be empty, especially on Easter weekend. It's in an area called Crater Hill – where the Guacamole trail starts up. Nobody was there, except for some coyotes, who weren't afraid to howl at the full moon and call out to all their buddies in the vicinity.
Our trail of the day where I was going to pop my new bike's cherry was Gooseberry Mesa. I'd been through a few of the trails a few years ago on my hardtail, and it was a lot of fun. It was even more fun with a full suss. We did the practice loop, came out on the main road, found our way to the point, came back out, did the yellow trail – which is a hoot, did the damn trail section, and came back for some food. We headed back out and did the first stretch of the south trail and called it a day. I was impressed with the handling of the bike. My only complaint is the pedals. I prefer flat pedals, and these were hybrids, so I couldn't get started in complex areas because I couldn't get the right side of the pedal when I needed it. Those will soon be ditched. I thought about getting clipless shoes, but I don't think I want those.
That night we went up to Smith Mesa to check things out up there. It's where the supersonic test track is for testing ejection seats. It was a USAF proving grounds, but is now a private company's test site. There were plenty of no trespassing signs, and mentions of video surveillance. It looked like there were tons of areas to camp up there, and it would probably be great in the summer, but it was colder up there and tons of wind. So we went back down and drove part of the JEM trail looking for a site....didn't really see one. In retrospect, pulling off the road on one of the pullouts and camping there would've been just fine. Rather we found our way up on Little Creek Mesa just south of Gooseberry and camped in a quarry. What fun!
Our last day was spent on the JEM trail. It's a long, boring ride up a gradual slope to the foothills of Gooseberry Mesa, then a riot from there all the way back to the TH. I wish I had a hardtail for that trail. All the jumps and possibilities for air left and right, it was just awesome. The only downside was the cows using the trail for travel when it was muddy, making it pot holed and rough. It probably won't even be noticeable in a few weeks with enough use.
I just love being down there in an environment with so many bikers. Everyone is just really happy to be out having fun. It's such a different experience than everyday life. So I'm just asking myself, when am I going back? Soon....very soon. Or maybe to Moab, or Fruita....
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Superstitions - Winter 2008
I love my truck, but sometimes the voices I keep hearing to buy a new one just sound so good. We were twenty minutes into the drive when my truck started overheating. So we pulled over on the freeway, lifted the hood and watched the steam come out. Looking around, the coolant tank was empty, so we filled it, ran the engine, and it sucked it all up - added some more, saw the temp gauge get down to normal and we took off again. We didn't have heat from the heater, so I figured the thermostat malfunctioned and wasn't letting any coolant through. It got back up into the red while we were headed to an exit, so I turned the engine off and coasted halfway up the ramp. Chilled there till the engine got cool enough to continue, and a cop told us where an auto parts store was nearby. I changed the thermostat - no dice, plus it was leaking now. So it was off to Big-O to let them deal with it. I realized it was a missing belt while they were taking it in, so they took care of the leak, put on a new belt, and we were on our way. It was a 2.5 hour side trip.
The rest of the trip went great, till we got into Page and saw the clouds South of there. I dreaded snow on the pass headed from Cameron to Flagstaff, and sure enough, we hit it. There were only a few inches on the ground, but it was fresh, and there was ice under the snow. Slow & steady got us up the road without too many problems - just some sliding towards the top. Fortunately things cleared up dramatically on the downhill, and we didn't see any further problems the rest of the way. It took 14.5 hours to get there, but we were there!
It had rained in the Phoenix area before we got there, so the Superstitions were soaking wet. The sky was overcast, and no sign of it clearing up. The air was cool...cooler than the forecast said it would be. There was water everywhere. It was flowing down every drainage, nearly from the tops. We spent the first night on the East end of the Upper La Barge Box next to a steady flowing creek. The air temps dropped quickly at night, and we awoke to frost covering everything. So much for mid-40° lows. I didn't sign up for this.
Day 2 we saw clear skys for the first time. The sun took forever to come up, and we dried a few things out, hitting the trail at a record 11 am. When I was on the trail we were on that day, two years ago, it was bone dry, and that day the water was flowing, and further downstream as more drainages joined in, it just got bigger & bigger.
We climbed up and over a ridge into a new drainage and setup camp. As soon as the sun dropped behind the ridge, the temps plummeted, and we knew it was gonna be colder than the first night. Did I mention this wasn't what I signed up for?
As soon as the sun came up, I went down to the creek in this drainage to sit in the sun and eat some breakfast. I saw sparkles here and there in the water, so I thought I'd check it out, and they were gold flakes. They were everywhere. It wasn't just this drainage, the stuff is everywhere, it's just whether or not you're looking that depends on if you'll see it. It's too much of an effort to pick up the individual flakes, they're like grains of sand and disappear into the sand when you try and pick them up.
Day 3 consisted of a climb up and over another ridge, down a steep slope, and across a river....many times.
The trip back was uneventful, just long. I'm glad to be home.
View photos from this trip
The rest of the trip went great, till we got into Page and saw the clouds South of there. I dreaded snow on the pass headed from Cameron to Flagstaff, and sure enough, we hit it. There were only a few inches on the ground, but it was fresh, and there was ice under the snow. Slow & steady got us up the road without too many problems - just some sliding towards the top. Fortunately things cleared up dramatically on the downhill, and we didn't see any further problems the rest of the way. It took 14.5 hours to get there, but we were there!
It had rained in the Phoenix area before we got there, so the Superstitions were soaking wet. The sky was overcast, and no sign of it clearing up. The air was cool...cooler than the forecast said it would be. There was water everywhere. It was flowing down every drainage, nearly from the tops. We spent the first night on the East end of the Upper La Barge Box next to a steady flowing creek. The air temps dropped quickly at night, and we awoke to frost covering everything. So much for mid-40° lows. I didn't sign up for this.
Day 2 we saw clear skys for the first time. The sun took forever to come up, and we dried a few things out, hitting the trail at a record 11 am. When I was on the trail we were on that day, two years ago, it was bone dry, and that day the water was flowing, and further downstream as more drainages joined in, it just got bigger & bigger.
We climbed up and over a ridge into a new drainage and setup camp. As soon as the sun dropped behind the ridge, the temps plummeted, and we knew it was gonna be colder than the first night. Did I mention this wasn't what I signed up for?
As soon as the sun came up, I went down to the creek in this drainage to sit in the sun and eat some breakfast. I saw sparkles here and there in the water, so I thought I'd check it out, and they were gold flakes. They were everywhere. It wasn't just this drainage, the stuff is everywhere, it's just whether or not you're looking that depends on if you'll see it. It's too much of an effort to pick up the individual flakes, they're like grains of sand and disappear into the sand when you try and pick them up.
Day 3 consisted of a climb up and over another ridge, down a steep slope, and across a river....many times.
The trip back was uneventful, just long. I'm glad to be home.
View photos from this trip
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Zion National Park - Backcountry Stuff
I was really looking forward to getting down to Southern Utah, just hoping beyond hope that it would be kinda warm, and that I wouldn't have to see any snow until I got home. Looking at recent pics of Zion showing huge icicles, and snow galore didn't phaze me. I honestly realized it was gonna be cold part of the time, but I just psyched myself out to feel better.
To help with the cold I picked up the Kelty Light Stalker 5° sleeping bag. It's made exclusively for Sportsmans Warehouse. It's got a mummy hood, but rectangular bottom. You can unzip it all the way to make a blanket if it's warm. The one I bought was 650 down. That bag has some crazy loft. There are hardly any draft tubes for the zipper, just an inch wide flap that covers it up, but I didn't notice any exceptional problems with this. The advertised length is 80" they don't translate that into height tho. The regular size is sized for someone under 6', and the long adds the standard 6". The temps dropped to around 20° the first night. I had my light thermals, and a fleece jacket on. I ditched the jacket cause I was too hot in the bag. The bag was awesome, but my Big Agnes pad couldn't provide enough insulation against the cold - it wasn't bad, but it was enough to keep me awake. I've slept on it in colder conditions but it was in a synthetic fill bag which keeps more insulation on the bottom when it's compressed than down. So around 4am I crawled into my truck cab and shivered for 10 min till I was warm again. Just when I started to get some real sleep, the alarm went off.
The meeting time for Saturday morning was 7am. Uggghhhh. It was still dark, and Springdale was still asleep, so no real breakfast, just protein shake. It started to lighten up a bit when we started across the bridge at the trailhead. When we were approaching Walters Wiggles we heard a horrible scream...not something you want to hear when the conditions are cold & icy, and the route to Angel's Landing is straight above you. I was thinking, who would be up here this early? Seriously? I didn't even know what I was doing out that early. We met the screamer and the rest of her group a few minutes later sliding down Walter's Wiggles cause that whole section was iced over.
The route to Angel's Landing looked very forboding with the ice and snow covering the whole stretch. I didn't think anyone would dare try it without gear, but sure enough they started to later in the day. Word was that it wasn't all that bad to get to the top, but getting back down was another story. I just think ice + cliff = bad time. I'm just thinking they'd better hold onto that chain really tight, and their hands better not get cold, and if they do, I sure hope their gloves have really good grip. Well, no one is dead yet, afaik.
Back to the trip tho. We continued up the West Rim Trail into the area behind Majestic Mountain. We crossed the bridge and dropped down into a creek then up the other side, and made our way up to the start of our ascent. Keep in mind we'd been on snow or ice since Walter's Wiggles. The ascent wasn't too bad. We had to look for a decent route in a few places, but nothing bad. Just when we thought we were going to hit the top it turns out there was a big gap between where we were and the real summit. I was happy with where I'd made it. I'd seen some of the terrain I wanted to check out, plus I was tired of snow, and my asthma was acting up despite the meds, which isn't good, plus everything else. I was just done. On the way back I heard a huge crashing sound, and turned to look in the direction it came from, a second later I saw a 70' sheet of ice break off of the waterfall formed from Cabin Spring. It broke into smaller sections on the way down. When it hit the bottom the crashing sound echoed back and forth in that valley. It was really cool to watch. The next morning I found out the other guys made it to the top, but it took a while to get up & back out - like it was getting dark - so I'm glad I did what I did.
The plans for the next day fell apart, so I went solo and did some exploring in South facing canyons on the East side of Zion. I went up and did a hike called Many Pools, and indeed there were. I went up quite a ways until a slot canyon started up. I chimneyed 7' up & over a chockstone, and headed up a little ways. It looked really cool, but I figured I could spend all day exploring further, and I wanted to start driving home around noon. Looking at the map there were two canyons side by side where I was. I thought I was in the one on the East cause the features on the East matched up, but the canyon on the West had features on the West side matching up. It wasn't until I was halfway back that I realized there could be a whole other canyon to the West of me - it looked like the canyon wall I was in continued straight up, but it was possible it didn't. I climbed away from the canyon bottom maybe 100 vertical feet and sure enough there was another canyon down there, and it was deep! I followed close to the ridge between the two looking for a route down, but didn't find one until I was fairly close to the highway. Once at the bottom, there was a little used trail bypassing short stretches of impassable slot. I turned back when faced with a tight 25' scramble. I need to read up on which canyon that is, and what's up there. When I got back to the highway, I didn't know I was at the highway cause I was 25' below it. There was a steep embankment and a dark hole, which turned out to be a drainage tunnel carved out of rock the highway goes over. Through there and to the East and there was a short section of slot canyon. I went upstream a ways, and decided I needed to climb out and start looking for my truck. Conveniently enough it was right there when I got to the top.
So now I realize the vastness of opportunities to explore the terrain there, and I don't know where to start....or when I'll have the time to drive down there enough to even make a dent, but I gotta start.
View photos from this trip
To help with the cold I picked up the Kelty Light Stalker 5° sleeping bag. It's made exclusively for Sportsmans Warehouse. It's got a mummy hood, but rectangular bottom. You can unzip it all the way to make a blanket if it's warm. The one I bought was 650 down. That bag has some crazy loft. There are hardly any draft tubes for the zipper, just an inch wide flap that covers it up, but I didn't notice any exceptional problems with this. The advertised length is 80" they don't translate that into height tho. The regular size is sized for someone under 6', and the long adds the standard 6". The temps dropped to around 20° the first night. I had my light thermals, and a fleece jacket on. I ditched the jacket cause I was too hot in the bag. The bag was awesome, but my Big Agnes pad couldn't provide enough insulation against the cold - it wasn't bad, but it was enough to keep me awake. I've slept on it in colder conditions but it was in a synthetic fill bag which keeps more insulation on the bottom when it's compressed than down. So around 4am I crawled into my truck cab and shivered for 10 min till I was warm again. Just when I started to get some real sleep, the alarm went off.
The meeting time for Saturday morning was 7am. Uggghhhh. It was still dark, and Springdale was still asleep, so no real breakfast, just protein shake. It started to lighten up a bit when we started across the bridge at the trailhead. When we were approaching Walters Wiggles we heard a horrible scream...not something you want to hear when the conditions are cold & icy, and the route to Angel's Landing is straight above you. I was thinking, who would be up here this early? Seriously? I didn't even know what I was doing out that early. We met the screamer and the rest of her group a few minutes later sliding down Walter's Wiggles cause that whole section was iced over.
The route to Angel's Landing looked very forboding with the ice and snow covering the whole stretch. I didn't think anyone would dare try it without gear, but sure enough they started to later in the day. Word was that it wasn't all that bad to get to the top, but getting back down was another story. I just think ice + cliff = bad time. I'm just thinking they'd better hold onto that chain really tight, and their hands better not get cold, and if they do, I sure hope their gloves have really good grip. Well, no one is dead yet, afaik.
Back to the trip tho. We continued up the West Rim Trail into the area behind Majestic Mountain. We crossed the bridge and dropped down into a creek then up the other side, and made our way up to the start of our ascent. Keep in mind we'd been on snow or ice since Walter's Wiggles. The ascent wasn't too bad. We had to look for a decent route in a few places, but nothing bad. Just when we thought we were going to hit the top it turns out there was a big gap between where we were and the real summit. I was happy with where I'd made it. I'd seen some of the terrain I wanted to check out, plus I was tired of snow, and my asthma was acting up despite the meds, which isn't good, plus everything else. I was just done. On the way back I heard a huge crashing sound, and turned to look in the direction it came from, a second later I saw a 70' sheet of ice break off of the waterfall formed from Cabin Spring. It broke into smaller sections on the way down. When it hit the bottom the crashing sound echoed back and forth in that valley. It was really cool to watch. The next morning I found out the other guys made it to the top, but it took a while to get up & back out - like it was getting dark - so I'm glad I did what I did.
The plans for the next day fell apart, so I went solo and did some exploring in South facing canyons on the East side of Zion. I went up and did a hike called Many Pools, and indeed there were. I went up quite a ways until a slot canyon started up. I chimneyed 7' up & over a chockstone, and headed up a little ways. It looked really cool, but I figured I could spend all day exploring further, and I wanted to start driving home around noon. Looking at the map there were two canyons side by side where I was. I thought I was in the one on the East cause the features on the East matched up, but the canyon on the West had features on the West side matching up. It wasn't until I was halfway back that I realized there could be a whole other canyon to the West of me - it looked like the canyon wall I was in continued straight up, but it was possible it didn't. I climbed away from the canyon bottom maybe 100 vertical feet and sure enough there was another canyon down there, and it was deep! I followed close to the ridge between the two looking for a route down, but didn't find one until I was fairly close to the highway. Once at the bottom, there was a little used trail bypassing short stretches of impassable slot. I turned back when faced with a tight 25' scramble. I need to read up on which canyon that is, and what's up there. When I got back to the highway, I didn't know I was at the highway cause I was 25' below it. There was a steep embankment and a dark hole, which turned out to be a drainage tunnel carved out of rock the highway goes over. Through there and to the East and there was a short section of slot canyon. I went upstream a ways, and decided I needed to climb out and start looking for my truck. Conveniently enough it was right there when I got to the top.
So now I realize the vastness of opportunities to explore the terrain there, and I don't know where to start....or when I'll have the time to drive down there enough to even make a dent, but I gotta start.
View photos from this trip
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