Photos:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1089467007/a=38054161_38054161/
Thursday 5/7:
Before Jonas heads off to Switzerland, he had wanted to get back into some Escalante canyons. We planned a trip that Misty and Jen could join us on; and headed out. Jonas and Misty were going to be traveling prior to the canyon trip; so we would meet them down in Escalante. Craig and Marty would meet Jonas and Misty in Zion, and then the four of them would hit Bryce and then meet us in Escalante. Jen and I got delayed a little by work, but we still made it down to Escalante at a reasonable time; just after dark.
We found the others pretty easily, set up camp, and got some sleep. It was a great forecast for the weekend. A little warm during the days (in the 80's, but lots of sun, so 80's feels pretty hot) but cooling down for the nights.
Friday 5/8:
We woke up early, had breakfast, and drove out to the Halfway Hollow Trailhead towards the Harris Wash canyons. The plan was to try to do a loop with Zebra and Tunnel slots. We started hiking around 9:15am, and we were at the start of Zebra around 10:15am. Zebra was a beautiful canyon, with some fun upclimbs. Not really too challenging; until we got to the head of the canyon. (We didn't know if it was the head at the time.) It was a pretty challenging dryfall. We first tried tossing packs, but they weren't sticking. We surveyed the area, and it looked possible to climb out on the East side of the canyon. It was pretty committing though; with fairly high penalty points for failure. I was wearing new (to me) shoes, and they weren't sticking as good as I would have liked; so I wasn't excited about trying the climb.
Craig said he wanted a shot at it. Marty and I helped and spotted Craig until he was out of reach. He did a great job getting up and out. We then sequenced everyone else out with a handline and/or belays; now around 11:30am. Once on the plateau, we could see that where we were tossing packs was a pothole filled in with sand. They wouldn't be sticking unless we could clear another 20 or so feet (no way...) Thus, the sketchy climb was the way to go. (Or go back downcanyon like the sane folks do.)
From there, we could see that there wasn't going to be any more slot in that drainage for quite a while (if ever.) Instead of exploring farther there, we decided to head over to tunnel, and possibly do some further exploration of the area. We headed overland, and found a field of Moki Marbles; as well as more cool banding.
We checked out one fork of upper Tunnel slot, and then Marty and I climbed to the top of Peak 5515 to take a look around while the others waited in the shade. At the top, now around 12:30pm, there were some great views. We went around the Northern side to check out the Upper Tunnel section. There was a short slot, but not worth the effort to get there. There was a nice photogenic banded section though with some small potholes.
Marty and I continued downcanyon and met back up with the others, and we dropped into Tunnel around 1pm. Tunnel is a REALLY short slot. It's nice, but I don't know if it's even worth the hike from the trailhead. Definitely thought Zebra was better. There was a neat ray of light coming down in Tunnel, which made for a cool picture. Usually there is water in Tunnel, but it was completely dry. When we got back to Harris Wash (not even 1:15pm), we found a shady spot and had lunch. From here, Jonas and Misty were going to go back and head into town for the night. They had been out for a while, and wanted a bed and a shower.
We discussed and came up with a plan. When they got out, they would go and move the car to where Harris Wash crosses Hole In The Rock Road. This would allow us to do some explorations of the area, and then hike a different way out. We said our goodbyes, and Jonas and Misty headed out. It was now around 1:45pm, and it was pretty hot out. Jen found a shady spot and would save her energy for the (now longer) hike out. Marty, Craig and I went exploring.
We went up the canyon that looks like a fault line fracture. Looks like that's what it is from inside it too. Pretty brushy at the start; with one small upclimb. Not too bad though; and can skirt it too. The canyon wasn't all that interesting for a while. It started to get deeper, so I saw a ridge that I thought would take us to the rim. It worked, and we reached the rim fine; but it was the wrong time (and side) to exit the canyon. The canyon got deeper, and there were areas we couldn't see down into. The landscape also got fractured pretty good; so we used a bit of energy heading up and down. Looked like a neat little canyon though; will have to come back another time. It was now 4pm, and we still had a long hike ahead of us. It was hot, and we were starting to run lower on water. We took the Tunnel drainage, down upper Tunnel, and back out Tunnel slot to Harris Wash.
We met back up with Jen and then headed downcanyon. We saw a few springs, which made a few small pools. Unfortunately, there were quite a few cows in the area, and the water definitely needed to be treated. We scooped and treated the water, but it still definitely had a funny taste to it; even with some crystal light to try to make it more palatable. It was now around 5pm.
We started the hike out Harris Wash. Did some small scoping of some side canyons, but mainly just worked our way back up Harris Wash. Got to the fence near Big Horn around 7:15pm, the Tenmile Springs Corral before 8pm, and the HITR road shortly afterwards; a little before 8:30pm. When we hit the road, since there was four of us and we didn't know the exact location of the car, I figured it would be best to break into two groups. One group goes North, the other South; and whoever finds the car first picks the other group up.
Marty and Craig wanted to go South, so Jen and I headed North. We walked and checked for the car, then walked more. We kept going and going. It was a nice night for a walk, with the full moon out; but I was ready for the day to end. Whenever we saw headlights, both Jen and I were hoping and expecting it to be Marty and Craig (I figured the car was South of where we hit the road.) This became really evident when we hit a side spur road around 10pm. A truck of canyoneers heading North picked us up, and drove us North while we looked for the car. Didn't see anything, and eventually hit Highway 12. We got out, and started hiking back down the road. We were still hoping to see Marty and Craig whenever we saw any outbound headlights; but it wasn't ever them.
Several inbound cars passed us. We eventually hiked back to, and past, the spur road. (So we ended up hiking more than the distance from Harris Wash to Highway 12.) Shortly afterwards, a car that had passed us inbound, came outbound and stopped. It turned out to be Greg Cornelius and some friends that were planning on some Escalante canyons. We gladly took a lift, and found confirmation that Marty and Craig couldn't find the car. They got a lift from some ranchers, but the rancher's truck broke a tie rod. Greg gave us a lift to my vehicle (thanks again Greg!) and we went to pick up the others. At this point, I figured we would just find the car tomorrow when Jonas showed back up at camp. When I got to the rancher's broken down truck; only Craig was there. The owner of the ranch came and picked up the others, and they thought they knew where the car might be. Marty went with them to find out. We waited at the broken truck, and sure enough; Marty soon came with the car. (Thanks Ranchers!) It was down a short spur road that Marty and Craig didn't check.
In hindsight, since I was pretty sure the car was South of where we hit the HITR; we should all have gone South to check the most probable location, prior to splitting up and checking the different ways. Oh well, live and learn. Turned out to be a pretty big day; we were awake more than 19 hours, and I estimate we hiked more than 20 miles that day. Definitely slept well.
Saturday 5/9:
Jonas felt bad when we recapped the previous day's events. He did everything right though; the issue was on our side. Today's menu was a full Peekaboo and Spooky. Possibly more, depending on our timing. The Hole In The Rock road condition got worse as we traveled South. There was one really deep and soft spot. It looked like ash; don't really know what it was. Didn't look like sand. We got through fine, and made it to the Dry Forks trailhead. Started hiking around 9:30am, and were hiking up Dry Fork by 9:45am.
Dry Fork was nice. Nothing too spectacular, and nothing difficult; but a nice little canyon. Would be good for a family. It's fairly short, we were at the end of the slot by 10am. We hiked back down, stashed some water, and were climbing up into Peekaboo by 10:30am.
Peekaboo was a great canyon. Really good bang for your buck. It's pretty short, but definitely a good canyon to take folks in to start them off on canyoneering. Would be a good family canyon as well. We were out of the lower slot around 11:15am. We then hiked through a short middle section, and then had lunch near the upclimb. We took a different line, and climbed up a ridge that worked fine and got us onto Cat Pasture. We were at the Early Weed Bench Trailhead Parking area around 2pm. Definitely slower than I was hoping for. We'd likely only get Spooky in; as we were doing it from the top.
We dropped into the drainage, and soon we were at a canyon intersection. There was supposed to be a drop. Hmm. I went up and explored the other fork. It had a really cool tight slot section, and ended in another fork. Checked out both sides of the fork. Both had good upclimbs; one pretty spicy, ending in another dryfall. The East side was a really cool fluted upclimb that you could climb inward a little so you were in a psuedo-tunnel. It then had another slot section followed by a spicy upclimb. Both forks got back to the Early Weed Bench; but didn't match the description. I took a look around the land, and went back down to the others.
When I got to the others, I was pretty sure I knew where we were; and verified it with the GPS. Not the correct drainage. Whoops. We continued downcanyon, and there was a really cool slot. Since we were in unknown (to us) territory, with only a 50 foot rope, and 100' pull cord, we would be conservative. We left folks with webbing and/or ropes at each drop that would be tough to get back up. That way, we could always reverse if we needed to. I wasn't too concerned, as the longest drop in the area is 30'. We were at the dryfall of the intersection before Spooky, and it was less than 30 feet. Furthermore, that fork was around the same length as the true Spooky fork (so it should have nearly the same properties.) Also, the intersection of the canyon that hits spooky has an exit at that intersection; so that likely means that those two forks are at the same level and that the walls aren't that tall. We discussed it, and still played it safe. Marty and Craig went down the final leg until they confirmed they hit the true Spooky canyon. I then helped the rest down the slot section.
The canyon we did was worthwhile; we called it "Not Spooky". I'd like to do upper Spooky to compare. Wanted to upclimb the true Spooky from the intersection, but it was already 5:30pm and we still had a long way ahead of us; as well as we were starting to run low on water.
Middle Spooky was a great little slot. Nicely sculpted walls, some cool layering, and we had decent light for it. At the end of the Middle section, Misty twisted her ankle. Hmm. Glad we didn't go exploring. We added some tape for support, and Jonas was helping her along. We reached the top of the Lower section around 6:30pm.
Lower Spooky was a great slot as well. Nice and tight sections with nice textures on the wall. If hiking from the bottom, I'd definitely recommend hiking up to check out both the Lower and Middle sections. The full meal deal is good too, albeit a little longer; and either a good car shuttle, or a good sized day if you do the loop like we did. We were at the exit of Lower Spooky around 7:15pm, went back and drank a bunch of our stashed water, and did the hike out. Showed Jen some techniques on the way up, and was back at the cars around 8:15pm. Drove back to camp, had a nice dinner and discussed plans for the next day.
Sunday 5/9:
We woke up early, had breakfast, and packed up camp. Drove out Hole In The Rock, and headed over to Calf Creek. Misty's ankle was still swollen, so she would meet us at the bottom of Calf Creek. Jonas, Jen, Marty, Craig and I started the descent towards upper Calf Creek around 9:15am. There are some beautiful views on the descent. The trail is quite easy to follow. Since it's early season, we didn't know what the water volume would be like. Didn't hear a thundering roar, so that was a good sign. Turned out to be a perfect water level. Enough to give Jen a taste of her first Class C canyon adventure; but not really dangerous levels. (Misty had gone to Lower Calf Creek falls a few days prior, and said it was a pretty big waterfall. We didn't count out the possibility that there were more water feeds, and the lower falls would be too big; which would be a long and pretty miserable hike back out.)
We'd worry about that later, though. For now, we thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful and lush upper falls rappel. Beautiful and scenic. Marty climbed back up and around and retrieved our anchor material, while we packed up the rope and took off our dry tops/wetsuits. Jen and I opted for spray jackets; Jonas had suited up.
The section between upper falls and lower falls is a delightful hike through the river in a lush riparian area. It did seem a little long near the end, since it was our drive home day. There were some great areas though; with wonderfully clear water. Unfortunately, I had forgotten all my other camera batteries at home this trip; and my camera ran out of batteries at the upper falls. Even more unfortunate was that Jonas and Marty's cameras both also ran out of batteries on this section. Geez. We'll just have to come back and do it again. Not too tough to stomach.
When we hit the lower falls, there was definitely more water volume than above; but it was still very doable. Again, a good taste of waterfall rappels for Jen. Jonas went first, and provided a fireman for the others. While we were rappelling, a hiking and photographer couple showed up. The gal had done several canyons before, so we chatted for a bit. They were nice enough to throw our anchor material down (Thanks!) when we were done. The folks down below enjoyed the show, and were clapping and cheering as each person in our group rapped down. It was a wonderful rappel. Definitely had some areas you needed to watch your rope; but well worth it. A nice drop into a wonderful pool. I'd recommend a 240' rope though, so you can do a firemans belay more from the shore (we used a small ledge.) One of the folks down below was nice enough to send us a couple of the photos she took (Thanks!) so you can see some pictures of the lower falls.
It's a decent hike back to the cars; I think we were back at the cars around 4:30pm. Much later than I wanted; since we still had a long drive home. It was well worth it though; the whole weekend was wonderful. First and foremost, a fun weekend with great company. Also, all the slots we did were new to me. Not many weekends that work out that way anymore...
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1089467007/a=38054161_38054161/
Group Room (multiple albums): http://ajoutdoors.snapfish.com/snapfish