Photos:
http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2598855007/a=38054161/
Thursday 11/5:
The folks over at Bogley (www.bogley.com) were getting together to do some canyons. Jen and I were going to join them, and I was looking forward to not organizing and leading this time. Would be nice to just relax, follow someone else's lead, and be able to visit. About a week before the trip, the organizer Mark contacted me and told me there were now going to be quite a few people there and asked if I wouldn't mind leading some of the trips. Rats. Life was really busy, so I didn't really have the time to prepare for it; but I feel we have to help out wherever we can. I made the time to research all of the Moab routes I could find, and put together a few options for each day. The day before the trip, Jen got sick; so she wasn't able to make it. We can always count on plans changing... I ended up heading out to Moab solo; and found a spot to camp off 128.
Friday 11/6:
Woke up early and drove over to our meeting place. Got there early, and Mark (the organizer) was already there. We chatted for a bit, and then I started to get ready. Folks started to arrive. Some were new, and some I hadn't seen in a long time, like Scott and Kim, Shaun and Jenn, Shane and more. It was a good group, and included Rob from Europe, and Rebecca who was 7 months pregnant. Wild!
We gathered, and it looked like we would be able to split into two different groups for the first day. I joined up with Scott, Kim, Randy, Justin, Mark and Rebecca, and Mark for U-Turn. I don't know if I'd call U-Turn a canyon; it's more of a climb, then heading down a drainage with a couple of rappels. Maybe hiking with a rope? The company made it a good time though.
We started the approach around 9am, saw a neat centipede on the way up, and made it to the top around 9:20am. Did a small side trip to an overlook, and started U-Turn around 9:30am. It's only a few raps, and most of them can be downclimbed. We were all on the ground at 10:15am; and Mark showed us a new retrievable anchor system. We then hiked around and were back at the cars at 10:45am. I'll bet two experienced people could make the loop in under a half hour. Again, it was all about the company though.
We then headed over to Dragonfly. We started hiking towards Dragonfly around 11am, and were at the head around 11:15am. Mark and Rebecca would take a shortcut by rapping in; and the rest of us went with Scott to a corridor which turned out to be full of water. Some hiked around, I stemmed over, while Scott and Kim went through. They said the water was really cold.
We did a downclimb to meet the main drainage, and then met up with Justin. I went through a pothole section, that ended up having a swim. (I was curious how deep they were and if they were difficult to escape.) There was then a couple of downclimbs, and a slide/jump into a swimmer pothole. It was pretty cold water. We then met up with Mark and Rebecca for the first rappel.
A few people took off their shoes to not get them wet; and I got a great shot of Rebecca - barefoot and pregnant. Funny. We finished Dragonfly's two rappels at 12:45pm and did a shortcut exit route that Mark knew about. It seemed like it worked, as we were back at the cars at 1:30pm. Plenty of time for another canyon.
Mark and Rebecca, and the organizer Mark had to head out; so now it would only be five of us. Scott, Kim, Randy, Justin and I headed back to Park Avenue and we would do Tierdrop. Started hiking around 2pm, and made it to the top around 2:20pm. Tierdrop is a lot like U-Turn; a climb, to a few raps in a drainage; but Tierdrop has a longer exit hike. I stuck a rope on a makeshift retrievable handline anchor. Climbed back up and re-rigged and pulled it clean the second try. We were done with the two rappels at 3:30pm, and were back at the cars at 4pm.
At the parking lot, we ran into a few of Shane's crew. They were up checking out a "pool room." I tried to rally some folks for another canyon; Not Tierdrop, so we could complete the set (there are three in the same area. ) Folks weren't interested in that entry climb again. We instead got a group to go up to the "pool room."
We started heading up to the Pool room around 4:30pm, led by Dean Paul aka Deeps. The pool room adventure was neat. We looked into a cave-like opening that had a chimney up quite a ways to the sky. We then saw an awesome scorpion on the way to the pool room. The pool room was really interesting too; with a rock indentation in the ground; which was currently dry. The room itself was impressive though; and had some cool huecos inside other huecos. There was also another short canyon entering the pool room, which Justin and I wanted to come back later and try to find a way to that canyon.
We hiked back down and were back at the cars at 5pm. Saw a neat sunset, and then folks headed out. I just changed and relaxed for a bit before meeting up with people at 7pm at Fiesta Mexicana for dinner. We talked about the day's adventures, and made the plan for tomorrow. We would get together early, and do Granary. I went out to Willow Springs with Deeps, and we found a spot to park our trucks. Both of us were sleeping in our respective vehicles. It was a beautiful and clear night. A little chilly, but the sky was amazing. I love the Utah skies at night; you can see an amazing amount of stars as well as the Milky Way...
Saturday 11/7:
Woke up early, and had a quick breakfast. We prepped for the day, then both Deeps and I drove over to meet up with the group at 7am to head to Granary. We dropped off Randy's vehicle at the exit and then headed up to the trailhead. Randy aka IntrepidXJ was nice enough to drive up with us, and drive Mark's truck back down. That would make the day a lot easier, as well as shorter, as we wouldn't have to retrieve our shuttle vehicle. Thanks Randy!
There were going to be five of us today; Mark, Randy, Bruce, Dean Paul and I. We started hiking from the trailhead around 8am, and went to an overloook to see the rockfall across the road. Hit a climb around section around 8:45am and was at the canyon head around 9:15am. We downclimbed the first part, and was at the first real rappel at 9:30am. Mark worked the first anchor, and I was the second person down so I could go and set the second rappel. The second rappel turned out to be a really cool rappel. It's nicknamed the "Onion" rappel; and it's shape is really unique. When viewed from the bottom, it looks kind of like an onion, but from the top it's definitely a unique rappel. Cool stuff.
We used Mark's new retrievable anchor system at the third rappel which is off an arch; now at 10:15am. The retrievable system worked flawlessly. Neat system, and pretty simple too. We continued downcanyon; taking a side trip to another Arch Mark knew about. There were then a couple of steep traverses; one over a pool that many could use a handline, and then one over a pothole. On a downclimb, Deeps noticed an arch on the rim; it was a neat looking arch. (20091107D2-16)
Shortly after that, the canyon opened up a bit. We followed a drainage for a little and reached a big drop around noon. Impressive. We contoured left and came to a spot where we could see our exit car below us. Got to the last rap near Jughandle Arch around 12:30pm, and were all back on the ground at 1pm. There is a neat Granary there, which is how the canyon got it's name. We were back at the car at 1:15pm. We drove back to the meeting lot. Nobody else was there.
I asked to see if anyone wanted to do another canyon. Nobody was up for it, so I decided to head out to Ring Arch, Tunnel Arch and Bighorn canyon on my own. That would be an aggressive timeframe to make it before dark. I drove to Arches, and got to the trailhead around 2:30pm.
This would only give me 2.5 hours of daylight to do around 6 hours of hiking. (Ring Arch is estimated at 2-3 hours, Tunnel Arch is 2-3 hours, and Bighorn is 4 hours; but Ring is an offshoot and Tunnel can easily be chained with Bighorn.) I had it in my mind that I was going to need to be speedy. I quickly packed up my stuff, and started hiking. I quickly read the description for Ring Arch and started hiking. Followed a wash, per the description, but then after a while things weren't adding up (when I got to a buttress.) Took a look at the map, and darn it; I made a wrong turn. Blew about 15 minutes hiking back to the correct route. Decided I'd just go off the map now. Read through the route description one more time quickly, but then started following just the map.
Followed the map, and got to where Ring Arch was supposed to be, but no arch. Huh. Took a look at Shane's GPS coordinate, and it was around the same location, but more out in a field on the north side of a buttress. The map showed the arch on the North side of the buttress too; so I started hiking around the North side. Didn't come across an arch in a bit, and again things started to not feel right. I backtracked and looked along the Southern side of the buttress, and there it was. Tried to take a shot, and in my earlier haste to leave, I realized that I forgot to change my camera battery and it was now out of juice. DOH!
Took in the sights of the arch, and started hiking again; kicking myself for now two time-wasting maneuvers when I was trying to hurry. I'd have to let Shane know about his GPS point and map though; as it's not showing the right location. (But after re-reading the description, I should have been able to see the arch on my approach; but I was watching the terrain so I could move quickly...)
I hiked over to tunnel arch, and went through. Getting up into it was a little challenging with only one person. Made it though, and it's a really wild arch. A long, tunnel through a buttress. Cool!
From here, figured I'd be smart and contour around the left to not lose any elevation; which turned out to be another bad decision. I had seen a trail on the right if I were to have gone into the valley and back up. Going left like I did went to a big boulder field; many of which were the size of small cars. Had to do a lot of climbing, jumping, stemming, etc. It was fun, but if something went wrong; would be a tough situation to get out of, and would be challenging for others to find me... It all worked out fine though, and I got to the top of the climb. There was a plateau that I hiked across and got to the head of the canyon.
The description recommends to set a line, as there are some downclimbs that get tougher as you progress downward. Since I was solo, I decided to be safe and set a line. I took the time to double my 200' line. Downclimbed the 100' easily, and saw another anchor ahead of me. Shane did say the entire section could be downclimbed by the skilled, so I opted to pass that anchor, figuring that everything had been easy so far, so maybe he was catering to the least common denominator. Everything was going fine until I reached an overhanging dropoff. There were no handholds. This could NOT be downclimbed by the skilled. Maybe a partner assist and the last person jumps with a catch assist. Won't work for a solo climber (me) though. I contemplated the jump, but decided against it.
Instead, I climbed back up to the last anchor, which was a slung thin pillar of a hueco. Was going to be ginger with this one. Climbed back down to the overhang, and carefully loaded the ropes to rap down smoothly. Would need to chat with Shane about that one too; as he didn't say how long the first downclimb section would be. I did it in about as inefficient manner as I could. I guess the lesson there is not to be in a rush. Ended up costing me more time...
Did the next raps; which were neat, but overall I'd say Bighorn is a lot of work for very little canyon. The Tunnel Arch was cool though; and I was glad I did the route I did. Don't know how quickly I'd be back to redo them though. In the end, I still made pretty good time, and was back at my car at 4:45pm; just in time to change and watch the sunset.
Dinner wasn't until 7pm, but I was hungry. Didn't really have much to do until 7pm either; so I decided to fire up my stove and make some dinner. When I got finished, I called a couple friends who were in Moab climbing that weekend; and they were at Zax already for dinner. Cool. I headed over to Zax, and chatted with them for a few, and then joined up with the canyoneering crew and visited for a while. Headed back out to Willow Springs that night; which was another beautiful night. The weather had been phenomenal for early November.
Sunday 11/8:
All good things must come to an end; and this was going to be my drive home day. Couldn't make it too long of a day, but wanted to do as much as I could. Mark met up with us, but his kids were sick, so he was heading back home. We decided to go over towards Elephant Buttress. Carroll and Vivien had joined us and they had done Elephant Buttress before (definitely more recently than I had, since I hadn't done that route in over 5 years.) I gladly let them lead.
Six of us headed to Elephant Buttress; Carroll, Vivien, Randy, Mark, Rebecca and I. We started hiking around 9am. Went past Owl Rock, scrambled up the rock pile, climbed up the ramp and got into the small amphitheater. Mark and I did the climb into the second amphitheater, while Carroll did the true upclimb. I played a bit on the upclimb; testing both sides. Left was easier. From the upclimb, it was a short downclimb to our first rappel.
We then scrambled up to the summit; which we reached around 10:45am. Had a snack there, and enjoyed the incredible views. (Elephant Buttress is the highest point in Arches; and the highest point in the nearby vicinity so the views are outstanding.) We then climbed down through a gully, stemmed around a few small pools and got to the second and final rappel.
This rappel had some wild old anchors; some pipes set into indentations in the rock and a couple that were pounded into a crack. Had some weird wire that looked like coat hanger wire too. Don't know what that was for. We were all on the ground at 11:45am; and hiked back to the cars, arriving at 12:15pm. We drove back to the meeting lot.
I really wanted to do Rock of Ages before leaving, so we talked Mark into helping lead us. Rebecca and Randy headed out, so there would now just be four of us; Carroll, Vivien, Mark and I. Figured we could make it through pretty quickly; especially since Mark was going to lead us and he had just done it the day before.
We drove over to the trailhead, and started hiking around 1:15pm. Made it to the turnoff, and did a climb. Saw Chimney Arch around 1:30pm, and then did a climb to a plateau, to a climb to a plateau, to a climb to a plateau. The plateaus were really cool. Neat approach, albeit a bunch of climbing. We made it to the overlook of Pool arch at 2pm. Even though we were trying to go quickly, we opted for the optional stunt rappel which went under Pool Arch. It was almost a 200 foot rappel, and was really great. We were all done with the rappel before 3pm.
From Pool Arch, it's a short hike to the start of the canyon. The canyon, like most Moab canyons, really isn't that long. There is an awkward downclimb over a log, which was into a pool; and then two rappels with a little distance between them. The last rappel was a pretty neat view though. We were done with all the rappels at 3:45pm, looked at the ruin on the return hike, and was back at the cars before 4:30pm. Great timing; as I still had over a six hour drive to get home. It was a neat canyon, with fun folks.
I said goodbye to the others, and headed home. Overall, it was a great weekend. I wasn't expecting to get as many canyons done as I did, but was glad to have seen a lot of the Moab canyons. They aren't as technical or long as many other canyons I've done; but they can be a good time and would be a good location for competently-led beginners or families. It was also great to just get out to play; and wonderful to see so many folks that I hadn't seen in a while. Thanks to everyone there for making it a fun weekend!
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2598855007/a=38054161/
Group Room (multiple albums): http://ajoutdoors.snapfish.com/snapfish