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bruce from bryce
04-11-2006, 03:59 PM
:2thumbs:

As I was sitting around the campfire at Sandthrax last Friday night
(fire was for the ambiance not heat) with Ram, Tim Hoover and
DaveWyo1 the discussion turned to their destinations during Ram's
BoatFest 2006. Not really wanting to return to Bryce without
another significant canyon I inquired as to when he might be hitting
Cathedral in the Desert. Much to my surprise he said, "Why this
coming Sunday. Would you like to come along." I hestitated for all
but one milli-second and said like a little kid "Can I." So we
planned on meeting at the top of the Hole-in-the-Rock trail at
9:30am Sunday.

After a quick trip through Shamrock, ho-hum, I drove my teal blue
monster onto the highway for the trip over to Escalante. I wanted
to stop at the VC so I pushed it a little and arrived at 4:15pm and
obtained my permit. My friend, Dave Mecham who normally works at
the Cannonvile VC, provided encouragement and information. Road was
bad beyon Egypt turnoff--well of course.

I drove the 56 miles in exactly 3 hours arriving just in time to see
the cliffs above the lake splattered in bright yellows and oranges.
A very fulfilling dinner and I was in bed at 10pm. No long night in
front of the fire drinking beer for this guy.

Awake at 6am and I was making breakfast I decided to head up to the
top of the rock and to the rim for Palm Sunday Sunrise. Absolutely
magnificant (photo #1).

Promptly at 9am the boat carrying the crew pulled in the HITR arm of
the lake and dispensed the men. Funny that there were 7 instead of
the 6, but as I latered learned Ivy the boat captain had never seen
Clear Creek so he was along for the hike in. The crew got to the
top, took a short break and a couple of photos(#2-Bruce from
Bryce,Ram,DaveWyo1,Tim H.,Josh[rockskicowboy] &Ben. Ryan Hall in
back) and we were off. I let Ivy drive my car and the backpacks to
where we exited the road.

Temperature was slowly climbing and when we arrived at the drop-in
point, at the head of pothole #1, we suited up, powered up with high
protein food and then moved on. Ram slipped into the first of what
I think were about 27 potholes and the adventure was on. For nearly
two hours we slipped, slid, jumped, stemmed and did about everything
we could think of to all those potholes. This was my first time so
I was "the weakest link." Anytime someone said "jumper" Tim was off.
Ben and Josh did their versions of the Tiger Jump and even Ram did a
cannonball at a really scary spot. It looks like you can come down
just to do the potholes and then climb out though the climb did look
very scary to me, a non-climber (when I did the 2nd climb in Lucky
Charms that was the most difficult climb I've ever been on).

The rappels were anticlimatic to me but when we reached the lake we
had not one but two boats awaiting our arrival. A NPS boat,
touristas not law enforcement was also there. After the first two
people jumped the 20 feet into the water one of visitors got up and
took a couple of photos that will probably be on Miss Kitty's desk
first thing this morning (she is superintendent of GLCA). Tossing
all caution to the wind and irregardless of my age I plunged in and
a great rush it was.

After we loaded all members we headed onto the main channel for
exploring for ??????? The crew dropped me off at the HITR trailhead
and I hiked up to my car in 28 1/2 minutes hearing voices of women
from the original members of the Morman Expedition--I swear on my
Mother's grave!!

The crew headed down the Escalante back to their camp for more
adventures along the Colorado River now known as Lake Powell.

For me it was a quick 2 1/2 hours back to Escalante as I flew over
all of the washboarding in the road and then only more hour back to
Bryce where I promptly fell asleep eating my dinner.

Thanks to Ram for the invite and for all the great company--this is
definitely firmly in my 10 Tenth List.

bruce from bryce

The first rap we replaced the webbing as it was already frayed -
huh? Glad the last man of the last group made it down, whew.

rockgremlin
04-11-2006, 04:08 PM
VERY NICE TR!!! :2thumbs:

And I am VERY JEALOUS!!!! :haha:

Looks like a blast!! The canyon appears like a cross between Knotted Rope and Not Mindbender. Wow!

Iceaxe
04-11-2006, 05:29 PM
Nice TR.... Trip reports are 100 times better with pictures :2thumbs:

OK I lied.... TR's are 100 times better with pictures of hot women in bikini's. They are only 42 times better when containing pics of dirty ol men :lol8:

rockgremlin
04-11-2006, 08:33 PM
Nice TR.... Trip reports are 100 times better with pictures :2thumbs:

OK I lied.... TR's are 100 times better with pictures of hot women in bikini's. They are only 42 times better when containing pics of dirty ol men :lol8:

:haha: I agree!! :five:

Hey Ram, if you still read these posts, I wanna know your canyoneering schedule from June forward. I am moving to your neck of the woods. I'll be within an hour's drive away from the Black Hole. :2thumbs:

shaggy125
04-11-2006, 09:16 PM
Just an FYI, Ram is in Powell for the rest of this week (and so should I be :frustrated: ) and all of next. I think he was a little turned off to the forum when it was bringing up errors all the time. Maybe now that the problems seem to be fixed he'll start hanging out over here again.

Thanks Bruce for the pictures, it's tough to see my regular canyoneering buddies (Ben and Josh) doing canyons without me... B@$+@^>s. Looks like you guys had a great time.

Eric.

bruce from bryce
04-12-2006, 05:41 AM
Cool guys both. Fun to be with. I think they come out Friday?