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mossimo64
04-16-2006, 06:07 PM
This is pretty long it turns out :blahblah: . If you want to skip the story telling and get to the trip report scroll down to where it says trip report.

As the dark set in we kept climbing the ridge, watching the little red light blink on the radio tower, damn it still looked a long ways aways and my knee was not feeling to good. I looked down at the GPS only to find the batteries dead. 'Sweet, another addition to our wonderfull day.' I thought to myself. I sat down and looked back to see how Kathy was doing, I was pretty shur she had to defrosted by this point, maybe calmed down a bit. I dug into my pocket and found a fresh set of batteries and clumsly fiddled with the battery cover, my still frozen fingers not working as I wished I finally got it off. Just as I got the GPS up and going Kathy came into sight. I could tell it was getting darker for I could only see a shadow of her face.
"Doing alright?" I asked.
"Yeah I'm making it. We their yet?" Half joking she asked.
"Yup, just over the next ridge, I swear!" Giving my best sarcastic slur to hopefully cheer her up.
"If I didn't know you so well I would believe you, but you are also the one that said the canyon was dry, and the one that said we would make it out by dark." I sat their half laughing about the whole endevor.
"Yeah my fault, I forgot about daylights savings time, at least I told you to bring sandals just in case it was wet." Half of it was true, I won't tell you what half.

We drank some water and shouldered the packs one more time. Two wet ropes, soaking harness and all the miscellanious crap was taking a toll on my back. We kept heading in a general direction of up, the GPS mileage to the truck was slowly ticking off, I new we where not right on course but pretty close. The moonlight offered a better view than any headlamp, except the occasional crash into a forray of thorny bushes that I didn't see till I was half through, ignoring the pain I just wanted some food other than the bagel and energy bar we packed, that and a cold one out of the cooler sounded real good.

Finally the ridge started to even out, turning into a somewhat flat plain, I knew we where close. I started vearing southwest to aim more for the truck now that we where not in canyon country anymore. I almost passed right over the road, I was hell bent for crashing through another juniper when I looked down and realized the light colored ribbon winding through the trees in the moon light. "Sweeet!" I yelled, "We are so their." Kathy managed through the jungle to join me at the road. "Are we their yet?" she asked once again, I could tell in her voice she was relieved. Didn't blame her after taking a good fall, getting half frozen, hiking on a bum ankle, and being covered head to toe in a thick clay like mud, then walking aimlessly through the dark following some dumb ass who forgot to set his watch.

The rest of the walk was quiet, only broked by a few udders of how good dry clothes and food souned. As we arrived at the truck their was no talking, just a mad dash for the food box and the cooler. Finally we started laughing about the whole trip. "So we have a whole week of this ahead is the plan?" Kathy said smiling. "Yup, but I will set my watch to the right time and if you are lucky I will avoid the frozen streams from here on out." I muttered through a mouth full of chips and beer.

The Trip Report:

Birch Hollow was an awesome canyon, a little downclimibing, several rappels into beautifull country, and a nice back country setting. Although usually dry, if their is water flowing at the top, it is flowing even more at the bottom.

I set out with a good friend from Oregon, having a late start we hauled ass down to Zion and tried to get this canyon in. The road to the start was dry with a few mudholes that a passenger car could pass. We hit the trailhead and headed down. As we desended we found a parade of mud to waddle through and most of the stream was frozen allowing easy hiking across the ice covered mud.

At the first rappel we voted to by-pass to avoid getting wet for as long as we could. Their was a decent flow going over the rim and no good anchor spots to avoid the water.

Second rappel we put the sandals on and just went for it. Halfway down we landed in a pile of slippery mud that as we found out takes three washings to get out and makes walking interesting.

As we continued down the canyon we admired the beauty of the canyon. It is a beautifull setting with pine trees and high walls abundant. Unfortunatly by the time we got the biggest drop my friend Kathy was starting to shiver uncontrollably from the wet and cold that we did not prepare for. As I set up the anchor off an incredibally small (although looked well used) pine tree kathy walked back and fourth trying to warm up a bit. The idea of jumping jacks came to mind but she had a bum ankle from a previous injury, so were out of the question.

Once down the drop the canyon tightened beautifully. The red flow going through added to the scenery. It also added the fun debate of "how deep do you think it is?" I was always a good friend and went first, waist deep was the concensus on most of them. A lot of the drops looked like they could be down climbed in drier conditions, but neccesitated a rope with the water. All the anchors were well set and easy to find the whole way down. On a short 15' drop Kathy slipped and let go of the rope (!) smashing into the wall tearing up her hands and elbows. For some reaosn still unknown she did not fall to far. All we can figure is that the belay device set against the wall breaking the rope.

By the time we got to the bottom kathy was shivering uncontrollably and pretty shooken up from the fall. We stopped and put our regular shoes back on for the hike up Orderville canyon.

By the time we reached the wild wind junction dark was definatly setting in fast. We decided to hit the ridge and follow it up knowing that it would get dark first in the canyon. The ridge hike was steep and quite frankly a pain in the derier. Covered in brush to tangle in allowed for route finding to be quite the chore. Where we ended up was about 1/4 mile from where you should end up if you follow the directions. (P.S. if it gets dark look for the blinking red light, it is pretty close to where you parked...).

I would like to do Birch Hollow again in a little drier weather. Although we did notice fairly fresh footprints going down the canyon the whole way, just be prepared for a little wading if the stream has any water in it.

Overall, sweet canyon. The rest of the trip included pine creek, keyhole, and spry. Although a blast Birch Hollow was a permit free, uncrowded, and cool canyon if you ever get an evening ;)

hesse15
04-16-2006, 09:14 PM
so did your friend have a wetsuit on?
neoprene socks
a change of dry clothing?
getting cold is much easier for female
and when you are cold sometime handle a simple rappel could be a hard task
lukily she did not get hurt badly
but i think the guys need to take care a little more of their women on trips
beside we can kick butts in sunny warm 100F weather
but that is all another story
the trip sound good but if you do when is warm is much fun
by the way i think birch is a permit canyon now
not 100% sure

moabfool
04-17-2006, 02:21 PM
uutahgoddess,

If Birch is a permit canyon it would be the BLM or the Forest Service issuing the permit (not sure of the land status up there, probably FS). The entire canyon is outside of Zion NP. I don't see Birch Hollow listed on www.zionpermits.nps.gov.

Mossimo64,

I see that you listed Pine Creek on your TR for the weekend. How was it? I'm thinking of heading that direction this weekend.

-Mike

Iceaxe
04-17-2006, 02:47 PM
Nice TR, fun read.

Yeah... how is Pine Creek? flowing?

Birch is outside the park and no permit is required if you exit UP Orderville.

This will probably get me in big trouble..... but..... Its my understanding that women can handle the cold better then men because their body contains an extra layer of fat that men don't have..... ducking.....

:popcorn:

jumar
04-17-2006, 03:11 PM
This will probably get me in big trouble..... but..... Its my understanding that women can handle the cold better then men because their body contains an extra layer of fat that men don't have..... ducking.....

Probably a nice theory, but in reality how many of our wives, sisters etc are a lot colder than we are most the time. I know very few women who are as cold tolerant as men. :cold:

No offense intended!!

James_B_Wads2000
04-17-2006, 04:10 PM
Nice TR, thanks for sharing. Do you have any pictures? I have never completed Birch Hollow before. I have hiked down to the first drop off/optional rappel before.

I think if you were to ask most canyoneers that have been to Zion a lot. They would tell you that spring can be very cold in Zion slots. More cold on average than say San Rafael, the Robbers Roost or Escalante.

Another thing I have learned over the years of hiking around the canyons of Southern Utah is that it is always easier to follow the watercourse than to go cross-country. Usually there is less vegetation in the washes then on the rims. YMMV


getting cold is much easier for female

I thought the opposite was true since on average women have more body fat than men.



by the way i think birch is a permit canyon now
not 100% sure

A permit is only required if you go down Birch to Orderville and then down Orderville to the Temple of Sinawava. If you go upstream and hike out Wild Wind Hollow or out Oderville no permit is required.

James

hesse15
04-17-2006, 04:31 PM
.



getting cold is much easier for female

I thought the opposite was true since on average women have more body fat than men.

not my case i am in 10%body fat 5.6 for 117 punds and no big beer belly to store the heat as most of the guys!!!



by the way i think birch is a permit canyon now
not 100% sure

A permit is only required if you go down Birch to Orderville and then down Orderville to the Temple of Sinawava. If you go upstream and hike out Wild Wind Hollow or out Oderville no permit is required.

James[/quote]
yes that is what when i did we go to orderville and we exit in the park so we need a permit
mistery solved

pinecrecck flowing was nice
off course wearing capilene cloting below a wet suit and below a drysuit
as soon get summer and get 100F finally i will kick butts until them i am too cold to perform properly

mossimo64
04-17-2006, 06:45 PM
I will have to scan the pics, unfortunatly the camera had a leaking problem going through Pine creek and we lost the roll of film from Birch Hollow, but still have a few from key hole and pine creek.

Pine Creek was sweet, extremely full and cold. We rented dry suits and had long johns with a layer of fleece on top of that, I was sweating most the way my partner claimed she was a little chilled at times. Most every rappel was a floating unhook. We left quite a bit of extra air in the dry bags and it worked out perfect. To give you a perspective of the water the grand cathedral was a full swimmer through the arch. I am about 5'11" and I could not touch most of the way through the rest of canyon when in the water. If you do it I highly recommend a dry suit (that doesn't leak preferably!) or at least a 7mm wetsuit. We saw a group that just finished and their was a girl that had a winter jacket on even though it was 80 degrees outside, it left for some wondering on how their trip went (and why women are always cold :haha: )

As far as hitting the ridge in Birch Hollow, we are both wildland firefighters and experience always shares that you see a hell of a lot more on top of a ridge than down in a gully. It may have been easier trucking through the gully but I was not familiar with the area and did not want to take a wrong turn somewhere in the dark. Hitting the ridge seemed like our best bet, the road was at the top and we knew we would hit it eventually, right or wrong we made it and can laugh about it now.

Iceaxe
04-17-2006, 08:38 PM
If it makes you feel any safer I once ran into a bear while hiking up that ridge :haha: