Order of Difficulty, San Rafeal Swell

[PaladinTodd]

Last fall we did our first canyon in Leprachaun and we're headed back this weekend eager for some more. After Leprechaun (Right Fork), what should be next on the newbie's things-to-try list? Utah's a long drive from Denver so we'd like to stay in the San Rafael Swell area or shorter.

[rockgremlin]

Hmmmmm....next on the list in the Swell could be any of the following:

-Lower Eardley
-Miner's Hollow (aka Knotted Rope)
-Music Canyon
-Ding/Dang Loop
-Little Wild Horse (not very technical, but scenic)
-Baptist Draw to Upper Chute Loop

[Iceaxe]

Robbers Roost is also easy from Denver.

Bluejohn
Larry
Robbers Roost North Fork

[Sombeech]

Welcome to the forum! :2thumbs:

[PaladinTodd]

Blue John looks like a good place to spend a weekend. Does the "spring" in Granary Springs have water or do I need to bring my own? Would a mtn bike being any good for shuttling from the alternate trailhead - take the car there, bike back to the starting point?

[Iceaxe]

Bring your own water whenever you visit the Roost or Swell. There are places you can get water but most is highly mineralized which acts as a natural laxative. Think Ex-Lax in high dosage.

A mountain bike makes a good shuttle for Bluejohn. If you have some minor climbing skills the best loop is down east fork and up main fork. This eliminates the need for a shuttle and allows you to visit the very best of Bluejohn in one day.

:popcorn:

[rockgremlin]

Bring your own water whenever you visit the Roost or Swell. There are places you can get water but most is highly mineralized which acts as a natural laxative. Think Ex-Lax in high dosage.

A mountain bike makes a good shuttle for Bluejohn. If you have some minor climbing skills the best loop is down east fork and up main fork. This eliminates the need for a shuttle and allows you to visit the very best of Bluejohn in one day.

:popcorn:

I second the "down east, and up main fork" idea. Going all the way down the main fork past the pictograph panels is nice, but it's a LOOOOONG day!

[PaladinTodd]

Thanks for all the advice gang. You definitely pointed us in the right direction.

We zipped out to Blue John on Friday and did Little John late in the afternoon. Cool raps and the "adventure exit" up the West Canyon was fun as well though we got tired of walking on the sand.

On Saturday we did the recommended Down East, Up Main route. Rapelling into the wet pothole had us a little un-inispired when it was only calf deep. The sharp right and then 30 yards of neck deep water really made up for it though (how'd I miss that in all the beta?)! Climbing up the main fork was, uh, good. Don't want Shane to think I'm a poser. Anyways, we made it up. Great Fun with an amazing variety of terrain & slots.

We hadn't planned to do Little John on Friday so we were left wondering what to do for a short trip on Sunday. Ended up running down to Leprechaun and doing the East fork from the very top. Interesting how different Lep is from Blue John.

Huge thanks to Shane and the Climb-Utah beta. Without the GPS coordinates, we'd never have found anything.

[Iceaxe]

The sharp right and then 30 yards of neck deep water really made up for it though (how'd I miss that in all the beta?)!

Me thinks this might be a new blockage causing the deep water. Usually knee to waist deep if you find water at this spot.


Don't want Shane to think I'm a poser.

Why to stud up there big guy :stud:

.

[moabfool]

We zipped out to Blue John on Friday and did Little John late in the afternoon. Cool raps and the "adventure exit" up the West Canyon was fun as well though we got tired of walking on the sand.

I did Little Bluejohn with some friends on Saturday and tried to exit up the West Fork. We got about 15-20 minutes up the canyon and ran into a massive rock fall that we would've had to scramble over if I hadn't decided to turn back and take the Main Exit. I wasn't sure we were even in the West Fork so I didn't want to proceed. One of the girls in the group and I had hiked out of the west fork in October of '03 and neither of us remember the rock fall. I've e-mailed another buddy who was on that trip and he didn't remember the rockfall either. I guess I'm wondering whether conditions have changed, or if I was just in the wrong canyon? The GPS told us we were near the mouth of the West Fork when we got back out of the slot and could get a signal, so I'm 99% sure we were in the right place. Anybody know about a massive rock fall in the West Fork of Bluejohn?

[nat]

I did Little Bluejohn with some friends on Saturday and tried to exit up the West Fork. We got about 15-20 minutes up the canyon and ran into a massive rock fall that we would've had to scramble over if I hadn't decided to turn back and take the Main Exit. I wasn't sure we were even in the West Fork so I didn't want to proceed. One of the girls in the group and I had hiked out of the west fork in October of '03 and neither of us remember the rock fall. I've e-mailed another buddy who was on that trip and he didn't remember the rockfall either. I guess I'm wondering whether conditions have changed, or if I was just in the wrong canyon? The GPS told us we were near the mouth of the West Fork when we got back out of the slot and could get a signal, so I'm 99% sure we were in the right place. Anybody know about a massive rock fall in the West Fork of Bluejohn?

Wow, it must be very recent! I was there just this April (went down West Fork, and through lower Blue John and on down through Horse Shoe), and there wasn't any rock fall then.

[moabfool]

Wow, it must be very recent! I was there just this April (went down West Fork, and through lower Blue John and on down through Horse Shoe), and there wasn't any rock fall then.

I wish I had been able to take the time to hike out to the confluence of the main and east forks so I could walk back and confirm that we were indeed at the west fork, but some members of my party had already started up the main exit and would not wait (we had some tense words at the rockfall regarding my decision to retreat from the canyon and emotions were still running high). Like I said, I'm 99% sure we were in the west fork. We'll need some fresh beta from somebody who has time to confirm the facts.

If it helps, we found a bench mark on the way out that was slightly southwest of the mouth of whatever canyon we were in (perhaps 1/4 mile). If you know how to read bench marks this picture may help divine which canyon we were in. There were no major drainages between the canyon we went up and this bench mark.

NOTE: I have started a new thread on this topic. If you have a reply to my comments, please do it in the other thread.

http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18639#18639