A Pig/Trail Combo

[Reedus]

Before ya start bitchin about no photos and how threads like this are worthless without em', we took pictures, but you are going to have to get Kyrell to get them from his buddy Chuck and post them here. He was the only one (besides Eric with his cell phone camera) that took decent photos. At the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, I realized I left my camera and I wasn't turning around to go get it. So here it is:

It started out with a group of 8+ and ended up being only four, which worked out perfect for a one car carpool down. In company were Mike (Kyrell), his buddy the spider monkey Chuck, Eric (Shaggy125) and Me. We got a good start at 4 am and reached the Hog system trailhead at around 7:30. The temperature was steady at +14 degrees, but when we hopped out of the truck, the slight breeze made it feel much colder. After a few entrance/exits from the car trying to savor the last of the warmth before we got going, we finally geared up and headed out. Eric was the only one that had done Boss Hog before, so he lead us to the head of the canyon and we got going. I don't remember much of it except that I got through and was impressed. The hike out wasn't to bad and we were back at the car in something around 3.5 hours. I don't remember much of Boss Hog due to the fact that I got a severe spanking from Trail Canyon. (actually me and Mike both got spanked, chewed up and spit out) Trail proved quite the deal for us. The only two that had wetsuits were Eric and Chuck. Chuck being a friggin spider monkey avoided every single pothole in the canyon by his acrobatic stemming and leaping abilities. Me and Mike got the brunt of Trail in the dead of winter. We got started up the canyon to the head and missed a couple of sandstone domes that took us on top and over to the north fork. After a little backtracking, we made it and started down. The first couple of rappels were easy and the anchors were still in good condition. The harness got packed up after number 2 and that was when it got tricky. I learned first hand that it is always better to stay high when in doubt, because it is a biznatch trying to get up after you have come down. The fact that we had already done Boss Hog added to the exhasution factor which made it even more difficult to get back up after prematurely coming down from stemming. The first big pothole we came to was FROZEN solid about 4 inches. Eric creeped across and had no problems, but he is about 40 pounds lighter than me and Mike. I gently eased my self onto the ice and did the breast stroke across it so I wouldn't go through. I was stoked that all the potholes were going to be that way and I wouldn't ahve to get wet. Rude awakening came around the next turn. Another pothole that was about waist deep had to be forded. Eric went first and the ice was only a 1/2 inch. He broke it up and i went in next screaming like a raped ape. Man it was cold! The next pothole was the same, except it was chest deep. I was surprised how it didn't bother me as long as I kept moving. The problem came at the crux of the canyon when me and Mike were forced to go high cause we couldn't fir through. My pants and the shorts over them were soaked and it hindered the mobility of my legs quite badly. It was all the force and concentration I could muster to get up to where i could start to stem down. Chuck supply to the initial footholds to get me up and then it was inch by inch for about 50 yards. I wasn't sure how high to go, but I figured by the time i came down I was around 40 to 50 feet off the deck, my legs shaking the whole way. Mike and I got back to the truck and realized we had no change of clothes, so the three hour ride back to Orem was in nothing but my BVDs and a tee shirt. Mike had on spandex and I can just imagine the look on the clerks face at the gas station in Hanksville when Mike strolled through the door to buy a beverage in his spandex and I hopped out to pump gas in my BVDs. All in all it was a hellava trip and looking forward to the next.

[Iceaxe]

Dang.... I got cold just reading it..... :cold:

[marc olivares]

sooo many words, sooo few photos :sad:


Burrrrrrrr :cold:

[Reedus]

Patience my friend, photos will come.

[JP]

Patience my friend, photos will come.
I just had to, I haven't seen this Smilie around here yet :nod:

http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/Smileys/default/threadworthless.gif

[Reedus]

Eric, help me out here. Get a hold of Chuckmeister and lets show em what a real freeze fest is

[stefan]

freezefest indeed. it was posted here that there was water in trail during freezefest, two swimmers in fact

what were the day temps like?

well, as a wise friend of mine always loved to say in these situations ... it builds character :lol8:

way to pull it off :2thumbs:

[Reedus]

When we got back to the car the temp read 46, but as soon as we got moving down the road it dropped to 36 and remained steady so I think that the 46 was just the sun heating the car. Great canyon, the cold water only bothered me when I was in it. We knew there was water in the canyon, but I figured since it was such a short canyon, and it drops you out right at the car, a little water wouldn't hurt. I did sap the energy right out of me though. My muscles were cramping the entire way home

[stefan]

When we got back to the car the temp read 46, but as soon as we got moving down the road it dropped to 36 and remained steady so I think that the 46 was just the sun heating the car. Great canyon, the cold water only bothered me when I was in it. We knew there was water in the canyon, but I figured since it was such a short canyon, and it drops you out right at the car, a little water wouldn't hurt. I did sap the energy right out of me though. My muscles were cramping the entire way home

nice ... nothing like cramps in a tight car, eh?

well ... looking forward to the photos. thanks for the report.

[price1869]

Almost makes me sad that I missed it. Almost. I'll come through the next one. Feb 3rd?

[rockgremlin]

So, you go into a wet Trail canyon with no wetsuits in January.....

Were you high? :toker:

:roflol:

[Scott Card]

What the...... you are nuts? :eek2: I think the wetsuit is as valuable as body armor as it is for heat purposes in that skin scraper called Trail. Glad you made it out OK and didn't go through the final squeeze/crux in those conditions. To be that cold and wet and have to exert a lot of strength to squeeze through could have been a bad combination. We had about the same air temps but it was much more pleasant in a wet suit, even a shorty like I had was fine. I never really got chilled until I got back to the car. Great canyon huh? Looking forward to the photos.

[Reedus]

So, you go into a wet Trail canyon with no wetsuits in January.....

Were you high? :toker:

:roflol:

Ya, must've been smokin the same stuff you guys were when you headed into the Squeeze with an imminent thunderstorm and one figure 8 between all of you. Funny as hell to hear Mike and Chuck tell the story.

[rockgremlin]

Naaaah. We weren't high. We were just young and dumb -- and to some extent following Steve Allen's beta. Have I mentioned I hate Steve Allen?

The Squeeze was probably our first "real" canyon. Learned a lot since then...

[Iceaxe]

Naaaah. We weren't high. We were just young and dumb

I always love to hear a good "when I was a newbie" story :lol8:

:five:

[price1869]

Naaaah. We weren't high. We were just young and dumb

I always love to hear a good "when I was a newbie" story :lol8:

:five:

Are any of you guys newbies? When are we getting some pics?

[Iceaxe]

Are any of you guys newbies? When are we getting some pics?

We were all noob's once.... and I'm sure we all have stories :haha:

[shaggy125]

Ok, you call Reed high for going into Trail without the wetsuit, I'm the one that's high. I didn't get enough abuse and headed back down to North Wash with Josh yesterday morning, we got back this evening. Did Middle Lep and Blarney yesterday. Considered getting a Hotel, but Josh didn't like the idea of not having a campfire so we camped at Sandthrax. It really wasn't that cold at night, I would guess the low 20's, MAYBE the high teens. Daytime temps were really nice and we had heard so many stories about people doing the Black Hole on New Years we really wanted to give it a try. I'd be interested to hear how long it took for the freezefesters to hit a pool that wasn't frozen over because after crossing many shallow, frozen over pools, and one sketchy iced over pothole, we came to a really long, over the head deep pool with about three inches of ice over it. If the ice broke it would be very difficult to break your way through, let alone try to climb back out. It looked really sketchy and dangerous, Josh and I both didn't like it at all so we backed out and left. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to do the canyon, but had no regrets... unless the freezefesters say that's how it always is and we should have kept going. I'm guessing the two weeks of single digit lows since freezefest changed the conditions in the Black Hole?

Josh's camera was on the fritz so not many pictures but when I get some I'll post a separate TR. As far as pics from the Trail Boss Hog Combo, they are on Chuck's camera and good luck getting him to post them. I asked him to email them to me, but he said they are too big to email. Who's knows when I'll see them... let alone you guys.

Eric.

P.S. My video camera was getting "fixed" for the Boss Hog/Trial combo. They "fixed" it, but it still seems just as broken as before, so no video from this trip either... sorry.

[stefan]

I'd be interested to hear how long it took for the freezefesters to hit a pool that wasn't frozen over because after crossing many shallow, frozen over pools, and one sketchy iced over pothole, we came to a really long, over the head deep pool with about three inches of ice over it. If the ice broke it would be very difficult to break your way through, let alone try to climb back out. It looked really sketchy and dangerous, Josh and I both didn't like it at all so we backed out and left. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to do the canyon, but had no regrets... unless the freezefesters say that's how it always is and we should have kept going. I'm guessing the two weeks of single digit lows since freezefest changed the conditions in the Black Hole?

this year the water for the most part was not frozen over at all ... cold but not frozen. there was some early in small shallow minor pools and one or two areas towards the end of the watery section that had ice, but it was relatively thin ... centimeter to and inch. didn't impede much travel though.


what happened to the camera?

[shaggy125]

what happened to the camera?

It won't charge the battery. Bought a new battery but it did the same thing so I took it in to get fixed and they kept it for a week and a half and it does the exact same thing. I got the accidental insurance on it so I'm thinking I might just need to bash it into the ground then take it back, that way they might actually do something. Just so people know, I haven't had a good experience with Circuit City, I got their accidental insurance, and the camera got sand in it and wouldn't work. They fixed it, but it took a full month, then this time they didn't fix it at all. I think all that work there are a bunch of teenagers that are no help at all, and I've been nothing but frustrated :frustrated:

[rockgremlin]

Ok, you call Reed high for going into Trail without the wetsuit, I'm the one that's high. I didn't get enough abuse and headed back down to North Wash with Josh yesterday morning, we got back this evening. Did Middle Lep and Blarney yesterday. Considered getting a Hotel, but Josh didn't like the idea of not having a campfire so we camped at Sandthrax. It really wasn't that cold at night, I would guess the low 20's, MAYBE the high teens. Daytime temps were really nice and we had heard so many stories about people doing the Black Hole on New Years we really wanted to give it a try. I'd be interested to hear how long it took for the freezefesters to hit a pool that wasn't frozen over because after crossing many shallow, frozen over pools, and one sketchy iced over pothole, we came to a really long, over the head deep pool with about three inches of ice over it. If the ice broke it would be very difficult to break your way through, let alone try to climb back out. It looked really sketchy and dangerous, Josh and I both didn't like it at all so we backed out and left. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to do the canyon, but had no regrets... unless the freezefesters say that's how it always is and we should have kept going. I'm guessing the two weeks of single digit lows since freezefest changed the conditions in the Black Hole?

Josh's camera was on the fritz so not many pictures but when I get some I'll post a separate TR. As far as pics from the Trail Boss Hog Combo, they are on Chuck's camera and good luck getting him to post them. I asked him to email them to me, but he said they are too big to email. Who's knows when I'll see them... let alone you guys.

Eric.

P.S. My video camera was getting "fixed" for the Boss Hog/Trial combo. They "fixed" it, but it still seems just as broken as before, so no video from this trip either... sorry.



Nice thread hijack. :haha:

As far as getting pics from Chuck...it may take a long time, but you'll probably get them eventually. I recall a trip I took with him a while back where he took all the photos and promised to burn me a CD with all of the pics. It took roughly 3-4 months for him to get me that CD. He's really busy and doesn't have a lot of time to hang out on internet forums. Also, I don't think he has photoshop or any other photo resizing software, so what you do get from him will be full size images.

Good luck.

[Reedus]

What the hell? My camera is just like yours and you would have been MORE THAN welcome to drop by and grab it. Especially for North Wash footage. You need to get one of these to keep the water and sand out

[stefan]

what happened to the camera?

It won't charge the battery. Bought a new battery but it did the same thing so I took it in to get fixed and they kept it for a week and a half and it does the exact same thing. I got the accidental insurance on it so I'm thinking I might just need to bash it into the ground then take it back, that way they might actually do something. Just so people know, I haven't had a good experience with Circuit City, I got their accidental insurance, and the camera got sand in it and wouldn't work. They fixed it, but it took a full month, then this time they didn't fix it at all. I think all that work there are a bunch of teenagers that are no help at all, and I've been nothing but frustrated :frustrated:

that's weak! i hope you get something working soon ... perhaps you can be extra clumsy with it :haha:

i was hoping you'd be at FF eric, missed seeing ya there. next time i guess. stair and hog 2 would have been fun that day you were thinking of showing up. i thought stair was even better the second time 'round.

[Reedus]

As Promised. These are of Trail only. The only pics we had of Piggy 1 were taken on a cell phone camera. Photo props to Chuckmeister.

[shaggy125]

Nice job getting the pics from Chuck, they look good. I wrote up a TR for my blog a while ago and have just been waiting on pics to post it. Here are a few from Boss Hog taken with my crappy cell phone camera.