smcqueen
05-21-2007, 03:10 PM
Toured Spry Wednesday (5/9) with son-in-law Jared and grandson Marsh. We
didn't leave the trailhead until 10 AM, and the approach hike was fairly
brutal after leaving upper Pine Creek. We found the petroglyphs, so that
was really neat.
Just above the first anchor, I slipped on some wet moss and
slid/tumbled/rolled into a small pool, banging up my knee and elbow and
opening several leaks in my skin. We made it down to the anchor without
further incident. I rapped first and found a small ledge to bypass the
medium-sized pool in the middle. It was full of frogs who were loudly
protesting our presence. Seems we had interrupted a frog orgy or
something. There was another ledge above the bottom pool, so we were
able to "skate" around that one as well. We found no other significant
water until I rapped off the chockstone anchor above a very deep and
cold hanging pool. After I got off rope, I discovered I wasn't finished:
there was another rap down to another pool. About that time, Jared
spotted another anchor which would bypass both pools. They pulled up the
rope, leaving me standing in a notch between the two pools and then had
to toss it back down to me so I could continue on down (I didn't want to
swim back into the pool if I could help it; I was already getting
hypothermic). After I got all the way down, they re-rigged at the new
anchor and joined me. Once we got started moving, I soon warmed back up.
The only other significant water was in the slide pool just after the
"toothy" rap. That pool was over my head and didn't shallow out until a
couple of feet from the end.
I have to say that the boulder field exit could be much shorter and I
wouldn't complain. I was finished with this canyon long before the
canyon was finished with me. We finally got to the cliff-band rap off
the tree and thought we were almost done. Unfortunately, by that time
none of us were thinking straight, so when we got to Pine Creek just
after sunset and looked across and saw a trail on the other side, we
said, "That must be the trail out." Wrong. We spent the next two hours
wandering around on the mountain in the dark (both literally and
figuratively) looking for a way to the road. Thank goodness we each had
a head lamp. We finally gave up and found a suitable tree, rigged an
anchor, and tossed the rope. We sure were happy to hear it hit bottom.
When we rapped down, we were less than 2 minutes from the car. We went
back the next day and hiked up lower Pine Creek to where we had erred
and then timed our hike back to the car: less than 10 minutes! Major
bummer! For Jared and I, both cavers, rapping in the dark was nothing
new, but it was a new experience for Marsh, who needed a little
encouragement at first, but finished strong!
As someone once said, "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun."
Stan
didn't leave the trailhead until 10 AM, and the approach hike was fairly
brutal after leaving upper Pine Creek. We found the petroglyphs, so that
was really neat.
Just above the first anchor, I slipped on some wet moss and
slid/tumbled/rolled into a small pool, banging up my knee and elbow and
opening several leaks in my skin. We made it down to the anchor without
further incident. I rapped first and found a small ledge to bypass the
medium-sized pool in the middle. It was full of frogs who were loudly
protesting our presence. Seems we had interrupted a frog orgy or
something. There was another ledge above the bottom pool, so we were
able to "skate" around that one as well. We found no other significant
water until I rapped off the chockstone anchor above a very deep and
cold hanging pool. After I got off rope, I discovered I wasn't finished:
there was another rap down to another pool. About that time, Jared
spotted another anchor which would bypass both pools. They pulled up the
rope, leaving me standing in a notch between the two pools and then had
to toss it back down to me so I could continue on down (I didn't want to
swim back into the pool if I could help it; I was already getting
hypothermic). After I got all the way down, they re-rigged at the new
anchor and joined me. Once we got started moving, I soon warmed back up.
The only other significant water was in the slide pool just after the
"toothy" rap. That pool was over my head and didn't shallow out until a
couple of feet from the end.
I have to say that the boulder field exit could be much shorter and I
wouldn't complain. I was finished with this canyon long before the
canyon was finished with me. We finally got to the cliff-band rap off
the tree and thought we were almost done. Unfortunately, by that time
none of us were thinking straight, so when we got to Pine Creek just
after sunset and looked across and saw a trail on the other side, we
said, "That must be the trail out." Wrong. We spent the next two hours
wandering around on the mountain in the dark (both literally and
figuratively) looking for a way to the road. Thank goodness we each had
a head lamp. We finally gave up and found a suitable tree, rigged an
anchor, and tossed the rope. We sure were happy to hear it hit bottom.
When we rapped down, we were less than 2 minutes from the car. We went
back the next day and hiked up lower Pine Creek to where we had erred
and then timed our hike back to the car: less than 10 minutes! Major
bummer! For Jared and I, both cavers, rapping in the dark was nothing
new, but it was a new experience for Marsh, who needed a little
encouragement at first, but finished strong!
As someone once said, "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun."
Stan