Alex
06-14-2007, 08:36 AM
A lot of people have been asking me for the link, so I might as well give a little of the background:
On Sunday June 10th, 2007 a group of us (Shane, Marc, Eston, Adam and Alex) went down Zero Gravity canyon located in San Rafael area. It was a great day for a slot hike. It was very hot up on the plateau, but nice and cool in the slot itself. There were quite a few swimming potholes on our way that we had to overcome.
Half way through the slot, the canyon narrows to about a foot or less and has a few drop offs (4 feet or so). We came up to the choke stone and Shane was leading. One of a sudden Shane jumps and screams, right away I thought to myself a rattlesnake just as I saw past him large wings!
This is how we found the bird:
http://uutah.com/forum/files/dscn0433__medium_.jpg
Right away we knew we were in trouble. At first we thought about trying to get the so thought eagle out, but the bird fought back and got deeper into the "keeper hole". It's very tight in there and if we pushed on, we'd have to get right through the bird.
The global decision was made to leave the bird where it was and climb out of the canyon and rappel below it. Basically leaving the bird to Mother Nature to deal with. And so we did....
This is a chapter 2 to this:
http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7301
http://utahbp.com/zerog
Here is the story as I remember it:
Tuesday night Marc's guilt drives him to work the phones. He finds this lady in Price who guilts him into coming down and taking her to the hawk. Marc guilts me into going with him (took the whole 2 mins to guilt me :lol8: ).
At 7AM Marc is at my house and we are off to my dads to get some fishing nets just in case. At 9:30AM we are picking up the lady named Debby and her assistant Connie at Second Chance rehabilitation center in Price. They pack their cage and gear and we head down to Zero G!
These ladies must love birds a little too much. Marc and I got a 2 hour lecture on birds and more info than both of us could digest :lol8: But they were nice ladies and kept us occupied.
Around 11:30 AM we get our gear and start down the trail on the North side of the wash in the search of the spot where we have previously exited the canyon.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/DSCN0471.sized.jpg
Let's just say that the main rehab lady (Debby) isn't much of a canyoneer, so the sun did too much work for her and I found a nice alcove for her to hide in the shade and wait for our return. We took Connie and headed down. Marc decided to run ahead and scout the area to see if the bird is still there and it was worth our effort to bring the ladies down there. Sure enough 10 minutes later there were the screams of joy! :2thumbs:
So we took Connie and all the gear and hand lined down the sandstone wall.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1371.sized.jpg
We were able to drop about 30 yards away from the bird's location. The hawk was able to make itself down the canyon and was almost to the keeper wall, so it did have water as we thought. We got these awesome gauntlet gloves from Debby, got our hand lines, 200 feet of webbing, 200 feet of rope and pull cords, fishing nets, blankets and went off after the beast! :haha:
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1374.sized.jpg
Sadly, Marc and I were so pumped with adrenaline and sweat that we didn't take our cameras into the tight spot where the bird was.
Basically, the slot got very narrow and it opened up a bit at the very bottom. One choice was to stem across and then slowly drop down over the keeper hole, but that would mean dropping down about 20-25 feet. We decided after a long "no you, no you" argument that Alex (me) would go down through the tight squeeze with gauntlet gloves
http://uutah.com/forum/files/gauntlets.jpg
and Marc (since he is better than me at stemming) stem across and throw the blanket on the bird so I could scoop it.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMG_0209_Medium.sized.jpg
Well, our plan almost worked like it was planned. Having marc on top gave me a great handhold and Marc held all the gear, including my dad fishing net.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMG_0211_Medium.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMG_0213_Medium.sized.jpg
We extended the handle on the net and were able to gently cover the bird with the net! At first we tried to approach the bird, but the poor thing kept backing away deeper into the keeper hole. So the net did wonders for us. I was able to cover the bird with the net and drag it slowly against the wall closer to us. Then marc took over the net while I put the blanket onto the bird inside the net and marc got the bird out of the slot. :cool2:
As soon as marc and I were back on solid ground there were a couple of joy screams were heard in the slot and a bunch of high fives :lol8:
The sad part about this whole story, is that we (grown men) were scared senseless of the beast, but as soon as we gave the bird to Connie, she opened the blanket and took the bird out! :eek2: Marc and I dropped our jaws when we saw that.
http://uutah.com/forum/files/seconds_after_rescue.jpg
Of course after coming to our senses, we couldn't wait to hand hold the bird and pose for more pics! :lol8: That's why we are there for, right?
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1376.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1379.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1380.sized.jpg
After coming over the initial shock and adrenaline rush, we decided to go and check on our other patient, Debby! Marc took the gear and headed up, then throwing a hand line for me and Connie. I man handled the bird and Connie brought up the rear.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1383.sized.jpg
Once we made it to the alcove where we left Debby, we showed our precious cargo to her and all the heat exhaustion suddenly went away.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1387.sized.jpg
We took a couple of mins to cool off, rehydrate and headed back down to the car. The mood of the party was a lot happier this time and the pace was acceptable by the great canyoneers! :lol8: :haha:
http://uutah.com/forum/files/the_mighty_fisherman.jpg
Once we got to the car, Debby did a basic assessment of the bird
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1389.sized.jpg
Gave it some pain killers and IV
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1393.sized.jpg
And then let us look at the bird a little closer
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1397.sized.jpg
Pay attention to the fear still in Marc's eyes. Oh yes we kept our distance!
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1399.sized.jpg
I was still hesitant in holding the bird, but I overcame my fears! :eek2:
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1402.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1403.sized.jpg
As you can tell, the Hawk or Eagle as we originally thought wasn't 4 feet tall as we predicted. It was a 2 year old male Red Tail Hawk, about 2 feet long and as stated by Debby, had about 1 day of life left! It was totally dehydrated and exhausted. It had no more energy to fight us or live on. If marc's guilt didn't kick in on time, there would be one less beautiful bird in the sky over the deserts that we so love and adore.
I really appreciate Marc's invitation to come on this unique trip and I think it was the best canyoneering experiences I have ever been to.
Alex
On Sunday June 10th, 2007 a group of us (Shane, Marc, Eston, Adam and Alex) went down Zero Gravity canyon located in San Rafael area. It was a great day for a slot hike. It was very hot up on the plateau, but nice and cool in the slot itself. There were quite a few swimming potholes on our way that we had to overcome.
Half way through the slot, the canyon narrows to about a foot or less and has a few drop offs (4 feet or so). We came up to the choke stone and Shane was leading. One of a sudden Shane jumps and screams, right away I thought to myself a rattlesnake just as I saw past him large wings!
This is how we found the bird:
http://uutah.com/forum/files/dscn0433__medium_.jpg
Right away we knew we were in trouble. At first we thought about trying to get the so thought eagle out, but the bird fought back and got deeper into the "keeper hole". It's very tight in there and if we pushed on, we'd have to get right through the bird.
The global decision was made to leave the bird where it was and climb out of the canyon and rappel below it. Basically leaving the bird to Mother Nature to deal with. And so we did....
This is a chapter 2 to this:
http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7301
http://utahbp.com/zerog
Here is the story as I remember it:
Tuesday night Marc's guilt drives him to work the phones. He finds this lady in Price who guilts him into coming down and taking her to the hawk. Marc guilts me into going with him (took the whole 2 mins to guilt me :lol8: ).
At 7AM Marc is at my house and we are off to my dads to get some fishing nets just in case. At 9:30AM we are picking up the lady named Debby and her assistant Connie at Second Chance rehabilitation center in Price. They pack their cage and gear and we head down to Zero G!
These ladies must love birds a little too much. Marc and I got a 2 hour lecture on birds and more info than both of us could digest :lol8: But they were nice ladies and kept us occupied.
Around 11:30 AM we get our gear and start down the trail on the North side of the wash in the search of the spot where we have previously exited the canyon.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/DSCN0471.sized.jpg
Let's just say that the main rehab lady (Debby) isn't much of a canyoneer, so the sun did too much work for her and I found a nice alcove for her to hide in the shade and wait for our return. We took Connie and headed down. Marc decided to run ahead and scout the area to see if the bird is still there and it was worth our effort to bring the ladies down there. Sure enough 10 minutes later there were the screams of joy! :2thumbs:
So we took Connie and all the gear and hand lined down the sandstone wall.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1371.sized.jpg
We were able to drop about 30 yards away from the bird's location. The hawk was able to make itself down the canyon and was almost to the keeper wall, so it did have water as we thought. We got these awesome gauntlet gloves from Debby, got our hand lines, 200 feet of webbing, 200 feet of rope and pull cords, fishing nets, blankets and went off after the beast! :haha:
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1374.sized.jpg
Sadly, Marc and I were so pumped with adrenaline and sweat that we didn't take our cameras into the tight spot where the bird was.
Basically, the slot got very narrow and it opened up a bit at the very bottom. One choice was to stem across and then slowly drop down over the keeper hole, but that would mean dropping down about 20-25 feet. We decided after a long "no you, no you" argument that Alex (me) would go down through the tight squeeze with gauntlet gloves
http://uutah.com/forum/files/gauntlets.jpg
and Marc (since he is better than me at stemming) stem across and throw the blanket on the bird so I could scoop it.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMG_0209_Medium.sized.jpg
Well, our plan almost worked like it was planned. Having marc on top gave me a great handhold and Marc held all the gear, including my dad fishing net.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMG_0211_Medium.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMG_0213_Medium.sized.jpg
We extended the handle on the net and were able to gently cover the bird with the net! At first we tried to approach the bird, but the poor thing kept backing away deeper into the keeper hole. So the net did wonders for us. I was able to cover the bird with the net and drag it slowly against the wall closer to us. Then marc took over the net while I put the blanket onto the bird inside the net and marc got the bird out of the slot. :cool2:
As soon as marc and I were back on solid ground there were a couple of joy screams were heard in the slot and a bunch of high fives :lol8:
The sad part about this whole story, is that we (grown men) were scared senseless of the beast, but as soon as we gave the bird to Connie, she opened the blanket and took the bird out! :eek2: Marc and I dropped our jaws when we saw that.
http://uutah.com/forum/files/seconds_after_rescue.jpg
Of course after coming to our senses, we couldn't wait to hand hold the bird and pose for more pics! :lol8: That's why we are there for, right?
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1376.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1379.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1380.sized.jpg
After coming over the initial shock and adrenaline rush, we decided to go and check on our other patient, Debby! Marc took the gear and headed up, then throwing a hand line for me and Connie. I man handled the bird and Connie brought up the rear.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1383.sized.jpg
Once we made it to the alcove where we left Debby, we showed our precious cargo to her and all the heat exhaustion suddenly went away.
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1387.sized.jpg
We took a couple of mins to cool off, rehydrate and headed back down to the car. The mood of the party was a lot happier this time and the pace was acceptable by the great canyoneers! :lol8: :haha:
http://uutah.com/forum/files/the_mighty_fisherman.jpg
Once we got to the car, Debby did a basic assessment of the bird
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1389.sized.jpg
Gave it some pain killers and IV
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1393.sized.jpg
And then let us look at the bird a little closer
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1397.sized.jpg
Pay attention to the fear still in Marc's eyes. Oh yes we kept our distance!
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1399.sized.jpg
I was still hesitant in holding the bird, but I overcame my fears! :eek2:
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1402.sized.jpg
http://utahbp.com/albums/hawk/IMGP1403.sized.jpg
As you can tell, the Hawk or Eagle as we originally thought wasn't 4 feet tall as we predicted. It was a 2 year old male Red Tail Hawk, about 2 feet long and as stated by Debby, had about 1 day of life left! It was totally dehydrated and exhausted. It had no more energy to fight us or live on. If marc's guilt didn't kick in on time, there would be one less beautiful bird in the sky over the deserts that we so love and adore.
I really appreciate Marc's invitation to come on this unique trip and I think it was the best canyoneering experiences I have ever been to.
Alex