AJ
12-03-2007, 09:37 PM
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=182630956/a=38054161/t_=38054161
What could be better than canyoneering for Thanksgiving? This was actually the fourth annual Thanksgiving canyoneering trip, and I was looking forward to it. This year, we were heading to the Swell, which normally has a lot of water in the canyons. The weather the previous weekend was awesome; in the upper 60's. Unfortunately, over Thanksgiving the forecast was lower 40's with 10 night time temps. We made sure we had the right gear, and we were still planning on hitting four aggressive canyon days; each with a lot of water.
There were four of us going in my group, and we were going to meet up with two other groups out there. The four in my group met up and drove out to Hidden Splendor. We met up with one of the other groups there; Stuart's friends Rob and Mike. The original spot we chose was a little small, and I didn't know if the others would be able to find us; so we drove over to the bigger site. Chatted with Rob and Mike about the canyons we had planned; and what the last group had planned. They were going to try to jump in with the last group. We headed to bed.
Thought I saw the last group a little after midnight (there was another car, and the Swell is not frequently visited in November.) Tried to signal them with my headlamp, but they didn't see me. Oh well, we'll find them tomorrow. Probably better for them, as my group was getting up at 4:45am.
Thursday 11/22:
Woke up way too early for my tastes, but we needed to get a good start on the day as we were doing an aggressive canyon today. The estimates were in the 8 to 12 hour range; and we only had 10 hours of sun and 11 hours of light. (Twilight starts at 6:45am, sunrise is 7:15am, sunset is 5:00pm, twilight ends at 5:30pm.) We wanted to do some of the approach during the dark, and hopefully optimize the small amount of sun and warmth we would have for the coldest parts of the canyon. We started the approach around 5:45am for Little Segers Hole/Seger's Window: http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/swell/segers.htm
This was also the first canyon I was doing with Tom and Synthia, and wanted some extra time just in case we ran into anything unexpected. It was actually their first canyon in the United States. They had just moved to Boulder a couple of months ago from France; so it would definitely be an experience for them. They had a windsurfing background, and had done canyons in Europe (as well as I had spent time with them going over gear and telling them what to expect); so I wasn't really worried.
Hiked the Muddy River with many river crossings to get to the base of the Moroni slopes. When we got there around 7:15am, our shoes and pants had frozen solid. I had my kneepads on down lower, and those were iced over as well. Will have to remember not to do that the other days. We hiked up the Moroni Slopes, and dropped in around 9:15am.
There were a few shallow water spots in the canyon, and then at the first rappel, there was a big iced over pothole. Couldn't tell how deep it was. Tried to do a really steep traverse around to see if we could bypass it; definitely wasn't easy. Decided we would just go through it. Put on our suits (I had a drysuit, the others had wetsuits.) Since I had the drysuit, I would be going first and scouting the pools for depth, and trying to find the paths that were shallowest. We rapped off a small arch and broke through the ice. It was a little lower than chest deep. I set up a makeshift directional line using myself as the anchor. Synthia came next, and due to the dynamic stretch in the pull rope, she still got wet, but only up to her knees. Tom came next, and didn't fare as well. He probably got more wet than just doing the rappel. Stuart wanted to try a zip line on the main line instead. I was a little concerned because there was some rock I didn't want him to hit. We changed and anchored the main line; and went through our belay devices so we could lower him into the water if something went wrong. The zip line worked perfectly since the rope didn't stretch, and he didn't get wet at all.
We were able to avoid deep water for most of the rest of the canyon. There was one small slide that you could jump right at the end to get over some water. It was still a pretty far jump; but it looked like you would land onto sand. I did the jump, and unfortunately the sand was frozen. It was a much harder landing than I expected. It broke the sand crust though; so I moved the two inch thick icy crust for the others to have a softer landing.
Came up to another nasty looking big and water filled keeper pothole that looked like a swimmer. The exit looked like it could be pretty challenging. Also looked like we could bypass it if we wanted to. I was fine with going through, but I had a drysuit. The others opted to go around. We built a rock pile anchor and rapped down around the pothole.
The last rappel was really cool. 165' rap with two sections. You could go through a window, or go around it. We finished the final rappel around 2:30pm. It had never really warmed up too much as my knee pads still had a layer of ice on them. We changed out of our wet and dry suits, and descended the rest of the way back to the muddy river. There was a really neat rock slope and erosion section in the cliffs. We then hiked back to camp, stopping to check out the Miner's Bunkhouse along the way (an old mining remnant.) We got back to camp as it got dark around 5:30pm. Took longer than I was expecting, but we burned a lot of time trying to avoid the water in the canyons.
At camp, there was a note from Rob and Mike; they hadn't seen the other group, so they had taken off to a different area for drier canyons. Chatted with the group, and we re-arranged our plans a little. Our shoes, pants, and wet/drysuits were still pretty frozen; so we would do Music Canyon down and back the next day. This would allow us to stay camped at the same place the entire trip; and would give us a mostly dry canyon day where our suits could thaw while we were in the canyon. I also went over the fact that we were going to get wet in Squeeze. We didn't have the time to try to avoid it; and weren't going to try. We'd go through. Squeeze can be a 10-14 hour day; and again, we only had 10 hours of daylight.
We went and found the other group; they ended up at the first spot we were at. The one I thought they wouldn't have found us at. Funny. We got together for an awesome Thanksgiving potluck dinner complete with a pre-cooked Turkey (re-warmed by a campfire), stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, several pies, cookies and more. Quite a wonderful feast; with great friends.
The other group had done the Baptist/Chute loop today; and were planning on doing Music the next day as well. We'd all join up and do Music together tomorrow. We decided to stay in our separate camp spots, as we were getting up even earlier for Squeeze the following day.
Friday 11/23:
We woke up with the sun, and did the final preparations for Music. http://www.climb-utah.com/SRS/music1.htm Had a quick granola bar for breakfast. Stuart decided to not do Music; he drove to sightsee and also went to Green River instead. Tom, Synthia and I headed out around 9am, drove to the trailhead, met up with the other group, and started the hike towards Music around 9:45am.
It was good to do Music again, especially since the last time I did it, I had forgotten my camera. It was a smaller canyon day; so we took quite a leisurely pace and it allowed us to chat on the way. There are only around three or four challenging spots, with a lot of other fun downclimbs. We partner assisted or set up handlines for some; but all of the canyon can be downclimbed and upclimbed with some skills; as we had done it in May.
The canyon was much drier this time. We didn't encounter any water at all until we hit the Chute of the Muddy River around 1:15pm. Even the Muddy River was much lower than the last time we did it. We planned on climbing back up this time; not taking the Chute of the Muddy like last time. Everyone had a quick bite at the Chute, and then we started back up the canyon. We again took our time on the way back up; chatting as we went. Tom and I played around doing some of the upclimbs several times. We got back to the cars just before 5pm, as it was starting to get dark.
Overall, it's a fun and pretty canyon but kind of short. It also has quite the approach hike to get to it, relative to it's length. Still worth doing though. We headed back to camp; and all shared dinners and stories around a campfire. Went to bed relatively early as we decided to get up even earlier for the big Squeeze day tomorrow.
Saturday 11/24:
Segers Hole, aka the Squeeze: http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/swell/squeeze.htm Woke up at 4am, and did the last minute preparations. Had Subway for breakfast, which Stuart picked up for me when he went to Green River yesterday (thanks Stuart!) Started hiking around 5am. My shoes were feeling a little tight, with two toes rubbing together. It wasn't even a mile that I had to stop and look at it; and they were already bloody. Cut the nail some, and wrapped one in tape; and continued on. We made it to the Moroni Slopes while it was still dark; with our shoes and pants becoming frozen again. On one upclimb, just as I took a step up; Synthia slipped and slid down and I hit face first into her helmet and cut my nose. Ouch. Started up the Moroni slopes. The route to Squeeze wasn't as straightforward, and crossed several other large drainages on the way.
The drop into the canyon is also a little free-form. We decided to drop into a West facing gully, to hit most of the Middle Squeeze; which most people don't do. It worked out really well. We descended into the gully around 8am, and was able to take the gully all the way through to a rolling sandstone plateau. Made our way to the canyon, and only had about a 30' rap at around 8:45am to get in. (Some have rapped up to 120' to get in.) Not only that, but we got to see most of the Middle Squeeze, which was a beautifully sculpted canyon. Well worth it.
After a while, we passed the main Squeeze entry point, and were on our way. There were some challenging obstacles. We ran into a keeper pothole that was full of mud that we partner assisted out of. There were other partner assist spots, as well as a couple keeper potholes that were swimmers. We had a decent amount of water, with three swims; and many other wades up to chest deep. Based on the water lines though, the water was way low. Some of the water quality; including one pothole in particular, was pretty nasty.
Overall though, the canyon was beautiful. There were several arches or windows that you went through. Some fun obstacles, and some great rappels. Definitely will be coming back to this one at a later time. It would be an absolute blast in warm conditions, especially if it was at full water levels. We got to an open section of the canyon that had some sun; so we stopped to warm up in the sun around 2pm; and had a bite to eat. Looked like that might be it for the canyon; so I was debating on taking off my drysuit here as it was a great spot. Flat rock and not a lot of sand. Scouted ahead, and didn't see the intersection of the Muddy, and it looked like it might slot up again.
Played it safe and decided I'd wait until we saw the muddy river. Good thing too, as there was another slot section, including a chest deep keeper pothole that we partner assisted out of. We finished the final rappel around 2:45pm and was back at the muddy river around 3pm. Still had plenty of light left. Stuart wanted to change out of his wetsuits. I wanted to change too, but wanted a rocky spot so I didn't get sand everywhere; especially in the drysuit zipper. We broke into three groups. Stuart started to change. I went down with Tom and Synthia, but broke off when I found a good spot to change. Tom and Synthia hiked back to camp and changed there.
I was bummed to see that someone had ridden dirtbikes down in this canyon. There was at least 4 tracks, and had made some deep tracks and torn up some of the ground. Took some photos of the mining remnants and the Miner's bunkhouse for Peter on the way back since I still had daylight. Got back to camp around 4:45pm, just as the sun was setting.
We all got together again with the other group to talk about the day adventures, share food and drinks, as well as enjoy a campfire during the cold night.
Sunday 11/25:
Since our wetsuits and drysuits were again frozen, we decided to do Ding and Dang today. http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/swell/dingdang.htm Two canyons over near Goblin Valley. Unfortunately, we noticed that one of Stuart's tires was low on air. Geez, not again. Looked like it had enough to drive on it; but we would likely hit Green River to refill the tire prior to heading to Goblin Valley. We packed up, and started back up the road. We stopped to check the tire a couple times, and it looked the same. We got to a junction, and a decision point. We could go to I-70 and Green River to fill the tire; or we could take a shortcut across to Goblin Valley and the canyons. We decided to go for the shortcut (worst case being, we had a spare) and the canyons; and then we would fill up afterwards on the way home. Figured we could stop at Goblin Valley State Park as well, and they might have some air too.
Saw some ATV'ers near Temple Junction and chatted with them for a few around 11am. They had seen our camp at Hidden Splendor, and we explained what canyoneering was to them. They were out enjoying the rides; seemed pretty cold to me. Got to Goblin Valley, and the ranger there, Megan, was really nice and took us to the ranger quarters where they had an air compressor. We filled up the low tire, and checked the other tires. Was nice to not be concerned about that. (Thanks Megan!) Invited her to join us for Ding and Dang, but she had to stick around the park.
Headed over to Ding and Dang; and started the approach around 12:15pm. Ding was a neat little canyon, with some pretty spots and a couple minor obstacles. Nothing too difficult though. We hit the top of Ding canyon around 1pm, and sat in the sun enjoying the relative warmth since it hadn't taken hardly any time at all to get there. We then hiked around to the top of Dang canyon and started down Dang around 1:30pm. Dang had a few more fun downclimbs; including one larger dryfall. At the larger dryfall, there were two folks skirting a ledge. The downclimb didn't look bad, so we went down the dryfall. Met up with the other two folks who were pretty new to canyoneering, and gave them a few pointers and a hand on the way down. We then finished up the canyon, and was back at the car before 3pm. Really short. The estimate said 4-6 hours, and we weren't even 3 hours; and we weren't moving all that fast. Thought both of them had pretty sections, and were worth seeing; and they would be a great option for people's first canyon as the downclimbs aren't all that difficult. Still a great canyon choice for the drive home day as well.
We then made the drive home, stopping for a great Mexican meal in Green River. Overall, it was an awesome weekend; with some great canyons, great company and great food; especially the Thanksgiving feast. Can't think of a better way to have spent Thanksgiving.
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=182630956/a=38054161/t_=38054161
What could be better than canyoneering for Thanksgiving? This was actually the fourth annual Thanksgiving canyoneering trip, and I was looking forward to it. This year, we were heading to the Swell, which normally has a lot of water in the canyons. The weather the previous weekend was awesome; in the upper 60's. Unfortunately, over Thanksgiving the forecast was lower 40's with 10 night time temps. We made sure we had the right gear, and we were still planning on hitting four aggressive canyon days; each with a lot of water.
There were four of us going in my group, and we were going to meet up with two other groups out there. The four in my group met up and drove out to Hidden Splendor. We met up with one of the other groups there; Stuart's friends Rob and Mike. The original spot we chose was a little small, and I didn't know if the others would be able to find us; so we drove over to the bigger site. Chatted with Rob and Mike about the canyons we had planned; and what the last group had planned. They were going to try to jump in with the last group. We headed to bed.
Thought I saw the last group a little after midnight (there was another car, and the Swell is not frequently visited in November.) Tried to signal them with my headlamp, but they didn't see me. Oh well, we'll find them tomorrow. Probably better for them, as my group was getting up at 4:45am.
Thursday 11/22:
Woke up way too early for my tastes, but we needed to get a good start on the day as we were doing an aggressive canyon today. The estimates were in the 8 to 12 hour range; and we only had 10 hours of sun and 11 hours of light. (Twilight starts at 6:45am, sunrise is 7:15am, sunset is 5:00pm, twilight ends at 5:30pm.) We wanted to do some of the approach during the dark, and hopefully optimize the small amount of sun and warmth we would have for the coldest parts of the canyon. We started the approach around 5:45am for Little Segers Hole/Seger's Window: http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/swell/segers.htm
This was also the first canyon I was doing with Tom and Synthia, and wanted some extra time just in case we ran into anything unexpected. It was actually their first canyon in the United States. They had just moved to Boulder a couple of months ago from France; so it would definitely be an experience for them. They had a windsurfing background, and had done canyons in Europe (as well as I had spent time with them going over gear and telling them what to expect); so I wasn't really worried.
Hiked the Muddy River with many river crossings to get to the base of the Moroni slopes. When we got there around 7:15am, our shoes and pants had frozen solid. I had my kneepads on down lower, and those were iced over as well. Will have to remember not to do that the other days. We hiked up the Moroni Slopes, and dropped in around 9:15am.
There were a few shallow water spots in the canyon, and then at the first rappel, there was a big iced over pothole. Couldn't tell how deep it was. Tried to do a really steep traverse around to see if we could bypass it; definitely wasn't easy. Decided we would just go through it. Put on our suits (I had a drysuit, the others had wetsuits.) Since I had the drysuit, I would be going first and scouting the pools for depth, and trying to find the paths that were shallowest. We rapped off a small arch and broke through the ice. It was a little lower than chest deep. I set up a makeshift directional line using myself as the anchor. Synthia came next, and due to the dynamic stretch in the pull rope, she still got wet, but only up to her knees. Tom came next, and didn't fare as well. He probably got more wet than just doing the rappel. Stuart wanted to try a zip line on the main line instead. I was a little concerned because there was some rock I didn't want him to hit. We changed and anchored the main line; and went through our belay devices so we could lower him into the water if something went wrong. The zip line worked perfectly since the rope didn't stretch, and he didn't get wet at all.
We were able to avoid deep water for most of the rest of the canyon. There was one small slide that you could jump right at the end to get over some water. It was still a pretty far jump; but it looked like you would land onto sand. I did the jump, and unfortunately the sand was frozen. It was a much harder landing than I expected. It broke the sand crust though; so I moved the two inch thick icy crust for the others to have a softer landing.
Came up to another nasty looking big and water filled keeper pothole that looked like a swimmer. The exit looked like it could be pretty challenging. Also looked like we could bypass it if we wanted to. I was fine with going through, but I had a drysuit. The others opted to go around. We built a rock pile anchor and rapped down around the pothole.
The last rappel was really cool. 165' rap with two sections. You could go through a window, or go around it. We finished the final rappel around 2:30pm. It had never really warmed up too much as my knee pads still had a layer of ice on them. We changed out of our wet and dry suits, and descended the rest of the way back to the muddy river. There was a really neat rock slope and erosion section in the cliffs. We then hiked back to camp, stopping to check out the Miner's Bunkhouse along the way (an old mining remnant.) We got back to camp as it got dark around 5:30pm. Took longer than I was expecting, but we burned a lot of time trying to avoid the water in the canyons.
At camp, there was a note from Rob and Mike; they hadn't seen the other group, so they had taken off to a different area for drier canyons. Chatted with the group, and we re-arranged our plans a little. Our shoes, pants, and wet/drysuits were still pretty frozen; so we would do Music Canyon down and back the next day. This would allow us to stay camped at the same place the entire trip; and would give us a mostly dry canyon day where our suits could thaw while we were in the canyon. I also went over the fact that we were going to get wet in Squeeze. We didn't have the time to try to avoid it; and weren't going to try. We'd go through. Squeeze can be a 10-14 hour day; and again, we only had 10 hours of daylight.
We went and found the other group; they ended up at the first spot we were at. The one I thought they wouldn't have found us at. Funny. We got together for an awesome Thanksgiving potluck dinner complete with a pre-cooked Turkey (re-warmed by a campfire), stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, several pies, cookies and more. Quite a wonderful feast; with great friends.
The other group had done the Baptist/Chute loop today; and were planning on doing Music the next day as well. We'd all join up and do Music together tomorrow. We decided to stay in our separate camp spots, as we were getting up even earlier for Squeeze the following day.
Friday 11/23:
We woke up with the sun, and did the final preparations for Music. http://www.climb-utah.com/SRS/music1.htm Had a quick granola bar for breakfast. Stuart decided to not do Music; he drove to sightsee and also went to Green River instead. Tom, Synthia and I headed out around 9am, drove to the trailhead, met up with the other group, and started the hike towards Music around 9:45am.
It was good to do Music again, especially since the last time I did it, I had forgotten my camera. It was a smaller canyon day; so we took quite a leisurely pace and it allowed us to chat on the way. There are only around three or four challenging spots, with a lot of other fun downclimbs. We partner assisted or set up handlines for some; but all of the canyon can be downclimbed and upclimbed with some skills; as we had done it in May.
The canyon was much drier this time. We didn't encounter any water at all until we hit the Chute of the Muddy River around 1:15pm. Even the Muddy River was much lower than the last time we did it. We planned on climbing back up this time; not taking the Chute of the Muddy like last time. Everyone had a quick bite at the Chute, and then we started back up the canyon. We again took our time on the way back up; chatting as we went. Tom and I played around doing some of the upclimbs several times. We got back to the cars just before 5pm, as it was starting to get dark.
Overall, it's a fun and pretty canyon but kind of short. It also has quite the approach hike to get to it, relative to it's length. Still worth doing though. We headed back to camp; and all shared dinners and stories around a campfire. Went to bed relatively early as we decided to get up even earlier for the big Squeeze day tomorrow.
Saturday 11/24:
Segers Hole, aka the Squeeze: http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/swell/squeeze.htm Woke up at 4am, and did the last minute preparations. Had Subway for breakfast, which Stuart picked up for me when he went to Green River yesterday (thanks Stuart!) Started hiking around 5am. My shoes were feeling a little tight, with two toes rubbing together. It wasn't even a mile that I had to stop and look at it; and they were already bloody. Cut the nail some, and wrapped one in tape; and continued on. We made it to the Moroni Slopes while it was still dark; with our shoes and pants becoming frozen again. On one upclimb, just as I took a step up; Synthia slipped and slid down and I hit face first into her helmet and cut my nose. Ouch. Started up the Moroni slopes. The route to Squeeze wasn't as straightforward, and crossed several other large drainages on the way.
The drop into the canyon is also a little free-form. We decided to drop into a West facing gully, to hit most of the Middle Squeeze; which most people don't do. It worked out really well. We descended into the gully around 8am, and was able to take the gully all the way through to a rolling sandstone plateau. Made our way to the canyon, and only had about a 30' rap at around 8:45am to get in. (Some have rapped up to 120' to get in.) Not only that, but we got to see most of the Middle Squeeze, which was a beautifully sculpted canyon. Well worth it.
After a while, we passed the main Squeeze entry point, and were on our way. There were some challenging obstacles. We ran into a keeper pothole that was full of mud that we partner assisted out of. There were other partner assist spots, as well as a couple keeper potholes that were swimmers. We had a decent amount of water, with three swims; and many other wades up to chest deep. Based on the water lines though, the water was way low. Some of the water quality; including one pothole in particular, was pretty nasty.
Overall though, the canyon was beautiful. There were several arches or windows that you went through. Some fun obstacles, and some great rappels. Definitely will be coming back to this one at a later time. It would be an absolute blast in warm conditions, especially if it was at full water levels. We got to an open section of the canyon that had some sun; so we stopped to warm up in the sun around 2pm; and had a bite to eat. Looked like that might be it for the canyon; so I was debating on taking off my drysuit here as it was a great spot. Flat rock and not a lot of sand. Scouted ahead, and didn't see the intersection of the Muddy, and it looked like it might slot up again.
Played it safe and decided I'd wait until we saw the muddy river. Good thing too, as there was another slot section, including a chest deep keeper pothole that we partner assisted out of. We finished the final rappel around 2:45pm and was back at the muddy river around 3pm. Still had plenty of light left. Stuart wanted to change out of his wetsuits. I wanted to change too, but wanted a rocky spot so I didn't get sand everywhere; especially in the drysuit zipper. We broke into three groups. Stuart started to change. I went down with Tom and Synthia, but broke off when I found a good spot to change. Tom and Synthia hiked back to camp and changed there.
I was bummed to see that someone had ridden dirtbikes down in this canyon. There was at least 4 tracks, and had made some deep tracks and torn up some of the ground. Took some photos of the mining remnants and the Miner's bunkhouse for Peter on the way back since I still had daylight. Got back to camp around 4:45pm, just as the sun was setting.
We all got together again with the other group to talk about the day adventures, share food and drinks, as well as enjoy a campfire during the cold night.
Sunday 11/25:
Since our wetsuits and drysuits were again frozen, we decided to do Ding and Dang today. http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/swell/dingdang.htm Two canyons over near Goblin Valley. Unfortunately, we noticed that one of Stuart's tires was low on air. Geez, not again. Looked like it had enough to drive on it; but we would likely hit Green River to refill the tire prior to heading to Goblin Valley. We packed up, and started back up the road. We stopped to check the tire a couple times, and it looked the same. We got to a junction, and a decision point. We could go to I-70 and Green River to fill the tire; or we could take a shortcut across to Goblin Valley and the canyons. We decided to go for the shortcut (worst case being, we had a spare) and the canyons; and then we would fill up afterwards on the way home. Figured we could stop at Goblin Valley State Park as well, and they might have some air too.
Saw some ATV'ers near Temple Junction and chatted with them for a few around 11am. They had seen our camp at Hidden Splendor, and we explained what canyoneering was to them. They were out enjoying the rides; seemed pretty cold to me. Got to Goblin Valley, and the ranger there, Megan, was really nice and took us to the ranger quarters where they had an air compressor. We filled up the low tire, and checked the other tires. Was nice to not be concerned about that. (Thanks Megan!) Invited her to join us for Ding and Dang, but she had to stick around the park.
Headed over to Ding and Dang; and started the approach around 12:15pm. Ding was a neat little canyon, with some pretty spots and a couple minor obstacles. Nothing too difficult though. We hit the top of Ding canyon around 1pm, and sat in the sun enjoying the relative warmth since it hadn't taken hardly any time at all to get there. We then hiked around to the top of Dang canyon and started down Dang around 1:30pm. Dang had a few more fun downclimbs; including one larger dryfall. At the larger dryfall, there were two folks skirting a ledge. The downclimb didn't look bad, so we went down the dryfall. Met up with the other two folks who were pretty new to canyoneering, and gave them a few pointers and a hand on the way down. We then finished up the canyon, and was back at the car before 3pm. Really short. The estimate said 4-6 hours, and we weren't even 3 hours; and we weren't moving all that fast. Thought both of them had pretty sections, and were worth seeing; and they would be a great option for people's first canyon as the downclimbs aren't all that difficult. Still a great canyon choice for the drive home day as well.
We then made the drive home, stopping for a great Mexican meal in Green River. Overall, it was an awesome weekend; with some great canyons, great company and great food; especially the Thanksgiving feast. Can't think of a better way to have spent Thanksgiving.
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=182630956/a=38054161/t_=38054161