Trip Report for Weds June 4th "Fat Mans Misery"

[Allystair]

The college research team headed down Fat Mans Misery for the second time this summer to get some mark recapture population studies.
We brought Dr. O' Brien and Dr. Van De Mier with us as well :lol8:
There was not as much water inside the slot as their was before but the raps were simple and quick.
We also decided to park a transport vehicle upstream so we would not have to do the uphill hike out. As soon as we got out of the slot the wind and rain picked up and that vehicle transport that was suppose to be only 2 miles up stream turned out to be about 8-9 miles upstream and we barely got out before dark. :( So if anyone else decides to try that I recommend just hiking back out but I leave that to you. :ne_nau:
Here are a few pics to sooth your palet.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery21.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery210.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery22.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery23.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery24.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery25.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery26.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery27.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery28.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/coriantor/zion%20research/zionfrogfatmansmisery29.jpg

If that is too many pics for people to load just let me know for future post!
Otherwise Im going to continue to Jam like Jelly!

[rockgremlin]

*ahem* Not enough pics... :haha:

Looks like a good time. Thanks for sharing!

[Jaxx]

Sweet! we are doing that this weekend. I notice noone has wetsuits on. Did you find a need for them at all?

[Allystair]

Sweet! we are doing that this weekend. I notice noone has wetsuits on. Did you find a need for them at all?

Not enough water to need them. Nor is the water cold enough

[obrien]

Allystair- The hike isn't normally that long. The guys who dropped off the vehicle missed a turn off to the left. If you plan on doing this one and are planning on taking the river out but are not going with someone who knows the way, make sure you look at the maps for the drive out very carefully.

Comparing the GPS record of where we hiked to what it should have been, I'd say we did about 4x the regular distance in the river. I'm trying to convince your fearless leader to go again but with the car in the right spot.

As far as the wetsuits, if it's a nice day, you probably want neoprene socks but that's it. We (the doctors :lol8: ) did Orderville on Friday and the river was cold enough that some folks put on their wetsuits while others just carried them but the water wasn't as cold on Fat Man's.

[ratagonia]

Allystair- The hike isn't normally that long. The guys who dropped off the vehicle missed a turn off to the left. If you plan on doing this one and are planning on taking the river out but are not going with someone who knows the way, make sure you look at the maps for the drive out very carefully.

Comparing the GPS record of where we hiked to what it should have been, I'd say we did about 4x the regular distance in the river. I'm trying to convince your fearless leader to go again but with the car in the right spot.

As far as the wetsuits, if it's a nice day, you probably want neoprene socks but that's it. We (the doctors :lol8: ) did Orderville on Friday and the river was cold enough that some folks put on their wetsuits while others just carried them but the water wasn't as cold on Fat Man's.

Where is it that you like to park the vehicle? (Coords would be nice). Thanks. Tom

[oldno7]

I'm guessing the bottom of the poverty flats road but thats more like six miles to fat mans.
Another on the Rock canyon side.(road)

[tanya]

Keep posting those trip reports! Great photos and report! :2thumbs:

[oldno7]

Could you DSC people have lost a pair of white socks in fat mans?

[chabidiah]

I also found a headlamp at the river convergence. If you are missing one let me know what it is.

[obrien]

Sorry it took so long to reply. Bo Beck has a map on his website showing this alternative route with the parking spot.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/elephant-butte-map.htm

This only shows where you hike out if you don't want to climb back out on the slick rock. You can piece it together with the more typical hike using this other map.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/misery-canyon-map.htm

I think Bo gives coords for the more traditional hike but not for the Elephant Butte exit which is why it was probably tricky for the guys who left the truck. Since we parked in the wrong spot we don't have the correct coords (and you don't really want to do what we did as a day hike).

[tanya]

Sorry it took so long to reply. Bo Beck has a map on his website showing this alternative route with the parking spot.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/elephant-butte-map.htm

This only shows where you hike out if you don't want to climb back out on the slick rock. You can piece it together with the more typical hike using this other map.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/misery-canyon-map.htm

I think Bo gives coords for the more traditional hike but not for the Elephant Butte exit which is why it was probably tricky for the guys who left the truck. Since we parked in the wrong spot we don't have the correct coords (and you don't really want to do what we did as a day hike).

I will show this to Bo and get the coordinates up for that! Sorry you guys had a hard time! :ne_nau:

[obrien]

No worries Tanya. I think it was more the problem of thinking the route to the parking spot was more simple than it was. We all learned our lesson!

The mile informaton on your site looks like it is pretty good. It's my understanding that they were not used when the car was parked.

[Bo_Beck]

No worries Tanya. I think it was more the problem of thinking the route to the parking spot was more simple than it was. We all learned our lesson!

The mile informaton on your site looks like it is pretty good. It's my understanding that they were not used when the car was parked.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/elephant-butte-map.htm
This shows one option for driving to the exit parking area. It should be about 12 miles from the Coral Pink Road?

[Jaxx]

how long does it take to drop off the shuttle? Looks like a long drive.

[Iceaxe]

how long does it take to drop off the shuttle? Looks like a long drive.

It takes about 3 hours to set up the shuttle... and a lot of it is on really bad 4x4 roads.... and I'm not talking Subaru 4x4, but real 4x4 roads.

This is without a doubt the best way to do Fat Man's, but that shuttle sucks!

Same Trailhead as Rock Canyon... if you do things right you could do Fat Man's on the first day, sleep at the shuttle, and do Rock on the second day. This would allow you to visit all the best of p-weap.

Rock Canyon
http://climb-utah.com/Zion/rock.htm

And then you would never have to drive down that crappy road again. :haha:

[Jaxx]

Thats a good idea, Thanks!

[tanya]

I think the shuttle set-up is fun at it only takes 2 of the people in the group to do it. :nod: I thought you like to drive stuff? :mrgreen:

I like the 4WDing out there .. it's pretty and it's a fun road. If you stay on the east side of the park it's easier. You just set up the shuttle the night before, stay over here and you are closer to Checkerboard Mesa where the hike begins.

[Bo_Beck]

how long does it take to drop off the shuttle? Looks like a long drive.

It is not a long drive, just slow driving on the 12-13 mile sandy 4wd road. From the checkerboard pullout to the parking on the south side of Parunuweap is probably 1 1/4 hours????? Figure on 2-3 hours to set up the shuttle?

[Iceaxe]

There is one way you can set up the shuttle in under 3 hours....

http://sidesalad.net/archives/DriveItLikeYouStoleIt2.jpg

:lol8:

[oldno7]

how long does it take to drop off the shuttle? Looks like a long drive.


If you start at coral pink sand dunes, maybe a little over an hour.(sand permitting) The road/roads out there are all sandy. There are many forks in said sandy roads. If you leave a camp where Bo shows to park you could spend the night and pick up rock canyon the next day.
From Zion area this is a very long shuttle. If your not good at map reading you could be out there for days.(lots of roads)

[AJ]

You can do East and West Fat Mans Misery without a car shuttle. I just did it, and know a pretty decent route now. From West, you hike the ridge between East and West until you hit the large grey butte wall. Then go down into East on steep rock and dirt slopes. Drops you at the start of East. You have some moderate routefinding but not too bad; when in doubt, trend towards East.

Hike down East, and do the standard gully exit out. Longer hike out than the French canyon exit, but I disagree about the best part of the canyon being between Rock and Misery (I hiked up canyon a couple of miles from Misery and then back down, and did Rock down to French the same trip.) I think the best part of Parunaweep was downcanyon from Misery. Absolutely stunning.

Take care,
A.J.

[AJ]

Also, I might add that Shane's directions aren't correct anymore to Rock Canyon. He has three or four intersections, and there are now 8 or 9. Not obvious which way to go; and his mileage is off. It took me over 3 hours to find the Rock Canyon trailhead. PM me if you want the updated info. I'm still playing catch up from my trip now...

Make sure you have a REAL 4WD. My Jeep was struggling through a bunch of the deep sand (but to be fair, I didn't air down the tires, so I could have gone through worse conditions; but there is LOTS of sand.)

Take care,
A.J.



how long does it take to drop off the shuttle? Looks like a long drive.


If you start at coral pink sand dunes, maybe a little over an hour.(sand permitting) The road/roads out there are all sandy. There are many forks in said sandy roads. If you leave a camp where Bo shows to park you could spend the night and pick up rock canyon the next day.
From Zion area this is a very long shuttle. If your not good at map reading you could be out there for days.(lots of roads)

[tanya]

Also, I might add that Shane's directions aren't correct anymore to Rock Canyon. He has three or four intersections, and there are now 8 or 9. Not obvious which way to go; and his mileage is off. It took me over 3 hours to find the Rock Canyon trailhead. PM me if you want the updated info. I'm still playing catch up from my trip now...

Make sure you have a REAL 4WD. My Jeep was struggling through a bunch of the deep sand (but to be fair, I didn't air down the tires, so I could have gone through worse conditions; but there is LOTS of sand.)

Take care,
A.J.



how long does it take to drop off the shuttle? Looks like a long drive.


If you start at coral pink sand dunes, maybe a little over an hour.(sand permitting) The road/roads out there are all sandy. There are many forks in said sandy roads. If you leave a camp where Bo shows to park you could spend the night and pick up rock canyon the next day.
From Zion area this is a very long shuttle. If your not good at map reading you could be out there for days.(lots of roads)

My land rover just cruises through there with no problem and it does not even have off road tires? Same can be said about the local 'cowboys' and their trucks.. they have no trouble. That can be said about any of the dirt roads out here, the ATV riders are always going to make lots of new ones. Usually you can tell the main trail though or at least Bo and I have not had trouble doing it, but that man does not get lost much.
:popcorn:

If I had to find it and drive then we would get stuck and lost. :haha:

You should post the update here so that we all have it. :five:

[tanya]

You can do East and West Fat Mans Misery without a car shuttle. I just did it, and know a pretty decent route now. From West, you hike the ridge between East and West until you hit the large grey butte wall. Then go down into East on steep rock and dirt slopes. Drops you at the start of East. You have some moderate routefinding but not too bad; when in doubt, trend towards East.

Hike down East, and do the standard gully exit out. Longer hike out than the French canyon exit, but I disagree about the best part of the canyon being between Rock and Misery (I hiked up canyon a couple of miles from Misery and then back down, and did Rock down to French the same trip.) I think the best part of Parunaweep was downcanyon from Misery. Absolutely stunning.

Take care,
A.J.

It is stunning! Most of these photos are from that section.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/album2/index42.htm

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/album2/images/parunuweap-k_jpg.jpg

[Iceaxe]

My land rover just cruises through there with no problem and it does not even have off road tires? Same can be said about the local 'cowboys' and their trucks.. they have no trouble.

Tanya - I talked with Dean K. about this and he told me it really depends on the time of year and what the weather has been like. As a quick guide... the later in the summer it gets the worse the roads get. I've been to Rock canyon twice and the second time the roads were a lot worse then the first time. The problem seems to be that in late summer the roads turn to deep sand with big ruts.

:popcorn:

[Iceaxe]

And a little clarification.... when I said it takes 3 hours to set up the shuttle I was talking.... start at the Checkerboard Mesa TH, set up the shuttle at Rock Canyon TH, and returning to Checkerboard Mesa TH.

Now you can break this down any way you like, including setting up the shuttle the night before, which is a great idea.... but in total you are still going to spend some where around 3 hours setting up and cleaning up your shuttle.... no way around it... its a slow shuttle to set up.

YMMV

:popcorn:

[AJ]

My land rover just cruises through there with no problem and it does not even have off road tires? Same can be said about the local 'cowboys' and their trucks.. they have no trouble. That can be said about any of the dirt roads out here, the ATV riders are always going to make lots of new ones. Usually you can tell the main trail though or at least Bo and I have not had trouble doing it, but that man does not get lost much.
:popcorn:

If I had to find it and drive then we would get stuck and lost. :haha:

You should post the update here so that we all have it. :five:

I would consider a Land Rover to be a true 4WD vehicle. I was warning against taking a Subaru or other AWD type vehicle there. The Land Rover has larger tires, so more surface area for traction.

As long as Shane is cool with me posting the coordinates, I'll get to it. (Have more pressing catch up to do first.) Don't want to overstep boundaries since it's part of Shane's "Circle of Friends" program...

[tanya]

I would consider a Land Rover to be a true 4WD vehicle. I was warning against taking a Subaru or other AWD type vehicle there. The Land Rover has larger tires, so more surface area for traction.


As long as Shane is cool with me posting the coordinates, I'll get to it. (Have more pressing catch up to do first.) Don't want to overstep boundaries since it's part of Shane's "Circle of Friends" program.....

Yeah.. rovers rule! I loved my Subaru Brat too but it would get stuck easy!


Oh! I forgot about Shane. :lol8: :haha:

[Iceaxe]

As long as Shane is cool with me posting the coordinates, I'll get to it. (Have more pressing catch up to do first.) Don't want to overstep boundaries since it's part of Shane's "Circle of Friends" program...

Go for it... if you have a more accurate description to the TH post away. I'm all for canyoneers having the most recent and accurate beta possible. I think accurate beta cuts down on problems and SAR events.

I'm really curious to see where we differ on the road to the TH since the route was checked against two different vehicles and two different GPS units.... but it wouldn't be the first time I have messed up...

As for the numerous "other intersections".... I don't count minor intersections where the main road is obvious and usually post a note saying something like... "The area is criss-crossed with roads. Stay on the road described until told to turn off of it." I can understand where the "main road" might change in that area depending on ATV traffic.

I would be curious to hear from others who used my Rock Canyon TH beta... did you have problems finding the TH or not? It's probably the most complicated TH on my website.

Thanks in advance.

:2thumbs:

[Iceaxe]

Yeah.. rovers rule! I loved my Subaru Brat too but it would get stuck easy!

I think that is how I recruited Marc O into my little band of mis-fits.... we needed his Lifestyle Vehicle (Rover) to access the Rock Canyon TH.



Oh! I forgot about Shane. :lol8: :haha:

Ouch!!! :bootyshake:

[AJ]

As long as Shane is cool with me posting the coordinates, I'll get to it. (Have more pressing catch up to do first.) Don't want to overstep boundaries since it's part of Shane's "Circle of Friends" program...

Go for it... if you have a more accurate description to the TH post away. I'm all for canyoneers having the most recent and accurate beta possible. I think accurate beta cuts down on problems and SAR events.

I'm really curious to see where we differ on the road to the TH since the route was checked against two different vehicles and two different GPS units.... but it wouldn't be the first time I have messed up...

As for the numerous "other intersections".... I don't count minor intersections where the main road is obvious and usually post a note saying something like... "The area is criss-crossed with roads. Stay on the road described until told to turn off of it." I can understand where the "main road" might change in that area depending on ATV traffic.

I would be curious to hear from others who used my Rock Canyon TH beta... did you have problems finding the TH or not? It's probably the most complicated TH on my website.

Thanks in advance.

:2thumbs:

Having trouble locating the sheet that I wrote all the stuff down on (which really stinks as I took GPS coords on all the locations. From my memory; the turnoff from the main road is 15.4 miles from the intersection (not 16 as your beta says.) There is a road at 15.8, and 16.2; niether of which are correct. (This is when I started to use the GPS.) This got me the right starting point, but soon saw that there were many other intersections. Because of the deep sand, it was definitely not obvious which one was the main intersection. I started following your coordinates, but then I found one that I couldn't get to. I think it was the third one; drove around looking to get there for a bit, but couldn't. Just switched to go to the last coord (the campsite) and got there eventually.

Oh, the most important thing, is that all the signs are now gone. There is no sign at the beginning (save for a K1300 sign, which your beta doesn't list), and there are no longer K signs on the way...

Will continue to look for the place I wrote everything down (my car was a bit trashed after 10 big days living out of it...) I know it was on the back of my Mystery beta, but just can't locate that just yet... Just unpacked the car yesterday so hope is not lost. ;)

Take care,
A.J.

[abirken]

Will continue to look for the place I wrote everything down (my car was a bit trashed after 10 big days living out of it...) I know it was on the back of my Mystery beta, but just can't locate that just yet... Just unpacked the car yesterday so hope is not lost. ;)

Take care,
A.J.


2 months later, AJ is just unpacking his car. :2thumbs: :lol8: (sorry had to tease you on this one)