french_de
02-18-2009, 01:38 PM
With an invite from Ram to participate in the Marble Canyon Fest organized by Todd Martin, Arizona Aaron and Rich Rudow, we headed down south across the UT/AZ border with a group which included members of the SEAC club (SLC, Utah, Highland High based science, environmental adventure club).
Early Saturday morning, Feb 14 found us at the Soap Creek Trailhead base camp. Ram got us started with his suggestion to do the South Fork of Badger canyon, a north side drainage of Marble Canyon. With his 5 minute beta review and his lead to the trailhead we were ready to go in quick order.
The canyon starts shallow and gradually descends. The narrows are wide, and the limestone and sandstone walls are layered, multi-ledged and multi-colored. There are three rappels in the canyon; two in the south fork and one after the confluence with North Badger. Nate from Salt Lake joined us at second rappel.At the confluence we met up with Rich and Rams group. They were doing the Badger/Jackass crossover. One way to do this canyon is to leave ropes and ascend back up the canyon. We decided to do the loop version. Rich and Ram told us that the loop version ends with a spectacular climb out called the Fishermans exit. It sounded too cool to pass up. After a long warm siesta at rivers edge, we hiked down river, hopping the large boulders for a quarter mile until we came to a break in Marbles north side. This final exit section started with a climb up the left side Hermit shale and limestone debris slope until we reached the Coconino sandstone cliff ledges. At the cliffs it is a hop, skip and climb across and up the ledges to the final crux edge. A 10 foot rope has been attached to a bolt to assist the final climb to the top. It is a remarkable exit. Mild temps contributed to a pleasant 1.2 mile slog back to vehicles.
Early Saturday morning, Feb 14 found us at the Soap Creek Trailhead base camp. Ram got us started with his suggestion to do the South Fork of Badger canyon, a north side drainage of Marble Canyon. With his 5 minute beta review and his lead to the trailhead we were ready to go in quick order.
The canyon starts shallow and gradually descends. The narrows are wide, and the limestone and sandstone walls are layered, multi-ledged and multi-colored. There are three rappels in the canyon; two in the south fork and one after the confluence with North Badger. Nate from Salt Lake joined us at second rappel.At the confluence we met up with Rich and Rams group. They were doing the Badger/Jackass crossover. One way to do this canyon is to leave ropes and ascend back up the canyon. We decided to do the loop version. Rich and Ram told us that the loop version ends with a spectacular climb out called the Fishermans exit. It sounded too cool to pass up. After a long warm siesta at rivers edge, we hiked down river, hopping the large boulders for a quarter mile until we came to a break in Marbles north side. This final exit section started with a climb up the left side Hermit shale and limestone debris slope until we reached the Coconino sandstone cliff ledges. At the cliffs it is a hop, skip and climb across and up the ledges to the final crux edge. A 10 foot rope has been attached to a bolt to assist the final climb to the top. It is a remarkable exit. Mild temps contributed to a pleasant 1.2 mile slog back to vehicles.