Seeking Capitol Reef Conditions and Recommendations

[AJ]

Hey all,

My next trip will be at the end of the month. On the docket are Capitol Reef canyons. One or more of Five Mile, Cottonwood, Burro for Friday - planning on hiking them from the bottom. Any recent conditions information would be appreciated, as well as any recommendations / warnings for trying the hike from the bottom. (I've done the car shuttle before, and it stinks. Would rather spend the time hiking than driving...)

Saturday will be Pandora's. Again, conditions and/or any recommendations appreciated as I haven't done Pandora's before...

Sunday will likely be back to one of Five Mile, Cottonwood or Burro...

Currently planning on a 3/2 Farmer John for Five Mile, Cottonwood and/or Burro; and no wetsuit for Pandoras. (I run warm.) Packing as little as possible for the full day in Pandoras.




Thanks for any info!
A.J.

[Iceaxe]

If you are talented at route finding and navigation you can hook Cottonwood and Five Mile into a nice loop. Attached is my GPS track for the loop. Head up Cottonwood, take the by-pass around the only major obstacle in Cottonwood, find the route over the top. Good luck.... its a full day loop...

Five Mile from the bottom doesn't work for most people. Those with no climbing or route finding skills will be stopped shortly after entering the best section of narrows by a deep pothole with a very difficult climb out on the far side.


Cottonwood - Five Mile Loop
33241

[qedcook]

How much of each canyon do you miss with that loop hike?

[Iceaxe]

Cottonwood you basically miss none of the goodies.... Five Mile you miss only a little of the goodies (you miss the Box Elder Narrows). But the loop adds a few other nice items, one is an arch, I've heard it referred to as Music Arch but its not in the NABS database so I doubt its the official name. I don't have a waypoint for the arch, if someone does maybe they will post it.

The loop is also a major step up in navigation and route finding, so if you enjoy that type of thing you can add that to your goodie bag.

The By-pass is what took me the most time to figure out.

Cottonwood Wash Video
http://climb-utah.com/Capitol/cottonwood-v.htm

Cottonwood Wash is probably the best of the slots if doing them from the bottom up. Burro is OK but has a long sand slog since they closed the wash to vehicles.

[AJ]

Thanks Shane. I might take a look at that.

Perhaps I should have specified; I wasn't initially talking about upclimbing the canyon. Kelsey shows some overland routes, hiking up from the bottom; rather than a car shuttle. Have only done the shuttle before; and we might only have one car. So was wondering if anyone had done any overland routes.

As for the loop; could you route find higher up and hit Fivemile more towards the head?

Thanks!
A.J.

[nat]

Thanks Shane. I might take a look at that.

Perhaps I should have specified; I wasn't initially talking about upclimbing the canyon. Kelsey shows some overland routes, hiking up from the bottom; rather than a car shuttle. Have only done the shuttle before; and we might only have one car. So was wondering if anyone had done any overland routes.

As for the loop; could you route find higher up and hit Fivemile more towards the head?

Thanks!
A.J.

I have done all three as loop hikes from the bottom, and it worked out great without using a car shuttle. Each hike took about three hours to go up the reef, routefind to the entrance and drop in. I dropped in near the head of each (perhaps a little lower in 5-Mile). 5-Mile requires a fairly long detour to the right in order to head a side canyon. I ended up following a small side canyon back in which lead to the middle of the "Box Elder Narrows". This was a mistake, as it petered out and ended in a complicated rap into 5-Mile. It is better to enter 5-mile by the side canyon immediately below the box elder narrows, which is a walk down. You can then go up canyon and explore those narrows if you like (the drop in the narrows is easily up/down climbed). I think Burrow and Cottonwood took a little over 7 hours and 5-mile about 8. Although it takes a while to hike up the reef, it is done in the morning before it might be hot, and the views are spectacular. When I did it, there was a lot of swimming in 5-mile (with cold water! wetsuit strongly advised), a little in Cottonwood and none in Burrow. 5-Mile was my favorite.

Nat

[Iceaxe]

IMHO: The Box Elder Narrows are not worth expanding extra energy to visit. They are a nice diversion when hiking in from the top, but to a canyon guru like yourself they are not that great. YMMV

[AJ]

IMHO: The Box Elder Narrows are not worth expanding extra energy to visit. They are a nice diversion when hiking in from the top, but to a canyon guru like yourself they are not that great. YMMV

Thanks for the compliment Ice.

I'm sure I've seen them, as I have done all three of those canyons from the top before. I thought they were good canyons (unfortunately, I don't have Ram's memory - so don't even remember what the Box Elder Narrows are specifically.) I just like hitting the full canyon; regardless if it's quality or not. (Still like Cable from the top, etc. ;)

Due to weather forecast, we passed on Capitol Reef this weekend and ended up in the North Wash / Trachyte area. When I get the chance to line up another reef trip though; I'm definitely going to try the up Cottonwood and down Five Mile loop. Looks like a fun way to spend the day! Thanks again for the info!