7 Aug 2010 - Angel Cove Canyon Trip Report

[Ryebrye]

Brief Trip Report:
At first we were like:
http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_2445.jpg

But then we were like:
http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_2389.jpg

More In-Depth Report:
I've not heard or seen much about Angel Cove Canyon, nor had I ever been there before last weekend. After looking over the sign-in sheet for the nearby Angel Slot trailhead, I can see not many other people get to the area either.

http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_1491.jpg

I'm sure there are a number of people here who have done this canyon many times , but I'm guessing that a more elaborate trip report / pictures of the area might help others who haven't been there decide if it should be on their "to do" list or not.

I was down with my wife's family in Capitol Reef for a small family reunion. Her three teenage brothers were with her, and they liked the idea of going and doing a canyon more than going to look at headstones of ancestors in cemeteries sprinkled about the middle of nowhere.

After searching around for a good canyon nearby the area, we decided to head to the Dirty Devil area described in the micro slot guide by Dave Pimental. The micro slots were appealing because of the chance for nasty weather later in the day, and because if push came to shove we were confident in our ability to get through it quickly.

We decided on Angel Cove, and then if time permitted we might do Angel Slot also. We loaded up Brad's phone with all the GPS coordinates for the approach / exit, and drove out there with a printed copy of the beta.

We first parked at the wrong trailhead (we parked at the one for Angel Slot), which the GPS made us aware of after seeing our dot a half-mile or so away from the waypoints. We probably were reading the directions from the wrong page since we had both of them printed out. No problem - we quickly managed our way over to the other trailhead and started in the correct canyon this time.

We worked our way through the canyon without any major problems. The canyon had a lot of rope left there by an earlier party. It seems that any drop that a 9-year old fat girl would have problems with had a fixed line left there to help get down. I thought for a minute about cleaning up the mess, but having them set up helped save time and I didn't want to carry out all that old rope - so I didn't. I would never plan on a canyon to have a bunch of fixed ropes though, so anyone planning to do this should not be surprised to see them there still - but also not be upset if someone else goes through and cleans it up.

The natural anchors by the rappels were in good shape and well constructed. As an extra precaution we backed them both up for everyone but the last guy and observed that they weren't moving at all.

While there, I took a handful of panoramas.

The first one is of a section that had a fork coming in from the side. Having 3 sections in a slot canyon I thought would look cool as you pan around, so I set this one up and took it. It also does a good job showing off the general feel of the upper section of the canyon - which isn't all that impressive with it's broad width and sloping walls.


http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/AngelCoveCrossroads.png
http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2010/08/10/panorama-crossroads-in-angel-cove-canyon/

One of a part of the narrower section. I like this one because it's
http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/angelCoveNarrows2.png
http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2010/08/10/panorama-narrow-sectionof-angel-cove-canyon/

One that shows the last raps of the canyon. If you look down, you can see the anchors for the second rappel in this too.
http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/AngelCoveLastRaps.png
http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2010/08/09/final-rappels-of-angel-cove-canyon/

More Images
I posted a lot of images over at my blog. I was going to link to them all here inline in the post, but they are all pretty big and I don't see a way to tell the tag to resize them.

There is a gallery there.
http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2010/08/11/angel-cove-canyon-trip-report/

A downclimb:
[IMG]http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_1790-Panorama.jpg

One of the downclimbs:
http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_1621.jpg

Us waiting out the storm:
http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_2597-Panorama.jpg

So... you can see why I didn't want to post more images here - if anyone knows a way to resize them using just the [IMG] tag, I can post more inline here - but until then there are a bunch of them on my blog that show off the canyon pretty well. (They are all thumbnails with links to the bigger images)

http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2010/08/11/angel-cove-canyon-trip-report/

[Ryebrye]

Oh, how cute... I guess the tag resizes when you POST but not when you PREVIEW. So now I look dumb... Well, anyway, here are a few more pics with more on my blog.

[IMG]http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_1862.jpg

http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_1891.jpg

http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_2492.jpg

http://images.ryebrye.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/08/IMG_2535.jpg

[Ryebrye]

Oh, forgot to add one other detail. We missed the correct exit on our way out because Brad's phone was in his pocket and didn't like going through one of the puddles. We didn't have a paper copy of the beta with us either (it was safe in the car, where nobody could steal it... or read it). We ended up getting out by hiking the long way out and up to the Angel Slot trail head and then back over to where we parked the car via the road.

[DWayne27]

Very cool pictures. If you didnt do Angel Slot, and you find yourself back in the area, you should check that one out. I have done them both, and I thought Angel Slot was really pretty good. Angel Cove however, I wasnt too impressed with.

[ibenick]

Once again those are some awesome panos you are doing... the rest of the pics too but the panos are just.... :jaw-dropping:

[Sombeech]

Nice

[ddavis]

The fixed ropesleft ropes there might be from base jumpers or whatever they call themselves. I did this one last year (it was either Slot or Cove; can't remember for sure now) with a couple of friends, and ran into a couple of guys camped up at the trailhead right by the rim. They were there with parachutes jumping off the rim down to the Dirty Devil. A local friend of theirs fixed ropes for them all the way down the canyon, so they could up climb with their parachutes. When we went down the canyon, we ran into those fixed ropes, most of which looked pretty old and ratty. The two guys jumped while we were going down canyon, and we ran into them again right at the final rappel down to the river. They had their chutes in packs, taken the trail up to that final rappel and were getting ready to upclimb the canyon back to their camp/jump spot.

[Ryebrye]

The fixed ropesleft ropes there might be from base jumpers or whatever they call themselves. I did this one last year (it was either Slot or Cove; can't remember for sure now) with a couple of friends, and ran into a couple of guys camped up at the trailhead right by the rim. They were there with parachutes jumping off the rim down to the Dirty Devil. A local friend of theirs fixed ropes for them all the way down the canyon, so they could up climb with their parachutes. When we went down the canyon, we ran into those fixed ropes, most of which looked pretty old and ratty. The two guys jumped while we were going down canyon, and we ran into them again right at the final rappel down to the river. They had their chutes in packs, taken the trail up to that final rappel and were getting ready to upclimb the canyon back to their camp/jump spot.


That makes sense - I thought it seemed more like they were meant for upclimbing than for downclimbing (i.e they had lots of knots in them). The ropes were in pretty good shape when I was there. Perhaps it's a popular base jumping area still and they have since been replaced.