Music Canyon

[ststephen]

After our great trip down Knotted Rope last Friday we were trying to decide what to do the following day. We kind of wanted to try something at a different trail head. We talked to a woman who had done Muddy Canyon and said that what was normally a very easy walk now involved multiple long swims that took her 7-8 hours. That piqued our interest. The idea of hiking the Chute of the Muddy Creek was floated (pun not intended) as was the idea of Music Canyon which would still get us to check out the lower half of the Chute of the Muddy Creek.

If we made good time, heck maybe we could still go up Muddy Canyon too? (Well that proved to be very optimistic!). Music Canyon won the vote.

The start of the hike follows what appears to be a fault line. We could see that the rock layers to our left were lifted hundreds of feet higher to our right and the cliff band we were following was long and straight for several miles. Not your typical erosional pattern. There were a couple of easy downclimbs here, especially right at the beginning. Perhaps those first ones can be avoided via a different start at the road?

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I think it was about 2 hours later when we reached the end of the cliff band and turned left to follow the drainage down into Music Canyon. It wasn't long before it slotted up nicely.

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Soon after that, the slot presented some technical challenges in the form of downclimbs, swims and what we decided should be raps. Music was very wet and muddy. Probably in dry conditions many, or even all of the raps we did might be downclimbed. We did downclimb lots of places, but also brought the ropes out in other places.

Finding anchors was not always easy as well. I think the high water may have burried some of the natural anchors often used. In some cases we had to build anchors with rocks and back them up with meat at least for the first few uses.

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I don't have a picture of it, but one place that caused some difficulty was right after a rap that ended in a long swimmer. The end of the swimmer was a muddy wall leading to a downclimb. Brian (cachehiker) and Cody had started down it when I reached the wall. As I was clawing my way up the mud to peer over at them I heard a big rushing sound of water. Hmm...my pack can't be draining *that* much water? No, my toe had punched a hole in the mud wall and now this long swimmer was created a waterfall down their climbing section. Cody made it down but Brian was stuck off to the side. We then had to set up another rap for him and the rest of us down this new waterfall. The swimmer was so long it hadn't stopped flowing when we were still continuing down canyon.

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Finally we made it to the Muddy Creek. The exit of Music Canyon to Muddy Creek sure lived up to the name "Muddy":

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Time to shed the wet suits, eat some more food and get ready for our "easy walk" down the Muddy Creek. We had an estimated 7-8 miles from here back to Hidden Splendor.

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Don found this old weathered set of ram's horns:

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The walking down Muddy Creek turned out to be far from easy. We had many long wades across and down the creek and even a couple of full on swims:

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We used a GPS to gauge our progress but it soon became obvious that we wouldn't make it back to camp before sunset. I tried to snap a few shots of the canyon in the evening light but mostly it was heads down hard hiking.

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By the time we made it back to camp we had totally missed the SUWA pot luck. Fortunately, we had plenty of food of our own. I contributed an appetizer we wolfed down over beers and Cody made up this awesome dutch oven stew. It was a full 10.5 hours of fun.

Music Canyon doesn't seem to get much props but for us, in these wet muddy conditions it was a total blast!

[Don]

I loved Music canyon! The wet muddy conditions were a big part of the appeal; what a messy good time!
(I could go for a shorter approach and shorter exit, but whattayagonnado?)

Even with the appraoch/exit I'd like to do this one again. :2thumbs:

Thanks for the pics and write up Paul!

[IntrepidXJ]

Nice report and photos :)

[Iceaxe]

Great pictures. :2thumbs:

I've only done Music once about 10 years ago and it was bone dry. At the time, In dry conditions, a moderately skilled climber (5.8+ maybe?) could downclimb or upclimb the entire slot.

[DWayne27]

Thanks for the report - and great pictures!

So, does anyone who is familiar with the area know how fast this drains? Music and the Chute were on the agenda for mid Oct, but without wet suits, and being wusses, I dont think the water and mud would ADD appeal as much as be annoying. I am hoping we encounter significantly different conditions than you guys did...

[ratagonia]

Thanks for the report - and great pictures!

So, does anyone who is familiar with the area know how fast this drains? Music and the Chute were on the agenda for mid Oct, but without wet suits, and being wusses, I dont think the water and mud would ADD appeal as much as be annoying. I am hoping we encounter significantly different conditions than you guys did...

The Muddy is dam controlled up in Castle Valley. I would suspect significant flow this time of year is from rain in the last couple of days, rather than from dam releases. There are gauges to check, but it is not clear how to estimate the flow in the Chute from the available gauges.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=gif_default&period=60&site_no=09330500

Could subtract the Fremont River near Cainville from the Dirty Devil near Poison Spring to get the input from the Muddy River...

The mud takes a week or two to mitigate, so if it does not rain from now til then, it should be a lot less muddy, and the Muddy should be at a normal late-season low, meaning wading but no swims.

Maybe.

Tom

[Iceaxe]

Those deep wading and swimming conditions in The Chute are created by "sand dams" and have nothing to do with current water flow of Muddy Creek. Those deep spots in The Chute will remain until the next big storm rearranges the canyon floor into a new configuration.

Look at the pictures.... the actual flow of Muddy Creek is very light... current gauge readings are almost worthless....


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But these deep pools are created by "Sand Dams" (or whatever you want to call them).


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I love these pictures, these are some of the best pictures I've seen of "The Chute".

:2thumbs:

[cachehiker]

That's me on the right. I actually ended up neck deep on my tippy toes through that section. Gonzo went down closer to the left hand wall and ended up swimming if I recall correctly. There were a few other nearly neck deep but no tippy toe sections, but that was the deepest I remember.

[DWayne27]

So it looks like you had wetsuits for the canyon, but then just your clothes for the exit? Was the water cold, or did you suit up just for convenience and trying to keep your clothes from getting nasty?

[cachehiker]

Four of us had wetsuits, two did not. The river wasn't bad but some of the pools were pretty cold. We avoided leaving the either of the two without wetsuits in a pool for belaying or backing up an anchor. I'll be holding off buying a wetsuit until I've got a few more canyons under my belt and am getting more comfortable with the anchors and knots I need to know. I know that means no freezefest for me so spending a night in an igloo will have to do. :mrgreen:

In the meantime, I'll invest in the next best thing. Last time I had poly cotton blend briefs and a poly tank under lightweight nylon pants and a poly cotton blend shirt. It was the best I could do after spending an unexpected chunk of my play budget on car repair. :frustrated: Next time down I'll be wearing poly boxer briefs and a poly tee beneath more a durable nylon top and bottom. I'll probably dig out the Sealskinz socks as well.

[ststephen]

The potholes in Music were pretty darn cold. I was glad to have a wet suit especially when we had to rig ropes. But YMMV and Gonzo did it w/o one. While hiking the Muddy it was "invigorating" but not uncomfortable to be in hiking clothes.

Thanks Shane, for the complements. I wish I could have shot more but at some point you have to actually make progress instead of capturing images.

[ratagonia]

Next time down I'll be wearing poly boxer briefs and a poly tee beneath more a durable nylon top and bottom. I'll probably dig out the Sealskinz socks as well.

The Sealskniz socks don't work so well for canyoneering. They are designed for when the water does not really go over your ankle much.

Neoprene, baby, or finely woven heavy wool when it is not too wet and cold.

Tom :moses:

[DWayne27]

The potholes in Music were pretty darn cold. I was glad to have a wet suit especially when we had to rig ropes. But YMMV and Gonzo did it w/o one. While hiking the Muddy it was "invigorating" but not uncomfortable to be in hiking clothes.

Thanks Shane, for the complements. I wish I could have shot more but at some point you have to actually make progress instead of capturing images.

Hmmm... I was not expecting so much water to deal with. Certainly dont mind getting a little wet, but all the mud and deep water might be more than my partners are excited about. Maybe I need to re draw my plans

[DWayne27]

It is looking like the weather over the next few days is gonna keep Music, and anything else in the area that holds water, pretty full...

[Don]

It is looking like the weather over the next few days is gonna keep Music, and anything else in the area that holds water, pretty full...

Which, as long as your guys are ready, would make for a really fun day! (Makes me want to go back. I'd SO much rather be there than in my cubicle this morning!)

[heliski2]

We've done Music, Knotted Rope, Baptist Draw, and part of Chute in both wet and dry conditions. We avoided ropes in Music for the most part using buddy techniques to work our way down. Too bad my hard drive crashed and lost the pictures.

I think Knotted Rope was the best when it was full of water. The effort of trying to avoid getting wet in the potholes turned into a boyhood splash fest with cannon balling into the water. The trudge in the mud heading back to Hidden Splendor is
another story...

Your pictures brought back the memory of being stuck in mud / quicksand muck in the trudge through Muddy Creek. What a blast! Great pictures!!!

[jb56chevy]

This was from Oct 2009. this section was neck deep/swimming.

[jb56chevy]

most of this trip was wading in knee-high water or lower, but there were 3-4 neck/swim sections. the mud is sticky and sucks off shoes...beware and tighten them up.

[Erik]

Nice trip report Paul. Don I'm with you -- liked the mud and water. Ready to go do it again!