skiclimb3287
04-29-2011, 01:27 AM
After lurking around here for quite awhile, I figured it was appropriate to start off with a trip report. Hellooooo Bogley! :cheers:
Normally November through the end of April I ski every day I can get, but this year the canyoneering and desert exploration itch came a few weeks early. To satiate this, the better half and I decided to hop in the car and head down to Zion for the weekend.
We escaped work around 3pm on Friday the 15th and made our way through the mess of construction through Utah County. Once we reached Fillmore, we stopped at our favorite mid-drive dinner location - Kluff's Car Hop. If you haven't been there, check it out. They have some tasty food and great shakes. :slobber: After getting our fill of grease, we cruised to Rockville and headed up to our usual camp. Never seen the road up in that poor shape, but then again, never been there in the spring. Looks like more than a few were bogged down.
Saturday morning came with much excitement to get back in a canyon as we headed to the backcountry desk to grab a permit for Keyhole Canyon. We originally had planned to do Pine Creek as well, but it did not seem like a wise choice for our first flowing canyon considering the high flow. Of course we got the typical questions from the ranger: "Have you done Keyhole before?" Yes. "You do realize the canyon is full of very cold water?" No, I thought when snow melts it is instantly hot tub temperature. After giving the appropriate answers, we were off to ZAC to pick up our prison inmate costumes (aka drysuits with bright orange coveralls). Now that we were all outfitted and it was only 9am, we decided to go for a hike and let it warm up a bit. We decided to head to the Canyon Overlook Trail as I had never done it (amazing considering the number of days I have spent in the park over the last 8 years) and we were both interested in getting a look at the flow through Pine Creek. After a nice chat with the tunnel rangerette on duty, she decided to take us out on the bridge to get a look down into the canyon.
43779
Looking upstream from the entrance to Pine Creek. Never seen water here, let alone a waterfall up canyon!
43780
View of Pine Creek from the Bridge
We proceeded out the Canyon Overlook Trail. The rumble of the water flowing through the canyon was amazing.
43781
View from the end of the trail
It was now around 11:00, the sun was getting high, and we were nice and warm, so we headed for Keyhole. After a quick scramble up the slickrock bowl, we looked back and realized we had started a trend. We counted 4 groups behind us. We hurried and got suited up to beat the group of 6 which included 4 kids. Middle Keyhole was a blast! We made quick work of the down climbs which felt a little more like a water park. All too quickly we were though Middle Keyhole and in the sunny spot just before the first rappel into Lower Keyhole.
43782
Log in Middle Keyhole
43783
Looking like an escaped convict
After a short debate, we decided to hang in the sun for a bit and let the group of six pass. The kids in the group were charging ahead and laughing and having a generally good time. When they all arrived at our location, we were shocked to see them all in shortee wetsuits! :cold: I can't imagine that was too enjoyable. We hung out long enough to let them get enough ahead, so that we could have our own experience and not really be entwined in theirs. We also let another group of two pass us. We shortly thereafter learned that the webbing I brought in my pack would be staying with me for another canyon. The group of two that passed us had a "never use existing webbing" policy and so they replaced all 3 anchors! All rappels were in waterfalls, with swimming disconnects. The fun just kept increasing! I now understand why there are some canyoneers who only do flowing canyons. There were a few lengthy swims, including the flooded hallway. I had never had good lighting in the hallway, but we hit it at just the right time! The light filtered its way in and lit up the walls. Shortly thereafter we were through the slanted section and back out to the road.
43784
Heading down Rappel 1
43785
Getting in the flow of things: Rappel 2
43786
Its a little wet!
43787
Twisty
43788
Checking out the downclimbability of rappel 3 (Oh yeah, apparently it is bad luck to be a random person taking my picture...the guy taking the photo up ahead of me promptly dropped his camera into a 10 foot deep pool. After no less than 10 dives, it was recovered! :facepalm1:)
43789
Swimming away from rappel 3...getting hungry
43790
Enter the flooded hallway
Of the three times I have done Keyhole, this was by far the best. The canyon is a completely different experience when flowing. And I have to say, drysuits are AMAZING! It was our first time using them and we were bone dry underneath and warm the entire time. :nod:
After many strange looks from the passerbys, we got back into hiking clothes and headed to ZAC to return the drysuits. It was still early so we hopped on the shuttle and took in to Sinawava to go check out the December flood damage to river walk. We were amazed by the washed out walk, the changes in the river path, and the fact that the gravel bar at the end of the narrows is now a sand bar. Furthermore, the new sand bar apparently has inspired the artist in every single person that visits.
43760
Sign at the start of the riverwalk
43761
Waterfall at the beginning of the riverwalk
43762
Washed out walkway
43763
And another washed out walkway
43764
City of Cairns
43765
You can now be really really sure you found your way out of the narrows...
This brought us to the end of our day. On the shuttle ride back to the visitors center, I am 95% sure caught a glimpse of a cliff dwelling high on a wall! Anyone know of one in the main canyon that you can see from the road? Curious if I saw what I thought I saw...
Off to Bit & Spur for dinner and drinks and back to camp for some R&R.
43766
Enjoying the fire
43767
The drying rack
Sunday we had a leisurely morning cooking breakfast and cleaning up camp. As we were about to leave, I spotted our first blooming cactus!
43768
Cool flowers
We then went out for our first foray into cave valley. I had seen the pictures of the caves, but had no real directions, so we just went for it. After some exploring we managed to find 2 of the 3 caves I had heard of! Cave valley is even more beautiful than I had realized.
43769
Mummy-like rock formation at the head of cave valley
43770
Cave Valley
43771
Big.
43772
View out towards the Pine Valley Mountains (I think)
43773
Entrance to the first cave we found
43774
Pictographs in the cave
43775
Bones stuck up high on the central pillar with some cave popcorn in view
43776
Pictrographs in the second cave
43777
More pictographs in the second cave
43778
Nice sandstone!
It was now 3:00 and we decided we should probably back to SLC. As we passed the left fork trail head, we noticed quite a few rangers parked. Thought it was strange. got home to learn that was the start of the Subway SAR. All in all a great weekend was had. One more weekend of skiing and then it is full on canyoneering season! Next up is a trip to Moab and then to the Swell :2thumbs:
Normally November through the end of April I ski every day I can get, but this year the canyoneering and desert exploration itch came a few weeks early. To satiate this, the better half and I decided to hop in the car and head down to Zion for the weekend.
We escaped work around 3pm on Friday the 15th and made our way through the mess of construction through Utah County. Once we reached Fillmore, we stopped at our favorite mid-drive dinner location - Kluff's Car Hop. If you haven't been there, check it out. They have some tasty food and great shakes. :slobber: After getting our fill of grease, we cruised to Rockville and headed up to our usual camp. Never seen the road up in that poor shape, but then again, never been there in the spring. Looks like more than a few were bogged down.
Saturday morning came with much excitement to get back in a canyon as we headed to the backcountry desk to grab a permit for Keyhole Canyon. We originally had planned to do Pine Creek as well, but it did not seem like a wise choice for our first flowing canyon considering the high flow. Of course we got the typical questions from the ranger: "Have you done Keyhole before?" Yes. "You do realize the canyon is full of very cold water?" No, I thought when snow melts it is instantly hot tub temperature. After giving the appropriate answers, we were off to ZAC to pick up our prison inmate costumes (aka drysuits with bright orange coveralls). Now that we were all outfitted and it was only 9am, we decided to go for a hike and let it warm up a bit. We decided to head to the Canyon Overlook Trail as I had never done it (amazing considering the number of days I have spent in the park over the last 8 years) and we were both interested in getting a look at the flow through Pine Creek. After a nice chat with the tunnel rangerette on duty, she decided to take us out on the bridge to get a look down into the canyon.
43779
Looking upstream from the entrance to Pine Creek. Never seen water here, let alone a waterfall up canyon!
43780
View of Pine Creek from the Bridge
We proceeded out the Canyon Overlook Trail. The rumble of the water flowing through the canyon was amazing.
43781
View from the end of the trail
It was now around 11:00, the sun was getting high, and we were nice and warm, so we headed for Keyhole. After a quick scramble up the slickrock bowl, we looked back and realized we had started a trend. We counted 4 groups behind us. We hurried and got suited up to beat the group of 6 which included 4 kids. Middle Keyhole was a blast! We made quick work of the down climbs which felt a little more like a water park. All too quickly we were though Middle Keyhole and in the sunny spot just before the first rappel into Lower Keyhole.
43782
Log in Middle Keyhole
43783
Looking like an escaped convict
After a short debate, we decided to hang in the sun for a bit and let the group of six pass. The kids in the group were charging ahead and laughing and having a generally good time. When they all arrived at our location, we were shocked to see them all in shortee wetsuits! :cold: I can't imagine that was too enjoyable. We hung out long enough to let them get enough ahead, so that we could have our own experience and not really be entwined in theirs. We also let another group of two pass us. We shortly thereafter learned that the webbing I brought in my pack would be staying with me for another canyon. The group of two that passed us had a "never use existing webbing" policy and so they replaced all 3 anchors! All rappels were in waterfalls, with swimming disconnects. The fun just kept increasing! I now understand why there are some canyoneers who only do flowing canyons. There were a few lengthy swims, including the flooded hallway. I had never had good lighting in the hallway, but we hit it at just the right time! The light filtered its way in and lit up the walls. Shortly thereafter we were through the slanted section and back out to the road.
43784
Heading down Rappel 1
43785
Getting in the flow of things: Rappel 2
43786
Its a little wet!
43787
Twisty
43788
Checking out the downclimbability of rappel 3 (Oh yeah, apparently it is bad luck to be a random person taking my picture...the guy taking the photo up ahead of me promptly dropped his camera into a 10 foot deep pool. After no less than 10 dives, it was recovered! :facepalm1:)
43789
Swimming away from rappel 3...getting hungry
43790
Enter the flooded hallway
Of the three times I have done Keyhole, this was by far the best. The canyon is a completely different experience when flowing. And I have to say, drysuits are AMAZING! It was our first time using them and we were bone dry underneath and warm the entire time. :nod:
After many strange looks from the passerbys, we got back into hiking clothes and headed to ZAC to return the drysuits. It was still early so we hopped on the shuttle and took in to Sinawava to go check out the December flood damage to river walk. We were amazed by the washed out walk, the changes in the river path, and the fact that the gravel bar at the end of the narrows is now a sand bar. Furthermore, the new sand bar apparently has inspired the artist in every single person that visits.
43760
Sign at the start of the riverwalk
43761
Waterfall at the beginning of the riverwalk
43762
Washed out walkway
43763
And another washed out walkway
43764
City of Cairns
43765
You can now be really really sure you found your way out of the narrows...
This brought us to the end of our day. On the shuttle ride back to the visitors center, I am 95% sure caught a glimpse of a cliff dwelling high on a wall! Anyone know of one in the main canyon that you can see from the road? Curious if I saw what I thought I saw...
Off to Bit & Spur for dinner and drinks and back to camp for some R&R.
43766
Enjoying the fire
43767
The drying rack
Sunday we had a leisurely morning cooking breakfast and cleaning up camp. As we were about to leave, I spotted our first blooming cactus!
43768
Cool flowers
We then went out for our first foray into cave valley. I had seen the pictures of the caves, but had no real directions, so we just went for it. After some exploring we managed to find 2 of the 3 caves I had heard of! Cave valley is even more beautiful than I had realized.
43769
Mummy-like rock formation at the head of cave valley
43770
Cave Valley
43771
Big.
43772
View out towards the Pine Valley Mountains (I think)
43773
Entrance to the first cave we found
43774
Pictographs in the cave
43775
Bones stuck up high on the central pillar with some cave popcorn in view
43776
Pictrographs in the second cave
43777
More pictographs in the second cave
43778
Nice sandstone!
It was now 3:00 and we decided we should probably back to SLC. As we passed the left fork trail head, we noticed quite a few rangers parked. Thought it was strange. got home to learn that was the start of the Subway SAR. All in all a great weekend was had. One more weekend of skiing and then it is full on canyoneering season! Next up is a trip to Moab and then to the Swell :2thumbs: