RyanGJ
05-02-2011, 01:32 PM
Headed to the Roost April 30 - May 1st under windy and cool conditions. The preceding week produced over an inch of rain in the area and has left nearly all the canyons in wet conditions. Bring your wetsuits! Due to unpreparedness (aka no wetsuits or dry bags, yea stupid I know!) we aimed for the dryer canyons of Northwest Fork Big Spring and Three Canyons and had a blast. Road from 24 is pretty wash board, but in good shape for passenger cars.
Before the TR of those two canyons here are the word-of-mouth conditions for folks we talked to coming out of the following canyons:
Alcatraz- "nipple deep", lots of water. Every party that went through that did not have wet suits and looked haggard for it. One nearly started a SAR it took them so long.
High Spur- wading to waist then "long" mandatory swim. One party had exited the canyon and dropped back in after the water, said detour took 2-3 hours.
Blue John main fork- "Ankle deep" in places.
Larry- waist deep, lots of water
Our trip:
Northwest Big Spring- 2.5 hrs with two people. Since we were camped and ready for High Spur this one was literally just across the street. We got more than we expected, this is a great canyon! The first rap is anchored by a single nut (see photo) that seemed solid and recently placed by the looks of the webbing. There are places for an Ibis if your into that kinda thing (please don't remove the nut though, not that many are using Ibis hooks). Some partner assist down climbs along the way to the second rap. Water is ankle deep with one unavoidable pot hole that was mid thigh deep. Second rap is off a block with good webbing and is two tiered, but rope pull was easy. This puts you in the best slot section! Gorgeous! The canyon opend up and then sloted back up again before the typical exit. This slot ended in deep looking water, so we back tracked just before this last slot section and found a sporty (5.5/.6 with some exposure) but straight forward exit. It was in the 40's and windy, and we are wimped out! Easy walk back of about 20-30 min.
Three Canyon-
I really enjoyed this out of the way canyon. Anchor is decent shape, the piton looks great and is even pounded into a metal expansion sleeve (see photo) but the bolt is a bit suspect. This anchor is not really needed, plenty of boulders to the right to rap from. We also placed an anchor around a chockstone next on the second tier to minimize rope wear since we were planning to ascend. Rapping and the ascending from the boulders would really make this a better rap/jug. There is some webbing on the second anchor we forgot to remove on our ascent, its manky feeling.
The rest of the canyon is beautiful with flowing water starting 1/4 way down. We saw deer and other wildlife along the way. It was getting late so we did not make it to the river. Its a long way to the rive, probably 2.5 hrs ONE way. We jugged up the line on our return, I would not suggest the rim walk back, the canyon is to beautiful!
BigSpringAndThreeCanyon
Before the TR of those two canyons here are the word-of-mouth conditions for folks we talked to coming out of the following canyons:
Alcatraz- "nipple deep", lots of water. Every party that went through that did not have wet suits and looked haggard for it. One nearly started a SAR it took them so long.
High Spur- wading to waist then "long" mandatory swim. One party had exited the canyon and dropped back in after the water, said detour took 2-3 hours.
Blue John main fork- "Ankle deep" in places.
Larry- waist deep, lots of water
Our trip:
Northwest Big Spring- 2.5 hrs with two people. Since we were camped and ready for High Spur this one was literally just across the street. We got more than we expected, this is a great canyon! The first rap is anchored by a single nut (see photo) that seemed solid and recently placed by the looks of the webbing. There are places for an Ibis if your into that kinda thing (please don't remove the nut though, not that many are using Ibis hooks). Some partner assist down climbs along the way to the second rap. Water is ankle deep with one unavoidable pot hole that was mid thigh deep. Second rap is off a block with good webbing and is two tiered, but rope pull was easy. This puts you in the best slot section! Gorgeous! The canyon opend up and then sloted back up again before the typical exit. This slot ended in deep looking water, so we back tracked just before this last slot section and found a sporty (5.5/.6 with some exposure) but straight forward exit. It was in the 40's and windy, and we are wimped out! Easy walk back of about 20-30 min.
Three Canyon-
I really enjoyed this out of the way canyon. Anchor is decent shape, the piton looks great and is even pounded into a metal expansion sleeve (see photo) but the bolt is a bit suspect. This anchor is not really needed, plenty of boulders to the right to rap from. We also placed an anchor around a chockstone next on the second tier to minimize rope wear since we were planning to ascend. Rapping and the ascending from the boulders would really make this a better rap/jug. There is some webbing on the second anchor we forgot to remove on our ascent, its manky feeling.
The rest of the canyon is beautiful with flowing water starting 1/4 way down. We saw deer and other wildlife along the way. It was getting late so we did not make it to the river. Its a long way to the rive, probably 2.5 hrs ONE way. We jugged up the line on our return, I would not suggest the rim walk back, the canyon is to beautiful!
BigSpringAndThreeCanyon