peakbaggers
06-06-2011, 09:03 PM
Thought we might report on our visit to MMI - the "sister" canyon to Undercover in the Lost Spring Canyon complex in the more remote section of Arches NP. Descended this canyon 5/29/11 for some Memorial Day weekend fun. Followed the same driving directions as for Undercover and the same car park and start. It takes about 10 minutes to walk over to the start from the car park. For the most part, we walked in a shallow drainage heading in the general direction that was filled with tumbleweeds at times, then cut over for the canyon rim. Our group consisted of 5 - my wife and self, another married couple and a neighborhood friend of ours. What we call "our group" usually consists of 7 of us, but it's rare that we all manage to get together for a trip. Since we're all over 50, (some like myself only a stones throw from 60,) a few years ago we were looking for a name to call ourselves. We came up with, "Old Geezers On Rope," or "OGOR'"s for short. At our advancing ages, the really gnarly canyons may never be on our agenda, so for the most part, we've been working on the so-called, trade canyons.
We had no trouble finding the north access to MMI. A little 3 rock cairn marked the place to descend off the rim and down the rock & sand slope to the large boulders that could be used for anchor.
This is the view from the rim looking down on the angled slot.
45027
In case someone is interested in the south arm of MMI, here is a shot of that access.
45028
I also took this shot of the north access from my return trip to retrieve our anchor.
45029
In the photo above, you can see some of the prominent features of the first rappel. We set up an anchor from the lowest boulder we could find and extended it to reduce rope drag. In setting this up, we noticed about half way down the slot, a large chockstone with some purple webbing looped around it. As some have indicated, you could possibly downclimb to this chockstone or do an assist with the rope. If you choose to use the mid-way chockstone to reset your rappel, you won't need a long 200 ft rope. 100 - 120 ought to do. Below the chockstone, the slot becomes more vertical. Getting into rappel from here requires something more of a "cowboy" start, with having to grasp the rock until you're lower than the anchoring sling. If you drop a rope from here, be careful not to toss it out too far our it may go over the top of a large "ralston," that appears to be only marginally settled into position.This lower chockstone is well out from the canyon slot and is cracked in two, so it appears to just barely be holding its position. I think it's quite dangerous, and if it rolled, could do some life-threatening damage.
45030
Below the "ralston," there is a large boulder with a flat platform that's a good place to terminate the rappel. From here, you can continue to downclimb by either clambering over the very large boulders, some lodged loosely in the slot, or climb down through & under some of the first ones, then over the top of some of the lower.
45031
Once down through the boulders, you can just walk down canyon which makes a sharp right turn and then to the next rappel - a 15 footer that's easy to anchor from a small tree with a retrievable setup.
45032
After this short rappel, it's another short jaunt to the final rappel. While the first rappel is kind of difficult and not very aesthetic, this last one is a classic. It's easy to get into and drops nicely into a free section for about the last 30 feet. Overall, it measured more than 90 feet from the anchor. For an anchor, we found that someone had set a long extension of 2 or 3 1" slings joined together, anchored to a tree about 40 ? feet away. The sling with a hanger was set up so as to extend nicely over the edge. You could step onto a lower little platform area to get into the rappel and then head on down. We surmised from the absence of any mention in a report on this canyon back in April, that the sling was very recent. However, sun exposure and laying in the sand may wear this anchor quickly. Backup is advised.
The 3rd rappel ends in a nice little alcove setting with rock walls on 3 sides and boxelders blocking the down canyon route.
45033
45034
As you leave the last rappel and head down canyon, there's still a little more descending to do through some boulders and then some bushwhacking. Be careful here. There is abundant poison ivy. Since the boxelder trees and the poison ivy have a similar 3-leaf arrangement, they can be a little difficult to distinguish from each other, so watch out! The poison ivy continues for some distance down canyon and is difficult to avoid at times. Further down, we ate lunch under a large alcove with a rim arch high above. After that, we took the same route out as reported in "Undercover Work." This route out is never really any more difficult than 4th class and coming from up canyon, the way up would be just one bend in the creek bed before the other take-out that's been described by other sources. Here's the view from on top showing more of the Lost Spring complex.
45035
Though the canyons in this area are never any deeper than about 400 feet below the surrounding plateau, and they'll never have the glamor, glitz and long rappels of the Zion canyons and other southern Utah locations, they are very accessible for us folks from Grand Junction. Only takes 1:45 from our doorstep to park, and the Lost Spring complex, certainly is attractive in a lot of ways. Overall, we would rate Undercover as the more aesthetic and entertaining of the two canyons, but MMI is still worth the effort.
On our hike back to the vehicle, some in our group spotted this lizard. Never have seen one with these markings and so large - measured about 16 inches. Does anyone know what kind it is? Thought about asking a park official, but was afraid they'd say it was some rare, endangered thing and would shut down everything for 10 miles around to protect it. Actually, there were quite a few of these around and their tracks were all over. Anyhow, it made a nice meal for one. Tasted just like chicken!
45036
We had no trouble finding the north access to MMI. A little 3 rock cairn marked the place to descend off the rim and down the rock & sand slope to the large boulders that could be used for anchor.
This is the view from the rim looking down on the angled slot.
45027
In case someone is interested in the south arm of MMI, here is a shot of that access.
45028
I also took this shot of the north access from my return trip to retrieve our anchor.
45029
In the photo above, you can see some of the prominent features of the first rappel. We set up an anchor from the lowest boulder we could find and extended it to reduce rope drag. In setting this up, we noticed about half way down the slot, a large chockstone with some purple webbing looped around it. As some have indicated, you could possibly downclimb to this chockstone or do an assist with the rope. If you choose to use the mid-way chockstone to reset your rappel, you won't need a long 200 ft rope. 100 - 120 ought to do. Below the chockstone, the slot becomes more vertical. Getting into rappel from here requires something more of a "cowboy" start, with having to grasp the rock until you're lower than the anchoring sling. If you drop a rope from here, be careful not to toss it out too far our it may go over the top of a large "ralston," that appears to be only marginally settled into position.This lower chockstone is well out from the canyon slot and is cracked in two, so it appears to just barely be holding its position. I think it's quite dangerous, and if it rolled, could do some life-threatening damage.
45030
Below the "ralston," there is a large boulder with a flat platform that's a good place to terminate the rappel. From here, you can continue to downclimb by either clambering over the very large boulders, some lodged loosely in the slot, or climb down through & under some of the first ones, then over the top of some of the lower.
45031
Once down through the boulders, you can just walk down canyon which makes a sharp right turn and then to the next rappel - a 15 footer that's easy to anchor from a small tree with a retrievable setup.
45032
After this short rappel, it's another short jaunt to the final rappel. While the first rappel is kind of difficult and not very aesthetic, this last one is a classic. It's easy to get into and drops nicely into a free section for about the last 30 feet. Overall, it measured more than 90 feet from the anchor. For an anchor, we found that someone had set a long extension of 2 or 3 1" slings joined together, anchored to a tree about 40 ? feet away. The sling with a hanger was set up so as to extend nicely over the edge. You could step onto a lower little platform area to get into the rappel and then head on down. We surmised from the absence of any mention in a report on this canyon back in April, that the sling was very recent. However, sun exposure and laying in the sand may wear this anchor quickly. Backup is advised.
The 3rd rappel ends in a nice little alcove setting with rock walls on 3 sides and boxelders blocking the down canyon route.
45033
45034
As you leave the last rappel and head down canyon, there's still a little more descending to do through some boulders and then some bushwhacking. Be careful here. There is abundant poison ivy. Since the boxelder trees and the poison ivy have a similar 3-leaf arrangement, they can be a little difficult to distinguish from each other, so watch out! The poison ivy continues for some distance down canyon and is difficult to avoid at times. Further down, we ate lunch under a large alcove with a rim arch high above. After that, we took the same route out as reported in "Undercover Work." This route out is never really any more difficult than 4th class and coming from up canyon, the way up would be just one bend in the creek bed before the other take-out that's been described by other sources. Here's the view from on top showing more of the Lost Spring complex.
45035
Though the canyons in this area are never any deeper than about 400 feet below the surrounding plateau, and they'll never have the glamor, glitz and long rappels of the Zion canyons and other southern Utah locations, they are very accessible for us folks from Grand Junction. Only takes 1:45 from our doorstep to park, and the Lost Spring complex, certainly is attractive in a lot of ways. Overall, we would rate Undercover as the more aesthetic and entertaining of the two canyons, but MMI is still worth the effort.
On our hike back to the vehicle, some in our group spotted this lizard. Never have seen one with these markings and so large - measured about 16 inches. Does anyone know what kind it is? Thought about asking a park official, but was afraid they'd say it was some rare, endangered thing and would shut down everything for 10 miles around to protect it. Actually, there were quite a few of these around and their tracks were all over. Anyhow, it made a nice meal for one. Tasted just like chicken!
45036