Poll - Where do you start Birch Hollow - what approach?

[ratagonia]

Where DO people do Birch starting from.

If you are an "other", please say so here in the body of the thread.

It would be wonderful if there was also a "why" component to this... I suppose I could do a separate poll for that.

Thanks. :moses:

[tanya]

http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-birch-hollow.htm.

This is where Bo and I direct people to begin. Do all the major websites and books have the same start? I have never looked.

If Bo and I don't have what's in your book we can probably update it so it does so we all have the same.

[ratagonia]

http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-birch-hollow.htm.

This is where Bo and I direct people to begin. Do all the major websites and books have the same start? I have never looked.

If Bo and I don't have what's in your book we can probably update it so it does so we all have the same.

That would be straight down the watercourse, not a bad way to go. A bit of a fight through the roses, at times. And you get an extra rappel (that many people go around). That first rappel I think is 110 feet, so a bit more than the 100' max elsewhere in the canyon (depending on which anchor is used).

I think it is more-ethical to encourage people to do the rappel, rather than cut around and increase the erosion on the side-trail. Please.

Let's see how it shakes out with the poll and all. You are welcome to quote the text from my book directly, without attribution.

Tom

[ratagonia]

For those who have done it different ways, which way do you like best, for which circumstances???

Tom

[trackrunner]

That would be straight down the watercourse, not a bad way to go. A bit of a fight through the roses, at times. And you get an extra rappel (that many people go around). That first rappel I think is 110 feet, so a bit more than the 100' max elsewhere in the canyon (depending on which anchor is used).

I think it is more-ethical to encourage people to do the rappel, rather than cut around and increase the erosion on the side-trail. Please.

Let's see how it shakes out with the poll and all. You are welcome to quote the text from my book directly, without attribution.

Tom

there is a tree LDC on the right that makes for a shorter rappel. Been a long time since I've been there but I seem to recall it doesn't have errosion issues as the bypass on the left LDC does.


For those who have done it different ways, which way do you like best, for which circumstances???

Tom

I've done both the road approach in Tom's book and down the water course. With the road approach you don't have to bushwack, but you miss the name for bridge canyon (no big deal). I like where the road approach drops you in. Not missing much up canyon from there. I do recall with the road approach it was steep following the social trail getting down into the canyon. So my concern would be potential for erosion. Tom or others do you feel it could cause an erosion problem?

[tanya]

I like to give you attribution - You are Tom Jones after all :hail2thechief:. I was updating my website then got side tracked. I am going to get back to working on it and update a lot of things. If there are other issues like this let me know please and I will fix them in the process.

[ratagonia]

I like to give you attribution - You are Tom Jones after all :hail2thechief:. I was updating my website then got side tracked. I am going to get back to working on it and update a lot of things. If there are other issues like this let me know please and I will fix them in the process.

Thanks.

Same applies to Engelstead. Don't know what you have there, but the road approach for Engelstead is much much better.

If utilizing text, please try to take it from the new website, which still needs some editing, but will be better than the old...

http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/canyon-descriptions/zion-national-park/technical-canyons/moderate-classics/birch-hollow.html

Tom :moses:

[oldno7]

I believe the canyoneering ethic that many canyoneers like to pass along and seems to be the easiest to follow on this and other canyons is,"stay in the watercourse".

So my vote would be to enter at the North Fork road parking area.

[Pubalz]

I believe the canyoneering ethic that many canyoneers like to pass along and seems to be the easiest to follow on this and other canyons is,"stay in the watercourse".

So my vote would be to enter at the North Fork road parking area.

Im with Kirt enter at the water course

[Wasatch]

Down the Water Course.

[Iceaxe]

Down the Water Course... :cool2:

If everyone is directed down the watercourse right from the North Fork road some of the other issues (social trails) disappear. :nod:

[MarmotOnARock]

The only time I have done Birch we used the directions in Toms book to park between the two ranches, and walk the ATV trail, then follow a trail down to the watercourse.

This was due to seeing a very large group of what appeared to be boy scouts staging at the watercourse entrance, so we wanted to start elsewhere since the option existed.

[tylerhirshfeld]

Watercourse.
Although it needs a little "cleaning up", as Tom mentioned the rose bushes are wicked. Definitely a longer route. The one thing i like about Toms route is that there is no option to bypass the 1st rappel. You drop in way past it. We have talked about doing a guided rap off of the 1st to avoid the shale falling, instead of using the bypass on canyon left. I understand most groups do not have the knowledge to set one of those up, but thoughts?

[2065toyota]

we did watercourse a few weeks ago and trail was good. muddy the whole way. not too much bushwacking

[optikal]

Watercourse. I've done Birch twice this year and while the bushes were a little annoying it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

[ghawk]

watercourse. easiest way to explain to others and causes the least environmental impact :nod:

[shagdeuce]

I think it is more-ethical to encourage people to do the rappel, rather than cut around and increase the erosion on the side-trail. Please.

I've only done Birch once (last year). The shale is extremely loose (probably by definition) and we had issues pulling the rope on the first rappel. The rope had caught on a sharp edge and didn't want to pull. We tried going up the hill downstream and pulling from there. It was slightly better, but we felt uncomfortable forcing it over the sharp edges of the shale. We ended up sending someone up the bypass to free it up. There we signs of wear on the rope where it rested against the edge. We were glad we didn't force it. Perhaps we just had bad placement or bad luck. Has anyone else had this issue? We used protection under the rope except for the last one down, but maybe I simply need to get one of those plastic sheaths to help the wear (not sure that it would help the pull).


there is a tree LDC on the right that makes for a shorter rappel. Been a long time since I've been there but I seem to recall it doesn't have errosion issues as the bypass on the left LDC does.

There was a group doing the shorter rap on the rim right while we did the 110'...maybe I'll look into that next time rather to protect against the erosion issue on the baypass. As an FYI, we couldn't get our unverified 200' Tom Canyonfire rope to reach doubled (had to tie two together) so the rap is definitely over 100'.

[ratagonia]

Perhaps we just had bad placement or bad luck. Has anyone else had this issue?

When I stick ropes, it is never due to bad luck. It is because I did a bad job of rigging, and did not get the placement of the ring in the right place.

Tom