Burro Wash

[Slot Machine]

Tyler and I took a hike through Burro Wash on Wednesday, May 16th, 2012.

We only took one vehicle, so we had to make loop hike out of it. Wow, was that a bad decision...

We camped the night before between the bottom of Pleasant Creek and Burro Wash. We were met with great weather and some welcome cloud cover.

Hiking up Pleasant Creek was surprisingly nice. In the cool of the morning we flew through it. The scenery in there is really good; it contains soaring walls and a creek that carves through the sandstone much like the creek in Coyote Gulch.

At 11am we hiked from Pleasant Creek up to the mouth of Burro. Once we conquered the ascent to the mouth of the canyon, we were greeted with 1/2 mile of bushwhack with no relief from the sun. That section would be cake in the morning, but SUCKS during the middle of the day! Soon it was 1pm; we were acutely aware that we had just hiked 6 miles without seeing any slot action.

Soon we arrived at the good stuff. The slotty part of the canyon was very nice. There were many challenging downclimbs, a few short rappels, and a spectacular big rappel into an enormous 12 story silo. (The rappel is not that tall.)

The slot section just after the big rappel is excellent. Do yourself a favor and make a dayhike (from the bottom) out of that section.

We estimate that we covered at least 11 miles in 8.75 hours. We were moving pretty fast and took very few breaks. We do not recommend visiting Burro this way, for the love of God, take a shuttle!!

The conditions in Burro right now are really good, no bugs in the canyon, one very small pothole that contains some nasty water. Most people should be able to stem over it and stay dry.

Bob

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http://amazingslots.blogspot.com/2012/05/tyler-and-i-took-hike-through-burro.html

[ilipichicuma]

Awesome! We did Burro last Labor Day with a car shuttle, and it was pretty sweet. I can imagine that hiking all the way up the reef would be pretty killer.

[Iceaxe]

Just a thought.... what about starting at the upper Pleasent Creek trailhead? This would give you the hot part of the hike in the cool morning hours? I was considering this loop in a couple of weeks but you might have talked me out of it. Thoughts?

Also... I assume when you exited Burro you cut cross-country over to Pleasent Creek and didn't hike all the way out to the Notom Road.

[dustinsc]

Cliff, was that the canyon where I rode with Nancy and I was given the assignment of finding out whether Nancy was into you?

Within our group of friends, canyoneering seems to be a crucial part of the courting process :haha:

[ghawk]

Within our group of friends, canyoneering seems to be a crucial part of the courting process :haha:

yes it is! :lol8:

[Mountaineer]

We did it around March, and did the whole loop. About 11 hours and dead tired back at camp. :stud:

[Slot Machine]

Just a thought.... what about starting at the upper Pleasent Creek trailhead? This would give you the hot part of the hike in the cool morning hours? I was considering this loop in a couple of weeks but you might have talked me out of it. Thoughts?

Also... I assume when you exited Burro you cut cross-country over to Pleasent Creek and didn't hike all the way out to the Notom Road.

It’s funny, you mentioned the Pleasant Creek route on some other thread. That is where I got the idea. It looks like a fun and reasonable route, but turned out to be a major pain.

Let me talk you out of it. :cool2:

We exited Burro Wash as soon as we could, then headed north toward camp. The area we crossed is densely coved with crypto and has a few faint trails that wander east-west across the crests of some steep, scree-covered hills. We opted to stay in the drainages between these hills and forged northward when it was possible. Carefully consider your route if you choose this option. (Some of the aforementioned trails are visible on Bing Maps.)

There is one final steep hill that must be climbed before you are rewarded with a glimpse of your campsite. Tyler is 21 years old and very fit. Despite this, he had a severe leg cramp on the way up the hill and had a very difficult time with the last 400 feet of the hike. It was very difficult for either of us to simply climb into the truck once we finished. :cripple: We each brought 4 liters of water and we drank all of it.

No exaggeration, after hiking 10 miles that day, it was one of the worst miles I’ve ever hiked.

So, this is how your variation of the Burro loop will go (IMO):

8am-9:30am: Hike from Pleasant Creek to the entrance of Burro Wash. Exchange high fives in the cool shade. :2thumbs:

9:30am-10:00am: Bushwhack before the sun starts beating down. Your companions hardly notice the hardship. :2thumbs:

10am-2pm: Burro Wash. Big smiles and more high fives. :2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs:

2pm-3pm: Endure a hellish crossing from Burro to Pleasant Creek during the hottest part of the day. Everyone starts praying for rain. :cry1:

3pm-5pm: Hike westward up Pleasant Creek directly into the sun. After already hiking 8-10 miles, several of your companions collapse. From their parched lips you hear them rasp “Damn you Shane!Damn Yoouuuu!”, just before expiring.

Also, something psychological to consider: We had the best part of the hike waiting for us near the end. It kept our spirits up even though we were getting tired.

If we had to do it over we would have brought 2 cars, camped at the bottom, then driven one car to the top early in the morning. YMMV.

[Iceaxe]

[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]9:30am-10:00am: Bushwhack before the sun starts beating down. Your companions hardly notice the hardship. :2thumbs:

Just a little FYI ...if you call anything in burro bushwhacking don't even think of doing checkerboard.... LOL

[Slot Machine]

Just a little FYI ...if you call anything in burro bushwhacking don't even think of doing checkerboard.... LOL

It's really not that bad, I agree that the entrance contains "minor bushwhacking", like it mentions in your beta. Kurt's fotos make Checkerboard look like it is worth the pain.

Sooo... what do you think, are you going to do the loop?

[ilipichicuma]

Within our group of friends, canyoneering seems to be a crucial part of the courting process :haha:

Yeah, it definitely is.