remoteman45
07-08-2012, 04:39 PM
Our group of 4 descended Kolob Canyon on Saturday and had a great time in the canyon. After calling the water release people the day before and getting the usual "We don't recommend descending the canyon" statement and a report of 3 CFS we headed down Friday after work from Utah county. The plan was to throw out some sleeping stuff at the West Rim trailhead and get an early start but one vehicle in our party was met by a ranger near the trailhead and told you can't camp there and the Lava Point campground was full so we headed up to Kolob Res and found a spot to make a quick camp and hit the sack at midnight. For those that don't know, there is free primitive camping at Kolob Res and it's less than 5 miles up the road from the West Rim turnoff. Up at 5 and breaking camp we were on our way to the trailhead. We started our hike at 6:30 and were at the first rap at 8:00. This was my first time in Kolob but was disappointed being a photographer to find way less than 3CFS flowing. We checked at the bridge under the road earlier and there it looked like quite a bit of water was flowing but not so in the canyon. A 5/4 wet suit was plenty adequate as the water wasn't that cold and the pools were clean and clear with lots of fish. We made good time in the canyon and really enjoyed the technical section. Shortly after the last big rap we peeled off our wetsuits and began the hike out. Soon after that last rappel we encountered 4 rattlesnakes within 300 yards of each other and it made us a little jumpy as one of them I almost stepped on. Now we're walking with hiking sticks trying to announce our travel downstream to avoid any unfortunate encounters with poisonous reptiles. The creek dried up entirely but came back after a while so boulder hopping in the stream bed provided some comfort from the snakes as we figured they'd be avoiding the water. Soon we passed Oak Creek and then Boundary and continued down the canyon. Maybe we took off our wetsuits a little early but we enjoyed the several jumps and swims w/o too much discomfort. We were at the MIA exit at 2:30 contemplating the climb out.
It was in one of these jumps where the "Lost in Kolob" part of the thread title comes in. Many of you have expressed appreciation of the photographs I post on my trip reports but alas, I have no photographs to post along with this thread. I can only guess that in one of the jumps or swims in Kolob Creek, my DSLR popped out of the outside pocket of my Imlay Kolob pack and was lost in a deep pool. It was double dry bagged but with little to no air for flotation and with the camera being much heavier than the little bit of bouyancy in the dry bag it must have sunk like a stone. It wasn't discovered until I was prepping myself for the MIA exit that I found it was missing. BUMMER. If you know that route, there's not much point in trying to retrace your steps as it'd be next to impossible to climb back up most of those jumps and then trying to see the bag in the bottom of one of those pools - no way. I would imagine even well wrapped in a good dry bag it won't survive too long but at least it could be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. If found maybe the CF card would survive and someone could see that there are some pics of a kitchen I was working on and a few photos from Kolob Creek. Maybe some good Karma will come my way as I was able to return to it's owner a lost GoPro camera I found in Zero Gravity last year and from this trip I found a watch in Kolob creek that I'd be happy to get back to it's owner if anybody can describe what they lost. I'll bet it'll take a flood in the canyon to flush out the camera and then maybe it'll turn up.
The MIA climb out wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered from last year doing Boundary but still pretty taxing for this 55 year old guy. Some cloud cover rolled in that afternoon so temps were much better than full sun for all that road walking. 2 hours up to the road and then back to the truck at 6:00 so nearly 12 hours for the day. I'd like to do the canyon again with a bit more flow. All in all it was a fun day but with a $3000 price tag.
Wish I'd started up that special insurance policy for my gear
It was in one of these jumps where the "Lost in Kolob" part of the thread title comes in. Many of you have expressed appreciation of the photographs I post on my trip reports but alas, I have no photographs to post along with this thread. I can only guess that in one of the jumps or swims in Kolob Creek, my DSLR popped out of the outside pocket of my Imlay Kolob pack and was lost in a deep pool. It was double dry bagged but with little to no air for flotation and with the camera being much heavier than the little bit of bouyancy in the dry bag it must have sunk like a stone. It wasn't discovered until I was prepping myself for the MIA exit that I found it was missing. BUMMER. If you know that route, there's not much point in trying to retrace your steps as it'd be next to impossible to climb back up most of those jumps and then trying to see the bag in the bottom of one of those pools - no way. I would imagine even well wrapped in a good dry bag it won't survive too long but at least it could be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. If found maybe the CF card would survive and someone could see that there are some pics of a kitchen I was working on and a few photos from Kolob Creek. Maybe some good Karma will come my way as I was able to return to it's owner a lost GoPro camera I found in Zero Gravity last year and from this trip I found a watch in Kolob creek that I'd be happy to get back to it's owner if anybody can describe what they lost. I'll bet it'll take a flood in the canyon to flush out the camera and then maybe it'll turn up.
The MIA climb out wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered from last year doing Boundary but still pretty taxing for this 55 year old guy. Some cloud cover rolled in that afternoon so temps were much better than full sun for all that road walking. 2 hours up to the road and then back to the truck at 6:00 so nearly 12 hours for the day. I'd like to do the canyon again with a bit more flow. All in all it was a fun day but with a $3000 price tag.
Wish I'd started up that special insurance policy for my gear