High Spur

[ststephen]

On the second day of our 3 day trip to the Roost the whole group (Don and his son, Cody, Erik, Anya, Bradley and I) explored High Spur. We took a high clearance 2WD Suburban and a 4WD 4-door pick-up. There was no substantial problem reaching the Deadman's Trail junction in the 2WD Suburban. But, a vehicle with less clearance might not be able to clear some obstacles.

Don and his son did not do any technical climbing. They turned around at the 12-foot down climb which drops from a pour off into a slopping rock and then a pool. There was quite a bit of water in High Spur. One section had everyone swimming. There were several long chest-deep wading sections as well. But no one wore wet suits and with the temp in the high 60s/low 70s we were able to warm up reasonably fast after the last rap. There was a little shivering going on while waiting to do that rap though!

What a fantastic canyon! Here's some photos:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8079038563_8e15e0eb4f_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8192/8079030932_1e615a0089_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8052/8079031442_a2c8e481a6_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8192/8079030932_1e615a0089_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8079032318_875a955ca0_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8466/8079033778_c20444c36b_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8331/8079042543_6d2550086a_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8332/8079034506_967ec6c62a_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8464/8079043739_d98d88fc72_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8467/8079036006_68e3640745_c.jpg

[Mountaineer]

Fantastic! I've been to the root a few times, but haven't done this classic yet. Looking forward to it soon. Check your 'flickr' pics, looks like most are not available.

Thanks for sharing, and glad you survived the cold in those temps. :cold:

[Mountaineer]

...root ...
:haha: My typo reminded me of an old Commodore 64 game when I was a little kid, "Below the root". Loved that game.

[ststephen]

Grrr...thanks I'll have to figure out what's wrong with those images. No wonder no one liked them!

[Slot Machine]

Nice TR! Great photos! 'Canyoneer with a Tripod' is fantastic! :2thumbs:

[blueeyes]

Gorgeous pictures.

[Iceaxe]

Sweet pics

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[Kuya]

Beautiful! I need to get myself down into the Roost! :2thumbs: Awesome Pictures!

[Sandstone Addiction]

Loved your TR! :2thumbs: This canyon is on my short list.

[londog]

We did High Spur last Thursday 10/11/12. Great day in the canyon, but you took much better pics. Water levels were down a bit from your TR, only chin deep at the deepest section in the lower part of the Swirl. We did get a rope stuck (for a while) on the last rap, so anyone doing it needs to make sure to extend ring over lip or make other adjustments.

Couple of more things:

I found a Sandtrap in one of the nearby canyons. If you lost it, send reply in this thread and will arrange to get it back to you.

Also, we had a difficult time with the beta on West Fork of Big Spring. Anybody else have any issues there in finding rap 1 or navigating further down?

[Mountaineer]

Also, we had a difficult time with the beta on West Fork of Big Spring. Anybody else have any issues there in finding rap 1 or navigating further down?

I did this last year and helped put together a beta for it. Which beta did you use? You can just go straight down canyon, but if you do it this way there is a sketchy pothole/silo to navigate and not much material for the subsequent rap.

[Don]

Here's a map showing where E and I hiked up and out of the canyon, and back to the road. It was steep, but not climb-y, and not exposed. Once up on the mostly-flat desert we turned from a north-west heading to a north-east heading and passed the head of that side canyon. There's a cliff to the south there, but there's a seldom-used trail and it's wide enough I didn't worry about it.

[EDIT: Why won't this map default to the sat-view? Anyway, change to sat-view or terrain and it'll make more sense.]

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=204821587750412566862.0004cc1bf60a89bb4fb7 f&msa=0&ll=38.41799,-110.16768&spn=0.027336,0.038581

[londog]

We used Climb-Utah beta. We found the head of the canyon without any problem, but never came to rap 1 at the indicated coordinates. We then (than) continued down through a couple of muddy semi-keepers and came to a 20' drop with a bomb bay into a larger pool with slim to none (for us anyway) anchor opportunities. Since things weren't ringing true at this point, we decided to terminate (first time ever for me!). We ascended up and out without any big problems.

[accadacca]

Nice report. Great colors in the photos...stunning! :cool2:

[ststephen]

Thanks everyone. We noticed the potential for stuck ropes on that last drop too. We put some debris into a crack that looked hungry for rope, but I don't think it was very effective. I rapped last. Mainly we kept the pull side as far to the right LDC as possible and we were able to keep a nice smooth pull going up past the nasty rope hungry grooves. Fun rap though to end a great day. Don and Everest had repositioned our car a little closer down Dead Man's for us (Thanks Don!) but the walk wouldn't have been all that bad.