Bluff-Canyoneer
06-16-2013, 12:07 PM
Despite daytime temps is the mid 90s in Bluff, my new friend and canyoneering partner, Josh, and I decided to head out to Cheesebox Canyon and give it a try. Josh is, like me, relatively new to canyoneering, but is a very experienced climber who can climb 5.12 cracks at Indian Creek. He is a strong partner with good technical skills.
We left Bluff at 5:00 am and drove to top end of Cheesebox where we left our packs. We drove back down to the exit and left my car, with a few cold beers in the cooler. That meant a three mile hike back to the entry, but it went quickly in the cool morning air with no packs to haul.
We followed the beta from http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/images/stories/PDFs/CedarMesa/Cheesebox.pdf and http://climb-utah.com/CM/cheesebox.htm.
The water levels were low relative to the last time I was here when I hiked in a side approach with my wife for a non-technical look around.
Two things stood out:
1) We never got hot, since we were mostly in the shade or swimming in cold water. As long as you don't have a long hike in open sun, its not too late in the season for this area. We were glad to do the three miles road hike early in the day.
2) We did not encounter a single gnat, despite vicious attacks just a week earlier in Bluff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6fvmZJGCzE
67088
We left Bluff at 5:00 am and drove to top end of Cheesebox where we left our packs. We drove back down to the exit and left my car, with a few cold beers in the cooler. That meant a three mile hike back to the entry, but it went quickly in the cool morning air with no packs to haul.
We followed the beta from http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/images/stories/PDFs/CedarMesa/Cheesebox.pdf and http://climb-utah.com/CM/cheesebox.htm.
The water levels were low relative to the last time I was here when I hiked in a side approach with my wife for a non-technical look around.
Two things stood out:
1) We never got hot, since we were mostly in the shade or swimming in cold water. As long as you don't have a long hike in open sun, its not too late in the season for this area. We were glad to do the three miles road hike early in the day.
2) We did not encounter a single gnat, despite vicious attacks just a week earlier in Bluff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6fvmZJGCzE
67088