The Subway Conditions Vs Past years

[canyonguru]

I put in for subway lottery just for giggles and picked up permits for next Thursday. I haven't done it in 3 years. From the looks of it and from YouTube videos the canyon has changed quite a bit. I know about the new rap station at the end but what I am most shocked about is how little water is flowing through the canyon and how full of sand everything is. I remember that after the last rap walking up the canyon and under the last waterfall. it was 20ft easy but from resent videos it looks quite short now. also looks like a lot fewer swims. like I said I haven't been in a few years but the canyon doesn't seem to be in prime shape these days.

Anyways just wanted to get any ones comments on the condition as of recent and maybe opinions of those of you who have done the canyon years ago what it looked like.

[Scott Card]

Go and see! There are still swims at the first "usual" swim spot and in the bowling ball section. The sand has filled in the pools quite a bit at the last rappel or "pool section" of the Subway proper but those were not mandatory swims in the past. Short answer, you swam in the past, you will swim in the present.

In the past, there were no logs at Keyhole Falls and there was a really cool trench. That is all filled in with sand and logs. In the past, the first mandatory swim was deeper and did not have a log in there. In the past there were two big bowling balls in the bowling ball section. Now there is only one. You used to be able to swim under the bowling ball, now, many climb over the bowling ball and ski down the log into the swimmer. You used to walk across a couple of nicely placed logs to the left of the water fall room and hand line to the pools. Now the logs are gone and you have to make a leap across the falls from above or rap from the right side of the canyon. Those are a few of the current changes from when I went my first time many years ago.