Lost and Found Canyon, Undercover

[Teak]

November 19,2014 Utah
Going to Undercover Canyon (Lost and Found Canyon) this weekend with friends. Two questions: Are there bolts at all raps, if not what is there for anchoring?, I see in the video that there is a narrow spot (s), can a large man approx 220 lbs fit thru? Thank you.

[Iceaxe]

All rappels are bolted. Being fat is not an issue. You should always carry enough webbing to make an anchor if one does not exist.

[Scott P]

There are no tight spots and all obstacles in the canyon are easy. The most difficult part of the route is the exit. It's not hard, but it can be intimidating if parts of it are covered in sand or for those afraid of heights.

[moab mark]

There's bolts at the tow strap rap?

[Iceaxe]

I believe all three drops are now bolted.

As noted the exit is the crux of the route. The actual canyon is pretty simple and straight forward.

Personally my favor part of the route is the sidewalk exit to Culvert Arch, which is betaed on Climb-Utah.com.

[moab mark]

Your right called buddy he says I'm old. Something about memory.........

[Teak]

November 19,2014 Utah
Going to Undercover Canyon (Lost and Found Canyon) this weekend with friends. Two questions: Are there bolts at all raps, if not what is there for anchoring?, I see in the video that there is a narrow spot (s), can a large man approx 220 lbs fit thru? Thank you.

Thank you everyone for the responses. They are helpful.

[Iceaxe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4bMEj7no-w

[peakbaggers]

Notice concerning the Lost Spring canyons area:
I met with some Arches NP officials last Friday who indicated the registration kiosk for that area would be going in this week. They also reported having gone in on the exit for MMI and Undercover and tried to make the exit route more evident from the wash and also did all they could to close down any alternatives. The park approved exit route is described on Climb-Utah.com. If you're on the correct exit, you should not be on any crypto soil.

[Slot Machine]

Before you go, study the exit route up the cliff face. There is some great discussion about the nuances of the cliff here:

http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?66810-Undercover-Canyon

Be sure to print Iceaxe's photo from post #17 from the thread above and take it with you. It might save you a big headache. The differences don't look like a big deal, but they are. DON'T GO THE WAY WE DID! :eek2:

Also, a little bit of snow or a little bit of ice on that exit would make it much more dangerous. Maybe impossible. Those conditions are rare, I know. Just something to keep in mind if it snows the night before your adventure.

[qedcook]

I agree with Slot Machine. There are two or three committing moves on this exit WITHOUT any ice or snow.

[skiclimb3287]

Finally got around to doing this route over Thanksgiving weekend. 7 friends (plus two babies) drove out from San Francisco. We met in Indian Creek as they are all climbers. Two of the group really wanted to try canyoneering, so my wife and I took them to Undercover the day after Thanksgiving. We all had a blast! I hope to get a trip report together soon. The point of posting here however is the discussion on the exit route. We too got screwed up and I think that new park service signs cause some confusion versus the beta. Sadly we didn't take any pics of the signs that I assume are new based on peakbaggers post. The kiosk was not yet in, but fortunately were driving past the main part of Arches so we grabbed our permit there.

All of the beta that we read (climb-utah, and the new Moab Canyoneering book) indicated to exit the wash and head up the slickrock. As soon as it steepens, head left approximately 40 yards. If you exit where the new signs indicate to exit (keeping you in the wash and then onto slickrock), you must head right 40 yards once the slickrock steepens. We initially went left and could not find any reasonable route up and out. I ended up standing on top of the ridge above the seam as we were about to resign to the long exit, and spotted cairns on the next ridge to our left. Upon heading up the correct ridge, we had no issues on the exit. After getting past the crux, I threw a rope down for my wife and the other girl along on the trip. There is a nice sandy spot with a couple boulders that you can wedge in and give a safe belay. Once they had the rope, they sped right up the crux. Very easy moves, but heady. The exposure can get to you there. We continued up, found the sidewalk, and hit covert arch right at sunset. Beautiful sunset from there!

I have always been a bit concerned about the exit, but now that I have done it, the fear is gone. Study the route, take your time, and you will have no problem.

As you can see in the image below (our GPS track is in blue), where we exited onto the slickrock (based on two signs, one indicated "Not the exit" and the other indicated "exit here"), we needed to go right, not left to find the route up the slickrock.

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What I assume is the old exit (Marked with a red arrow and the red drawn path, and is now marked with a sign as not the exit) takes you straight onto the correct ridge, and then when it steepens, you go left to hit the seam that is the key to getting through the crux.

Of course, it is also possible that we misunderstood the beta and did it to ourselves. Either way, some more good info for first timers! A couple pics (really was wishing I had carried our good camera along):

The sidewalk. Such a cool feature!
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Sunset at the rim and Covert Arch
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I think out two newbies had a blast! (you can see Covert Arch peeking out on the right side of the photo)
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[jman]

Your reply was a TR...lol. Love the pics! A great sunset indeed!

Looking forward to the full TR.

When my group did it our first time, we followed the red track that then joined up with blue track.

I haven't read Shane's beta for it for a few years now but I just remember climbing the sand dune and then going straight up until we hit the crux of the route. I thought it was pretty straight forward. The crux of the exit was not to be underestimated though.

It makes me wonder if that exit route is the "best" one? Has anyone else explored other possible exit routes? Just curious.

[Iceaxe]

The red line is about how I first did the exit. I think the park intends for you to walk up the small wash to the slickrock and exit out to the top of the red line, and than follow the blue line out.

Yes I have explored at least a dozen other exits. There is actually one that makes the escape much easier but I was asked by the park not to popularize it as it crosses a lot of sand and would create a social trail/erosion issue. The easy exit also skips the sidewalk and Covert Arch, which I consider some of the highlights of the route. Without those two items the route is mediocre at best.

FWIW- I spent a lot of time working with the park on this route and exit. Originally the park was not exactly thrilled when the route was published and large numbers of canyoneers suddenly became interested in the Lost Springs area. I get the impression they wanted to manage it more as a seldom visited wilderness area. The area now sees more visitation on a busy canyoneering weekend than it would see all year before the routes. Anyhoo... so long as we good stewards of the area canyoneering should not be an issue.