rockgremlin
06-13-2018, 10:08 AM
Went down last week (6/7) and knocked out the Neon/Choprock combo. We arrived at Fence Canyon at around 9:00pm, and there wasn't one single open camp spot. We ended up sleeping practically in somebody else's camp site -- we rolled the tents and bags out literally 20 feet from some other couple. The next morning, we got up fairly early and had Neon knocked out before noon. There are a LOT of day hikers flocking to the Golden Cathedral these days - older folks with dogs, scout troops, teenagers with dates, trendy hipsters looking for that one great photo to post to their Facebook page, etc, etc, etc. On the hike into Fence on Thursday evening, we passed a youth group of 19 teenage kids who had spent the day hiking through Neon, rappels and all. Can you imagine getting stuck behind a youth group of 25 people in the middle of Neon Canyon? What a clusterfluffle!! It's kind of sad to see Neon so Disneyfied these days.
Ironically, after Thursday being so crowded at Fence, we expected the throbbing masses to descend on Fence over the remainder of the weekend. But that never happened. Most of the masses cleared out, and we had the best spot to ourselves for the remainder of the trip.
The bugs turned out not really being a problem. The mosquitoes came out at night, and the horse flies will chase any exposed legs they see through the Escalante river corridor, but aside from that it wasn't a problem. Didn't see any Cedar gnats.
The youth group informed us that the water levels in Neon were very low - only knee deep at the deepest. With that knowledge, we left the wetsuits back at camp. Enjoy the pics!
(I have no idea why some of these pics uploaded sideways -- sorry about that!)
Pictographs on the way
89775
Escalante was running clear - great for pumping
89776
The Drop in
89777
The first keeper was dry
89778
89779
The second keeper was also dry - and filled with sand
89780
89793
89781
89782
The final rappel
89784
89785
89786
89787
89794
89788
Poison Ivy was everywhere
89789
We played around the rest of the day
89790
89791
89792
Choprock TR coming soon!!!
Ironically, after Thursday being so crowded at Fence, we expected the throbbing masses to descend on Fence over the remainder of the weekend. But that never happened. Most of the masses cleared out, and we had the best spot to ourselves for the remainder of the trip.
The bugs turned out not really being a problem. The mosquitoes came out at night, and the horse flies will chase any exposed legs they see through the Escalante river corridor, but aside from that it wasn't a problem. Didn't see any Cedar gnats.
The youth group informed us that the water levels in Neon were very low - only knee deep at the deepest. With that knowledge, we left the wetsuits back at camp. Enjoy the pics!
(I have no idea why some of these pics uploaded sideways -- sorry about that!)
Pictographs on the way
89775
Escalante was running clear - great for pumping
89776
The Drop in
89777
The first keeper was dry
89778
89779
The second keeper was also dry - and filled with sand
89780
89793
89781
89782
The final rappel
89784
89785
89786
89787
89794
89788
Poison Ivy was everywhere
89789
We played around the rest of the day
89790
89791
89792
Choprock TR coming soon!!!