808CANYONS White Rock Canyon Maui - Fatality

So on Jan 26 2015 our original plan was to run Middle Earth Canyon. However it was raining quite heavy for a couple of days in that area. The gauges were reading about 50cfs. It was coming down from about 200cfs. Normal flow is usually around 8cfs.

So for that reason, 3 of us headed to White Rock Canyon. The canyon that is impossible to predict whether there will, or will not be any flow. This created quite a bitch session just from myself alone. That approach hike you gain about 1100ft within .6 miles. Having not gone out in months made me into more of a fatass than ever.

We went through our approach as slow as possible. That dirt is super soft, crumbly, and not to mention lots of leaves that cause you to slide back a few feet, after every other step. This makes it even less rewarding if there is no water flowing in
there.

So to my expectations, the canyon was VERY dry. Even on normal days, it would have about 10x's the flow of this.. which still isn't much.
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It was kind of disappointing for me and my buddy Mike. However our other team mate was from Utah. He actually was enjoying himself quite a bit. To be honest, he was ruining our misery.
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We got more than halfway through the canyon with this drop. I was debating on ruining his happiness by throwing this rope bag on him. He kept saying how our "dry miserable canyon" still exceeds a lot of the good canyons that he ran back in Utah. I needed to end this.
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As we continued our journey into the coolest part of the canyon, I heard what sounded like children playing. I figured it was goats. Turns out they were goats. They were on both sides of the canyon trying to escape. The ones on the right escaped on their 5.11 trail without an issue.

Ok I give up trying to retype this thing out for now. I had the most awesome story ever, but somehow I got logged out, and lost 3/4 of it. I tried to restore it, but only made it up the goats. I'm done for tonight.

TO BE CONTINUED!!

!!!???
good 'cliff-hanger'....

.....The goats on the left were also in a panic. They didn't have an escape route as it was an overhang and very crumbly. In fear, the tucked themselves into a mini-cave. Mike and I took a very small break to do a down climb in front of us. The goats saw us pause, ran down and across the canyon and escaped on their path on canyon right. We were a bit jealous of their skills.

However down just a little further, on a ledge that was about 10ft off the ground; there was another trying to jump on a ledge about another 10 ft above its head to escape. It would jump, then fall. Jump then fall. I thought it would for sure find a way out. But it turns out it wasn't a goat. It was Bambee. This deer was in a major freak-out-panic. After a few more jumps, it fell onto the canyon floor. From there it ran across to the other side and up some ginger.
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This pic shows the ginger up on canyon left. This wasn't the same day, but it gives you a perspective on what this part of the trip looked like.

From here, the deer kept running up higher and higher in hopes of trying to escape from us intruders. Mike and I waited a little to see if it would calm down for a few. The deer took a breather and held still in the ginger. At this moment Ben was behind us, down climbing a small 10ft drop. So we decided it was time to move forward. Within a few steps, the deer began to jump and panic again. It kept going higher into the ginger, looking for a ledge to jump on. With every jump, it would slide right back down the leaves.

After realizing how futile it was to run up, the deer decided on its final slide down, that it was going to become like Santa's reindeer. It reached the edge of the cliff and gave one final prance. For me, time froze. I can still see the deer's silhouette in the foreground of the canyon. Here tears began to fill my eyes. The deer had no more panic as gravity took over. No flailing legs. No twisting around. Just its one final prance/pose in mid-air. The image is now burned into my mind forever.

As the deer dropped and disappeared from our sights, all we hear is a "smack/thud". The tears flow even more, as I am about to fall over laughing. Mike goes ahead and says he will check to see if the deer is still alive.
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My heart dropped as mike says that the deer is still alive. After belly laughing so much, I genuinely felt bad for this creature. Wondering how are we going to put it out of its misery. Mike then picks up the deer and realizes it was just getting the last few twitches out. He yells back at me, "Nevermind, its dead"
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There the belly laughing resumes. Mike then pulls his knife out, and starts skinning the deer. He reminded me that he used to be a butcher. So he volunteered to salvage whatever meat he could.Attachment 77579

From here the canyon God's had me witness my first fatality in a canyon. It was also a blessing from which provided us fresh, organic deer meat. Mike also benefited by chopping its head, and taking the hide. He wrapped the meat and head with said hide. He has become such a great team mate. I on the other hand was rendered useless, as I was still laughing hysterically.

We finished the canyon a couple drops later. We packed up, and headed back home. Although the conditions of the canyon weren't the best, the suicidal deer made it one of the best canyoneering experiences in my life....

But that doesn't end our trip. Mike's girlfriend came to pick up Mike somewhere on the way back. Here we told the story to her. She was quite upset and basically was scolding us for "killing the deer". She didn't want any of that going home with her as she felt the deer suffered because of us. Mike reassured her be saying, "Oh it didn't suffer when it fell. A bunch of its ribs were broken and a few other bones as well. It died on impact". Of course this didn't go so well with her. However it did restart my belly laughing.

In the end, Mike managed to convince her that it was ok. He thew it in a garbage bag and she agreed to have it live in the freezer. Being a gift from the canyon Gods, we agreed that we would consume the "Maui Mountain Oysters" together as a sign of our friendship.

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It feels good to finally be back in them canyons again. Hope you enjoyed the story!

Ren

Epic

[emoji106]

Hahaha. Wow! Are deer really that stupid to jump? I knew they were stupid when it came to headlights...but not jumping from unknown heights. Apparently so.

Thanks Ren for sharing!

HAHAHAHA, Mike would do that!!



Now i see where the term "oh deer" comes from :roflol:

That was the worse trip report I have ever read. And now it is showing up on Facebook as a link to check out. Not the kind of story I would want to share with friends.