Capital Reef: Which wash to choose?

Hello, great to see a forum like this and getting outdoors people together. I have grown up in Utah and have hiked/camped all over Utah. My love is for Southern Utah Hiking/Canyoneering, especially in slot canyons.

I have visited in part two washes in Capital Reef: The burro and Cottonwood. I have partly hiked both of them twice. I know there is five mile and sheet washes a little more south. We are planning a trip for this weekend and would like to do one of these washes. However, I will be taking my little girl (16 months) along. My questions are: how deep are the pools at this time of year? I know in early March they are deep and very cold (that was the first time we went). I know that Burro, in the summer, doesn't have any pools that are "necessary" to wade/swim through and that Cottonwood has one that you have to wade/swim through. I don't mind taking my little girl through a pool just as long as I can wade through. Would a wet suit be necessary for these pools? Which of these canyons are the most enjoyable (variety of the slot, photogenic, interesting). I can tell the sheet canyon is much longer then the other two, but if you hiked through to the other side, how long is the "jeep trial" to the road once you come out of the slot? I prefer the cool breeze and variety of the slot then the hot dusty road. :wink:

Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated.

Burro Wash sucks! The reason I say this is that the car shuttle on that jeep road is very long, and very bumpy. You don't need to car shuttle - you could just hike the rim of Burro Wash from the bottom, and drop in from the top, but still I don't feel its worth it for what you get. Burro Wash is relatively uninteresting. I wouldn't carry a 16 month through that thing either. There were several spots that required some tricky downclimbing, and the good stuff is at the end of the canyon - a relatively long rappel. With a 16 monther in tow you would have to be very careful at every drop and downclimb, which would lengthen an already long day.

I haven't done Cottonwood Wash.

Just my $0.02.....

I assume you will be hiking up from the bottom?

If so I would rank the canyons

1. Cottonwood, usually has at least one 20 yard swim.

2. Sheets, a little wading, my kids favorite canyon.

3. Burro, a little wading

4. Five Mile, deep wading, climbing, possible swimming. The walk around to get started up canyon is tricky.

But if you haven't done it yet the canyon you really want in Capitol Reef is Sulpher Creek.

http://climb-utah.com/Capitol/sulphur.htm

And now lets discuss the whinning about the Burro Car shuttle? It's no longer then the Mystery, Birch, Orderville, Englestead shuttle and its shorter then the Narrows shuttle...... so why all the whinning?

:popcorn:

Thanks for the advice guys. Yeah, to be honest, I have never really used ropes or repelling in canyoneering. I would love to learn, just never had the oppurtunity. I usually do a lot of hiking with some bouldering. So, yeah, I usually hike from the bottom. :roll:

Sulfer Creek looks cool, kind of like the Capital Reef's version of the Zion's Subway. Which everyone in my group loved. However, Sheets looks cool too.