Flash flood was interesting to watch. Last Friday the folks at ZAC told us the Virgin was flowing at 689 cfs, and that's when I showed up at the back country office to get my permit for Orderville (LOL) They told me to come back in the am which was a real bummer since we wanted to do Birch/Orderville and I had a shuttle line up at 6:30am with ZAC. Long story short, there I am in line waiting at 7:00am for the permit, looking nervously at my watch. Though they gave me my permit, they told me the dirt road after Ponderosa Ranch was impassable (too much slippery mud). They were right, almost put out truck in a ditch and proceeded to walk/skate in the mud for 2.5 miles to Birch Hollow. What a mess! We did not get to start Birch until 10:30am. The approach to the 1st rap was a slippery affair with so much sticky mud. The creek did not flow though,which was a shame.
We made good time through Birch after lunch proceeded downstream through Orderville. That was our first time through Orderville, which was beautiful but very very muddy after the flash flood. Multiple log jams to go through, and a few log soup pools. We made it to the Narrows and the paved trail as darkness was really setting in. An 11 hour romp, muddy but fun. The day was not over: we still had to go fetch our car at the Ponderosa Ranch.
The next day we did Mistery. The death gully was a mud hill which made it a little bit challenging. We had to resort to hang to any twig we could find.
Mistery was beautiful. First time in there. The last 2 raps were just unreal.
Before heading back to San Diego, we did a quick trip through Keyhole. It was full of water but the water was much warmer then when we did it in June. Wet suits were still welcomed!
For 4 out of the 5 guys I went with, it was their first canyoneering trip. They are hooked now!
The most dangerous part of the trip: driving through the Riverside traffic!
