How rain has affected approaches in E Utah?

Hey all,

I'm going out this weekend to do some canyons. The original plan was to drive to Hidden Splendor and do Quandary Direct/Knotted Rope/Seger's Hole. However, with the rain I'm worried that the road to Hidden Splendor might be too much for our passenger car and FWD van. Not to mention the forecast is for cooler weather than I typically like for pothole thrashes. Can anyone comment on road conditions, either currently or take a guess at what it may look like this weekend?

My alternate plan was to go to the Leprechaun complex in North Wash, as Sandthrax camp is right off a paved road, Larry and Alcatraz, and maybe a couple of the microslots (Morocco, Hogwarts).

My second alternate is to go out to Moab and do Arches' Cameltoe, MMI, Dragonfly, Granary, etc.

Any input appreciated!

The road out to where MMI is might not be any better than any of the others... But I am in the same boat - looking for some canyons to do within the next week or two...

I camped at Hidden Splenor Friday and Saturday night and did knotted rope and quandary direct. We had a 4 wheel drive pickup and this was before the rains moved in on Sunday, but the road was in excellent shape. A car would have easily made it at that time. Not sure what the rains have done in the area. By 7pm. Sunday night it hadn't rained in that area yet, but it looked like it was moving in quickly.

I once drove out of Hidden Splendor after a night of moderate rain and I can tell you that a car would not of made it. Even with 4wd the mud in the McKay flat area was pretty nasty and provided more than a few 'oh shit' moments.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Summit

I once drove out of Hidden Splendor after a night of moderate rain and I can tell you that a car would not of made it. Even with 4wd the mud in the McKay flat area was pretty nasty and provided more than a few 'oh shit' moments.

---

The section from McKay Flat through The Red Hills is up high and shaded, so it dries out slowly. Has that foam-type mud that sometimes even 4WD does not conquer. So yeah, it would take a couple days of sunshine and dry weather to make the road passable to a passenger car.

Out to the Roost can be trouble too. That climb to Texas Hill has some of the same problems, though not as bad. Can be a surprise when coming back - watch out!!!

Tom

Thanks for all the input.

Our schedule for the day looks like:

Day 1
East Fork Leprechaun, Middle Fork Leprechaun

Day 2
Fooling Around (bypass swim) or Shenanigans (if group fits through middle Lep)

Day 3
Morocco or the Hog Springs complex

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bubbles

Thanks for all the input.

Our schedule for the day looks like:

Day 1
East Fork Leprechaun, Middle Fork Leprechaun

Day 2
Fooling Around (bypass swim) or Shenanigans (if group fits through middle Lep)

Day 3
Morocco or the Hog Springs complex

---

Yah, except...

You got wetsuits?? Without, it is going to be difficult to do almost anything, given the large amount of rain that might have fallen in the area. YES, these canyons dry out fast, but, NO, not that fast. East Lep and Shenanigans both have one non-avoidable swim-hole before the main events... maybe more.

The swim section of Foolin' Around is the best part of the canyon. Don't miss it.

The mini-slots (Morocco, Hogwarts, Merry Piglet) all have some water-holding capacity, so likely to want wetsuits. Also, Morocco is short as in 2-3 hours. The Hogs are less so, considerably harder (than middle Lep, for instance) and might be a little spooky with all the wetness (but might not have any swims). Boss Hog should be OK, getting into Hog2 might be sketchy; Hog3 I'd want best conditions for.

Slideanide, Arscenic, Constrychnine all tend to be muddy and sloppy after rain - fun if you have a wetsuit, not so fun without.

jus' sayin'...

Tom :moses:

Thanks, Tom.

We should all have at least 3mm fulls. A couple of our group has to beg borrow or buy wet suits and since we aren't doing Quandary or Seger's I thought they could get away without spending any money. Oh well, they'll get the use out of 'em one way or another!

I just hope these canyons arent full of garbage like Imlay has been this season! :lol8:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bubbles

Thanks, Tom.

We should all have at least 3mm fulls. A couple of our group has to beg borrow or buy wet suits and since we aren't doing Quandary or Seger's I thought they could get away without spending any money. Oh well, they'll get the use out of 'em one way or another!

I just hope these canyons arent full of garbage like Imlay has been this season! :lol8:

---

Wait.....

(FLUSH)

All clean now!!!

Tom

for what its worth...
I just talked to my buddy last night after he has spent 24 hours the swell confined to the paved roads around goblin valley. LWHC road was washed out and anything that was not paved is was not drivable in his tricked out toy. They moved down the road to Capitol Reef and witnessed a seriously swollen Fremont, 1.5' deep puddles on 24, and hundreds of waterfalls pouring off the cliffs along the main drag in Capitol Reef.
cant wait to see the photos :haha:

Sounds about right...Looks like if we really want to do Foolin' Around or Shenanigans this weekend we may have to slog up from Sandthrax camp.

I'm heading to the Swell tomorrow morning so I will be able to report back on Sunday on road conditions. If it's possible I will be visiting Hidden Splendor, Tomsich Butte and some other areas. Hopefully its not like my last trip report about road conditions in the swell. :crazy:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ibenick

I'm heading to the Swell tomorrow morning so I will be able to report back on Sunday on road conditions. If it's possible I will be visiting Hidden Splendor, Tomsich Butte and some other areas. Hopefully its not like my last trip report about road conditions in the swell. :crazy:

---

Do you want my phone number in case you need to be recovered again ;)

:lol8:

The Factory Butte road into Cable is impassable. Also the road in the North Wash to Bingo, Benighn, Sawtooth, etc past the Angel Trail is impassable. We camped anyway until this afternoon hoping that things would dry out but there was so much dew that things never did improve. We were driving a lifted Jeep wrangler. The mud just cakes up on the tires and halts everything. :eek2: We ran into some 4x4 ers that were just out to drive and they were also unable to make the route to Cable.

I took the San Rafael Desert Road from Green River all the way through to 24 just south of the Goblin Valley Road. The majority of it was in good condition considering all the rain, the washes had torn through the road in a lot of places but very easy in a HCV. There was a lot of water on the north end, huge lakes all over. South of the Keg Knoll Road it got a little crazy as the road itself had obviously been flowing hard but still totally doable, just slower. From there we went into the Swell past Temple Mountain and down into Red's Canyon. The graded roads were fine, just a lot of those sneaky mini-washouts that sneak up on you if you're going too fast. I took the 'road' down Red's almost to Tomsich Butte but ran into an impassable mud hole. There was a spot 4-wheelers could make it through but the width of a truck would almost definitely equal some nasty stuckage in the mud and standing water. Some others would probably give it a go but after my experience a couple of weeks ago I opted to turn around. Driving in the wash down there was surprisingly not bad despite it still being quite wet.

Do you guys think most of these roads will be dried out by this weekend?

I think most of the moisture will be gone but there is still a lot of road damage that they need to get in and fix

The mud hole that turned me away in Red's Canyon near Tomsich Butte on Sunday.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/...2a1e2c2f_b.jpg

95 was fine, Sandthrax camp not flooded out, but about 2' of hail in the wash. Perfect for cooling our beer! :mrgreen:

East Lep had lots of full potholes, but we were able to avoid getting wet until just above the last rappel into Belfast Boulevard. Mandatory swim in BB, about 100' and cold. Wet suits not needed. Went up Middle Lep to West Lep junction - was able to avoid all water.

Morocco had flowing water up through the arch rappel, several mandatory wades and swims. Wet suits not needed but cold. All the webbing was trashed or washed out.

Bubbles, was that last weekend? I am thinking about the Irish complex this weekend but have a partner who's skeerd to get wet....:cry1:Thinking things should be dry by now...

They certainly wont be dry by now. This weekend there will certainly be less stemming if the weather holds out, but I'd imagine you should expect to have to do a bit of wading and be surprised if you stay completely dry. Shouldn't be much of an issue though.

I think I have changed my mind about my plans for this weekend about 100 times. Anyone make it out to the Roost last weekend? I would be interested to know about the road conditions there. I want to hit Larry, and we will be in a Tacoma so if the roads have dried out I dont anticipate to much of a problem getting there...