3/24/18 - Mystery Canyon

This won’t be a full blown report as this is being typed from my phone but wanted to give a current conditions.

The drive to the Observation Point/East Rim trailhead is NOT driveable in a small sedan currently.

However, you *can* drive on it until the last 3/4 mile from the Observation point trailhead in a small sedan.

So much mud!! deep ruts! Maybe 8-12” deep. Even when it dries out in the upcoming weeks, those ruts will remain.

A high-clearance vehicle will make just fine though.
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The East Rim trail is muddy, but it doesn’t cake on your shoes. So it’s not an issue.

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From a report over at CC, someone reported a foot of snow last week in Death Gulley. Definitely not the case! We ran into a few spots where the was maybe 3 or 4”, but it was in spots. For the most part it was dry with a few sections of damp trail. Near the bottom of death gully, there was spots were it was muddy, so please watch your footing.

The trail from the bottom up until the first rap was dry. No problem there.

About 20ft from the 1st rap however, there is some flowage there! Garden hose, if that, but was definitely a new experience. This was my 7th time and I have not seen in flow. I have done Mystery in March maybe 3 times in the past, and have never seen it with any flow. Not anything to head to the canyon for right now, but still neat.

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All of the rappels has ankle to knee-deep water.

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Btw, nice quick-link. We tried to remove it but didn’t have a wrench. If anyone goes through soon - please remove it.

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As you can tell we are wearing wetsuits. It wasn’t quite necessary until we hit the lake. And I’m glad we had ‘em! I was thinking due to snow conditions, lack of rain down there, etc. that the lake would be gone or at least quite low. Last year in June when I last went, it was not there.

For most people it was more than chest deep. For shorter people, it was a full swim. And it was cold!!

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The remaining canyon was the same from last year, a swimmer at Mystery Springs, followed by the swimmer at the downclimb in between until the last rap.

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“Hands-up! Don’t shoot!!”

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No traveling upstream but down-streamers, like is, were apparently okay....hopefully.... *crossing-fingers*
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EDIT: We also lost TWO pairs of Oakleys somewhere in the rock narrows. One has a white frame and the other has a black frame. If found, please contact me here!

Great TR. Is that a pair of 5-finger Vibrams I saw there?

Which one of these guys is you?

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Originally Posted by rockgremlin

Great TR. Is that a pair of 5-finger Vibrams I saw there?

Which one of these guys is you?

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Thanks!

Yes sir. One guy brought em. He really likes them apparently.

I’m not pictured in them. I’m always the photographer apparently and no one takes one of me [emoji20]

Trip leader, anchor setter-upper, rope hauler, rope retriever guy, photographer, videographer, permit holder, driver, trip-report guy, first-aid guy...

Hmm....what it really sounds like is that should I set up my own guided service!


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One more thing....

Myself and my friend lost our Oakley sunglasses. One has a white frame and the other has a black frame.

Dumb us took off our glasses in the rock narrows and clipped them onto our shirts and come to find out that they fell off somewhere between rap 2 to rap 5 when we were downclimbing. If found, please contact me here!

Thanks!!!

Right on jman...I'm seething with jealousy. Water in the upper section, eh? I've never seen that either, but never went in this early. Funny how the lake comes and goes. I love Mystery, it's like a favorite at the amusement park.

Good luck with the glasses. Whenever I find them, especially if they're nice ones, it's "finders keepers". If I found these however, my policy would be different...unless they were rimless Serengeti's, of course. I'm a bit of a sunglass whore and those things cost around $250. Can't help myself.

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Originally Posted by jman

I’m not pictured in them. I’m always the photographer apparently and no one takes one of me [emoji20]

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Only a few understand.

We (6 people) did Mystery on Monday 4/2 with much less water. The lake was around thigh deep, the only place we had to swim was the last swim hole, and it wasn't that bad.

Water was cold, we had dry suite pants... glad we did, but didn't get very wet until the very end, We all stayed warm & dry, overall water was about as low as I have ever seen it.... Great Canyon!! :nod:

Thanks for the trip report!!

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Originally Posted by BlakeC

We (6 people) did Mystery on Monday 4/2 with much less water. The lake was around thigh deep, the only place we had to swim was the last swim hole, and it wasn't that bad.

Water was cold, we had dry suite pants... glad we did, but didn't get very wet until the very end, We all stayed warm & dry, overall water was about as low as I have ever seen it.... Great Canyon!! :nod:

Thanks for the trip report!!

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Thanks for the followup!

I didn’t think Mystery lake would dry up that fast? It was at our necks and literally 7 days later it was at your thighs...

You didn’t see any Oakley sunglasses in the rock narrows by chance did you? [emoji24][emoji24]

I’m going again two weeks from today for round two!

Btw, did you take the Observation point road? If so, how were those mud ruts?


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We didn’t see any Oakley’s. But there was a few groups the days before us and we heard another group behind us.. sorry

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This was the devils slide lake on Monday April 2nd

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This was the bottom of mystery Falls (at least I think those are the names [emoji3])




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We were also able to drive all the way to the east Mesa trailhead... there were 2 muddy spots, but not that bad... crazy how full it was when you went... It sounds like other canyons are pretty full.


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