Trip Report U-Turn Saturday April 25, 2009

Of all of the Park Avenue short canyons in Arches NP, this one is my favorite.
There are rappels (the first 3 can be down climbed), incredible views of the surrounding landscape and cool spires and hoodoos scattered along the ledges of the canyon. Thanks to Climb-Utah.com for the beta.
The rain held off long enough Saturday morning to let us get up and down this little gem. This was a great canyon to do given the impending storm. The crack entrance climb is the same as TierDrop. The wind got stronger as we approached the top. There is a section past the dome at the top that is a little exposed and with the wind it became a tad more extreme in the crossing. The second rappel station has 4 chopped bolt holes in succession and each one looking older than the next.
The last rappel is off some webbing and descends a crack down to a drainage that flows back to the Park Avenue TH. Very nice canyon and a great way to spend 3 hours in Arches.