Looking for canyon suggestions

Three buddies and I are going to be heading out somewere (tbd) in 2 weeks and are looking for a couple outstanding canyons to do over the weekend.

The hardest and funnest canyon we've done is The Squeeze, last year, with medium water levels. It was WELL within our abilities and not once would I have considered it hard. A few others we've just recently done are Birch, Pine Creek, Spry, Yankee Doodle, and Boltergeist (we were introducing some friends to the sport.)

Hoping for something with a lot of water (I know, water levels are low everywhere so this is a tough one) that will require wetsuits, but any must-dos are acceptable as well :) Somewhere within 6-7 hours of SLC. Any suggestions would be great, I'm still trying to learn the best time of year to hit up places...

My crew is doing Fat man's Misery on the 10th if ya wanna cruz with. :2thumbs:

If you like water..... BLACK HOLE..... nothing else like it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by optikal

Three buddies and I are going to be heading out somewere (tbd) in 2 weeks and are looking for a couple outstanding canyons to do over the weekend.

The hardest and funnest canyon we've done is The Squeeze, last year, with medium water levels. It was WELL within our abilities and never once would I have considered it hard. A few others we've just recently done are Birch, Pine Creek, Spry, Yankee Doodle, and Boltergeist (we were introducing some friends to the sport.)

Hoping for something with a lot of water (I know, water levels are low everywhere so this is a tough one) that will require wetsuits, but any must-dos are acceptable as well :) Somewhere within 6-7 hours of SLC. Any suggestions would be great, I'm still trying to learn the best time of year to hit up places...

---

Sounds like you might be up for some of the big boys in Zion. I'd start with Boundary (out MIA), then think about Imlay. People are also doing Kolob, as the Kolob Reservoir is not as full as it usually is this time of year.

Zion is a good place to beat the heat, when it is hot everywhere else in the state, and especially now that it is also DRY everywhere else as well.

Tom

I agree with Tom. Boundary and Kolob are both kickawesome. Imlay is also high on my list, though I haven't done it yet.

+2 for Zion. Imlay and Right Fork are on our schedule this summer and I'm stoked!

I also vote for black hole, it would be an awesome first canyon. If you want to do more in the same day the hogspring stop has a few quick ones...

plane ride to Maui. Tons of water all year

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cr8on

I also vote for black hole, it would be an awesome first canyon. If you want to do more in the same day the hogspring stop has a few quick ones...

---

Fry Canyon is the normal combo-platter with the Black Hole. Last Time I did a combo plater with the Black Hole we combined it with Cresent Creek, which is a good choice as Cresent Creek has a year round stream so you have water to cool off in.

So looks like we're going to head out to North Wash for this trip. Since Tom says Zion is a great place to beat the heat, I figure it can wait and we'll hit it a little later in the season when we really need to escape the heat.

After digging around, we plan on leaving Thursday night and returning Sunday and have picked the following canyons:

Constrychnine, Slideanide, Arscenic, Leprechaun, Blarney, Shillelagh, and Lucky Charms

Any feedback?

I read on Tom's site that he combined Constrychnine and Slideanide in the same day. To do this would you exit Constrychnine the normal route, loop back around to the top of Slideanide and drop in, or is there a shorter exit outside of Constrychnine to get to the top of Slideanide?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deathcricket

My crew is doing Fat man's Misery on the 10th if ya wanna cruz with. :2thumbs:

---

If we were still headed to Zion I'd take you up on that. It'd be nice to tag along and meet some Bogleyites

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iceaxe

If you like water..... BLACK HOLE..... nothing else like it.

---

Definitely want to do Black Hole at some point soon. We're going to keep an eye on the weather and go hit it after it fills up with some water, seems like it is like every other wet canyon and has below average water.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ratagonia

Sounds like you might be up for some of the big boys in Zion. I'd start with Boundary (out MIA), then think about Imlay. People are also doing Kolob, as the Kolob Reservoir is not as full as it usually is this time of year.

---

Awesome! I've been looking forward to the day when I could consider Kolob and Imlay, it's nice to know it is just around the corner :) Definitely eyeing Kolob now, thanks for the input.

Quote:

---

So looks like we're going to head out to North Wash for this trip.

Any feedback?

---

Yes. North Wash is usually a poor choice this time of year. You may still have fun, but it would be the #1 place to avoid canyoneering in Utah at this time of year. I'd stick to the suggestions above.

Forecast right now is for 100+ in a few days:


http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...d2=-110.39&e=0

Probably bugs too.

Close to North Wash, White Canyon (Gravel, Long, Fry, Cheesbox and Short) should be OK. Crescent Creek too. Several canyons in Escalante and Zion would be good places to be with the current forecast.

Quote:

---

Definitely want to do Black Hole at some point soon. We're going to keep an eye on the weather and go hit it after it fills up with some water, seems like it is like every other wet canyon and has below average water.

---

There is plenty of water in the Black Hole.

We did Constrychnine and Slideanide on Monday. Trip report coming soon. You can exit in a couple of different places. We bailed right at the spot where the two canyons come together. I have our route on my phone and could try to get it to you if you'd like. We left the car just before 7:00 AM and were back to the car around 3:00 PM. Constrychnine was awesome, I couldn't believe the amount of down climbing in Slideanide. It was very fun, but physically demanding and tough on our clothes. Our only mistake was not taking enough water with us. After making the exit hike twice we were dehydrated and hiking through the sand and sun was not fun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scott P

Yes. North Wash is usually a poor choice this time of year. You may still have fun, but it would be the #1 place to avoid canyoneering in Utah at this time of year. I'd stick to the suggestions above.

Forecast right now is for 100+ in a few days:


http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...d2=-110.39&e=0

Probably bugs too.

Close to North Wash, White Canyon (Gravel, Long, Fry, Cheesbox and Short) should be OK. Crescent Creek too. Several canyons in Escalante and Zion would be good places to be with the current forecast.



There is plenty of water in the Black Hole.

---

I concur. North Wash way too hot right now. Likely Cedar gnats there too. If you go, the north-facing Slideanide, Constrychnine and Arscenic might be a good choice. Those are all half-day canyons. But YIKES, it would be way too hot for me!

Zion.

Tom

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scott P

Yes. North Wash is usually a poor choice this time of year. You may still have fun, but it would be the #1 place to avoid canyoneering in Utah at this time of year. I'd stick to the suggestions above.

Forecast right now is for 100+ in a few days:


http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...d2=-110.39&e=0

Probably bugs too.

Close to North Wash, White Canyon (Gravel, Long, Fry, Cheesbox and Short) should be OK. Crescent Creek too. Several canyons in Escalante and Zion would be good places to be with the current forecast.



There is plenty of water in the Black Hole.

---

Wow, that forecast jumped up almost 10 degrees since I looked a few days ago. Hrmph. 100+ does sound miserable if you're doing dry canyons with lots of downclimbing. My buddy was down there last weekend and said the bugs were not bad at all.

Thanks for your suggestions, it's much appreciated. Looks like we'll definitely come up with a plan b in case.

I originally read on Candition that Black Hole was below norm, but then I just saw Shane's TR from Memorial weekend and it looked great. Seeing as how there's not a single storm off the west coast right now, there most likely won't be any more storms between now and June 8th... do you think Black Hole will still be holding a lot of water then?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by huntinkyhl

We did Constrychnine and Slideanide on Monday. Trip report coming soon. You can exit in a couple of different places. We bailed right at the spot where the two canyons come together. I have our route on my phone and could try to get it to you if you'd like. We left the car just before 7:00 AM and were back to the car around 3:00 PM. Constrychnine was awesome, I couldn't believe the amount of down climbing in Slideanide. It was very fun, but physically demanding and tough on our clothes. Our only mistake was not taking enough water with us. After making the exit hike twice we were dehydrated and hiking through the sand and sun was not fun.

---

Thanks! No need to send me the route, I was looking at the topo and suspected the same exit you took but couldn't find a photo of it so was unsure if the terrain was possible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by optikal

do you think Black Hole will still be holding a lot of water then?.

---

Yes, the black hole should be great for at least a couple more weeks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by optikal

Wow, that forecast jumped up almost 10 degrees since I looked a few days ago. Hrmph. 100+ does sound miserable if you're doing dry canyons with lots of downclimbing. My buddy was down there last weekend and said the bugs were not bad at all.

Thanks for your suggestions, it's much appreciated. Looks like we'll definitely come up with a plan b in case.

...
Thanks! No need to send me the route, I was looking at the topo and suspected the same exit you took but couldn't find a photo of it so was unsure if the terrain was possible.

---

I think you are reading between the wrong lines.

Over there, you can MAKE DO with the Black Hole and Frye, etc. but really, it is not a good time of year to be in that part of the state. Unless you're gonna be doing stuff at night, if you want your buddies to have a good time, come on over to Zion where the canyons are deep and cool, and some even have water in them!

Tom

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ratagonia

I think you are reading between the wrong lines.

Over there, you can MAKE DO with the Black Hole and Frye, etc. but really, it is not a good time of year to be in that part of the state. Unless you're gonna be doing stuff at night, if you want your buddies to have a good time, come on over to Zion where the canyons are deep and cool, and some even have water in them!

Tom

---

Thanks for the info.

In my quest to canyoneer as much as possible I'm trying to find out when are good times to hit certain areas... mind giving me a quick break down of the popular areas and when is best to go/avoid them? Obviously things like heat play the biggest factor, and then if I recall August-September is monsoon season so you have to be a lot more careful about flash floods... I tried searching around but couldnt find a thread detailing this, if there is one feel free to just point me to it.

Start here:

http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/utah/zion

More specifically:

http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/utah/zion/technical

Have fun!!!