Bluejohn Canyon, Possible Rockfall in West Fork

[moabfool]

I did Little Bluejohn with some friends on Saturday and tried to exit up what I thought was the West Fork of Bluejohn. We got about 15-20 minutes up the canyon and ran into a massive rock fall that we would've had to scramble over if I hadn't decided to turn back and take the Main Exit. I wasn't sure we were even in the West Fork so I didn't want to proceed. One of the girls in our group had hiked out of the west fork with me in October of '03 and neither of us remember the rock fall. I've e-mailed another buddy who was on that trip and he didn't remember the rockfall either. I guess I'm wondering whether conditions have changed, or if I was just in the wrong canyon? The GPS told us we were near the mouth of the West Fork when we got back out of the slot and could get a signal, so I'm 99% sure we were in the right place. Anybody know about a massive rock fall in the West Fork of Bluejohn?

I wish I had been able to take the time to hike out to the confluence of the main and east forks so I could walk back and confirm that we were indeed at the west fork, but some members of my party had already started up the main exit and would not wait (we had some tense words at the rockfall regarding my decision to retreat from the canyon and emotions were still running high). Like I said, I'm 99% sure we were in the west fork. We'll need some fresh beta from somebody who has time to confirm the facts.

If it helps, we found a bench mark on the way out that was slightly southwest of the mouth of whatever canyon we were in (perhaps 1/4 mile). If you know how to read bench marks, this picture may help divine which canyon we were in. There were no major drainages between the canyon we went up and this bench mark.

[Iceaxe]

Did you by any chance take some pictures of the rock fall?

[moabfool]

Did you by any chance take some pictures of the rock fall?

Sadly no. I took over 800 pictures and videos that weekend, but none of the rockfall. I'm sure somebody in my group took some though. I'll check around.