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Thread: Buckskin Gulch Trip Report - Conditions of 6-17-06

  1. #1

    Buckskin Gulch Trip Report - Conditions of 6-17-06

    Date of hike: 6.19.06

    Time: Left Wire Pass sign in register at 7:10 am and arrived White House Trail head at 6:30 pm. We were out for a good time and good pictures and we rested for 45 minutes at lunch (at the "camp-rest" site of the maples and oaks a mile or so below the Boulder Dam.

    Temperatures: 57 F Start. Most of the day was in the low-mid 70's in shade. The last 4+ miles at 91 F full sun.

    Pools: Approximately 30+ pools before the Boulder Jam. Depths ranged from inches to 4'. Most of the pools were thigh high. Relatively benign muddy water to very muddy somewhat stagnant (insert odoriferous) water.
    Water Temp in the Pools: Cool water to definite Shrink Water. But it always kept you Cool and helps prevent swelling of muscles, tendons and joints.

    Boulder Jam: The Boulder Jam is completely sanded/silted to the top. There are various ropes (approximately 6) down two routes. The ropes are of varied reliability, good to dubious. I would not want to rappel down any of them but the 25' hand over hand down climb using multiple strands was safe enough without my having to break out my own rope.

    The Springs: The springs below the Boulder Dam were flowing and allowed for water pumping. It is my understanding that sometimes these dry up in late summer.

    Experience: Family and friends age 15 to 54 of varying experience (experienced canyoneering lead with others several having good canyonering and climbing experience; but we also had 4 novices to slot hiking. The group included 5 women: Ages 52, two in their 40's and two in their mid 20's. Hiked Wire Pass to White House Trail head in 11 hours and 20 minutes. All carried 4 Liters minimum of water and we had water pumps. Some pumped water from the Spring water flow below the Boulder Jam as a safety precaution, but did not use the pumped water. Some hikers ended the trip with none of their own water. Few people ended the trip with more than a pint of their original carried water, and only two ended with a quart of their original water. Some of the more experienced hikers shared their carried original water with others. Most of the water was consumed in the final 7 miles. All in all it was a great but long day of truly excellent scenery, though the final 4 miles dragged.
    We chose not to camp in the canyon and to do the trip in one day, and I am glad we chose to do the trip in one day. However, I can understand why others may chose to camp out in the canyon, and make the trip a two day experience.

    NOTE: We purposely chose to do this one day hike on one of the longest days of the year to maximize sunlight hours for the long day. I would not want to do the trip in one day when daylight hours or shorter as there would be little room for error.

    Note 2: We checked both the Bryce Canyon (headwaters of the Paria River) and Kanab weather conditions on http://www.wunderground.com for the two days before the hike and the morning of the hike. Weather predictions were for 0% precipitation probability both the day before and the day of the hike. I canceled the same trip the previous year due to unacceptably high precip forecasts - and we discovered that some flash flooding had indeed occurred on the canceled day of the proposed hike.

    Note 3: We met two relatively novice type mid-early 20's male hikers from Oklahoma at approximately 10 miles in (1.5-2.0 miles before the Boulder Jam) at approximately 1 pm who had intended to go to the confluence and back in a day. Their water was already half used. I strongly urged them to turn back for their own safely. Luckily they did. I saw them in Kanab that evening and they were thankful that they had turned back.

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  3. #2
    Awesome write-up!! Very informative, thank you very much!

    Our TR index was badly in need of this!
    It's only "science" if it supports the narrative.

  4. #3
    Nice TR.... Thanks for posting it.

    If I had to rate one canyon as my favorite slot it would be the Buckskin Gulch. I love that canyon.



    Buckskin Route info
    http://climb-utah.com/Escalante/buckskin.htm


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