East Fork Cheesebox

[rockgremlin]

Who: Justin (Rockgremlin), Dan and Tom.

When: Saturday August 26

Weather: Partly cloudy in the morning, thundershowers by noon, mostly sunny in the afternoon, temps in the mid to high 80s.

Bugs: A few mosquitos at night.

Water: Cheesebox is STILL VERY WET right now!!!! Water is mostly clean, with hardly any plant matter. There was a short section just after the confluence that we all stemmed over that was very thick with floating wood and debris. On the whole not bad though.

Raps: Three. The first is about 15 feet, the second is about a 40-foot walkdown, and the last rap is about 50 feet.

We had so much fun doing the west fork of Cheesebox a few weeks ago, we decided to hit the east fork over the weekend. After seeing both, I would have to say that the east fork definitely packs a harder punch than the west fork. The east fork has more indian ruins, more rappels, the rappels are bigger and more interesting, and the canyon more scenic than the west fork. In fact, we were jokingly calling the west fork the "wimpy fork." The east fork is less accessible than the west fork, but it is definitely the preferred route if you have the time and the energy. If you look at maps of the area, there is a 4WD track that snakes around the headwaters of the west fork, and goes over to the east fork. We made an attempt at driving on this road, but it is currently too washed out, and rugged to provide reliable access. It may be possible if you have a beat up compact truck, and you don't mind getting a bunch of scratches on your truck from the cedar trees that crowd the road. But even then, it is very slow going, and a huge hassle. Your best option is to walk over to the east fork. We walked over to the east fork, but didn't follow the road. Instead, we walked down into the west fork headwaters, and climbed back out the other side, going more or less in a straight line as the crow flies. As we did so, we encountered a whole bunch of really cool indian pottery flakes. Tom found a handle from some kind of mug.

At about noon, we dropped into east fork, and were VERY concerned about a very large storm cell that had settled in just next canyon over (Hideout Canyon), and was thundering and lightning up a pretty good storm. We decided to play it by ear, locating the high ground at every step and proceed. Fortunately, the storm cell didn't make it over to the east fork headwaters. Good thing we didn't plan to do Hideout Canyon that day!

From start to the exit (half-way down the main Cheesebox canyon, next to the "2nd narrows") took us about 6.5 hours.

Here's a few pics:

[utidcapaco]

Thanks for the good TR & pictures.

So, given the choice, it sounds like you'd choose the East Fork over the West? I'll be down there next weekend and must make a decision. . .

[ajroadtrips]

I'm headed there next weekend as well. Would you recommend a wetsuit, or were you guys toasty without?

[rockgremlin]

I definitely would choose east fork over the west fork. More stuff, bigger stuff, less popular. The only disadvantage is that the approach hike is much longer. But even then, we didn't mind the approach hike because there were pottery fragments and other indian stuff scattered everywhere between the east and west forks.

The water was cold, but we never got chilled, even though the temperatures never got hotter than the high 80s. When I did the west fork a few weeks ago, I had a 3mm farmer john, and it didn't help at all.

I get cold very easily, but I was just fine without neoprene.

[rockgremlin]

Another thing with the cold water issue....there is a nice sunny dry spot at the confluence. In case you get chilled you can warm up there. Just below the confluence there are a few more short sections with deep water, but you can stem over most of them.

[Iceaxe]

NICE!!!

Looks like I need to make anther trip

You need to do Gravel next. It has some nice ruins also.

[hike2kolob]

Very nice! Thanks for the TR.

[Sombeech]

What the...... Isn't that a Mormon Cricket?

[snatch]

congrats on finding the ruins. you should name them something "cheesey."

[rockgremlin]

I think that bug is called a Jerusalem Cricket. If it were a Mormon Cricket, it would have seagulls chasing after it.


I hereby deem that ruin -- "Green Bay dirthouse #1"

There were actually two ruins there, but only one made it into the picture. The other one will be called "Green Bay dirthouse #2"