20061027 North Wash Canyons TR

[AJ]

Photos:
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(Link Good for 90 Days)



Friday 10/27:

We were planning on heading out to do some canyoneering. Tom was having another Fest in the North Wash area, which is where we were planning on heading as well. North Wash is a popular canyoneering spot for the late fall, winter and early spring as there are some canyons that are pretty dry. We decided to hook up with Tom's group for one of the days, for two of the Poison Springs canyons with Cristina and Greg. We would then do a few of the wetter canyons on Sunday. unfortunately, I had to be back on Monday 10/30 to pick up ski passes for a bunch of people, so it was going to be a short weekend of canyoneering. I was getting a deal from work on the ski passes, and could only get them on that day. Monday was my birthday as well, so kind of a bummer I couldn't stay out canyoneering longer; but planned a birthday party with my friends in the Denver area that night. But that is the next trip report. ;)

Jonas and I met up around 2:30pm, packed the car, headed over and picked up Ben, and then headed out. We got out there after dark (around 10pm), set up camp, and got some sleep.


Saturday 10/28:

Woke up around 8am, had a quick breakfast (Subway of course) and found Cristina and Greg. We asked around to see if anyone else wanted to join us. Nope. We were planning on doing two of the Poison Springs canyons, but might try to add a third if we had time. Each canyon is estimated to take 5 or 6 hours, but we had a pretty strong team. We could definitely hit two. Ben, Jonas and I would definitely like to try to hit three. We'll see what time it is after one or two of them and evaluate then. It's nice to be back at camp relatively early too (days are short) so we can visit with the other canyoneers.

We drove two cars out, and dropped into Slideanide around 10:30am. Slideanide was a really fun canyon (http://www.climb-utah.com/Powell/slideanide.htm). Lots of fun downclimbs, some tight sections, and we ran into a bit of water too. Possibly remnants from the big storm earlier in the month. (http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3719) Nothing too big or deep though. It was a tighter canyon, so we could stem over a lot of it. There were a few spots, up to chest deep. Easily done with a 3/2 farmer john. Cristina had a thicker suit as she is a sun gal. There was a lot of muddy spots too. We hit the end of the technical section just before noon. This canyon ended with an awesome dark twisty rappel through a slot. Very cool stuff. Had to stage the rappel, as the rope pull would have been very difficult. Greg downclimbed the last section with a spot from us below.

We then started towards a shortcut that Greg knew about. On the way, I saw another spot that looked like it went too, so I told the group I was going to explore it, that I would catch up if it didn't go. I headed up, and there was a few minor obstacles. A traverse on a small exposed ledge, and then a short upclimb around 5.4 difficulty. Made it up fine, and then was up top looking for the others. Waited for around 15 minutes, and then started to wonder. They couldn't have made it up before me, could they? My route was pretty direct, so I didn't think so. They still had a half mile to walk to get to the other exit. Hmmm. 20 minutes goes by. Called out for them a couple of times, and hiked up to an even higher point so I could make sure I didn't miss them. 25 minutes. Took out my whistle and gave it a blow. No response. Definite hmmmm. 30 minutes and finally heard voices. Wow, I like my shortcut. ;) I guess Cristina wasn't too happy that I took off to explore the exit, but she didn't really know my background. Reassured her that I would be fine; have done quite a bit of backcountry travel.

We then headed off to the start of Arscenic. (http://www.climb-utah.com/Powell/arscenic.htm) Started the drop in around 1:30pm; still plenty of time left. Arscenic's entry rappel was really cool; nice twisty sculpted walls. We did all three first rappels on one rope, and just left it there; we would clean it up on the way back out.

Arscenic was a cool canyon. Lots of fun downclimbing, some tight spots, some dark sections, and not as much water as Slideanide. Still some mud though. It was over before we knew it and we hit the end of the technical section around 3pm. We hiked up back to the trailhead and stopped to see a cool arch on the way back. We got back to the rope and retrieved it around 3:45pm. We chatted about the third canyon. It was the farthest of the three, and the sun would set in a little over two hours. With our current pace, and using my shortcut out (Constrychnine hits Slideanide, our first canyon of the day), I thought we could at least get to the rim during the daylight. Greg and Cristina were content with the two canyons, and headed back to camp. Jonas, Ben and I decided to hit the third canyon. Greg was nice enough to let us use his ropes.

We hiked over, and started the entry rappel on Constrychnine around 4:45pm. Constrychnine was a great canyon too. (http://www.climb-utah.com/Powell/constrychnine.htm) Neat how each of them were similar, but each had cool differences too. Constrychnine had some bigger rappels, one of them was 190 feet. Fun stuff. Ran into a small rattlesnake at the bottom of one of the rappels. He went up into a corner and watched us from there. Like the other two Poison Springs canyons, there was a lot of fun downclimbs, some dark sections, and a lot of mud.

Constrychnine had some water too; less than Slideanide, but more than Arscenic. Still nothing more than waist deep; and we were able to stem over most of it. There was a rappel into a dark subway chamber, which was really cool. We hit that around 6pm, and the light was fading. Set was around 6:30pm, with light until around 7pm; so no issues.

We hit the exit climb around 6:30pm when the sun was setting. Perfect timing. Some beautiful views on the hike out, and we got back to the car at the last light. Drove back to camp, and enjoyed a campfire and good conversation with the other canyoneers there. We were going to do a pretty aggressive day the next day too; so nobody took us up on our offer to join us. Especially because the canyons were were going to hit were wet ones, and it was almost November, and cold. But not too cold. ;)


Sunday 10/29:

We woke up early, had a quick breakfast, packed up camp, and headed out to the trailhead for Trail canyon. Trail is a more challenging canyon with some areas that can trap canyoneers that aren't able to climb out. There is water, stemming above the canyon floor, and other fun obstacles. (http://www.climb-utah.com/Powell/trail1.htm)

We prepped the gear for the canyon, and hit the trailhead around 9:30am. It's a decent hike in on some steeper slickrock sections. Fun downclimb into the canyon head as well, which we hit around 11am. Trail was a great canyon. Very fun downclimbs and some great narrows. There were some tight sections that you had to chimney 20-40 feet off the ground. Jonas is not a fan of the off the deck stuff. Trail had some decent water too. A couple of full on swims. Ben started looking at skirting around one of them on a sketchy ledge. I didn't think it was too wise, but if he fell, at least he was hitting deep water. He tested part of the ledge, and it broke loose. That (wisely) changed his mind. Swimming we all went. Cold water; but we had our wetsuits for warmth.

Trail also had some cool twisty sections, and a section with some potholes. Not very common for potholes in this area. An awesome variety! Most of the potholes were filled with water, some were swims. Some we could stem over. More tight slots, off the deck climbing, fun downclimbing, water and potholes then brought us to the tight section. Ben and I took the high road, climbing around 40 or so feet off the deck. Jonas went lower as he isn't fond of the heights. The upclimb is a little challenging since it's an off-width, flaring outward as you try to climb up and inward. Didn't find it too difficult though; but we have a climbing background too, which helps a lot.

There was more of the same fun variety of obstacles to the end of the canyon. Fun stuff! We got back to the car around 3pm. Ben and I still wanted to squeeze another canyon in before the drive home. Didn't really have enough time for the main (south) Maidenwater, but thought we could do Middle Maidenwater in the time we had left. Jonas dropped us off, and we did the approach hike in. We dropped into the head of the canyon around 4:30pm; plenty of light left.

Middle Maidenwater was a good canyon too. (http://www.climb-utah.com/Powell/maid1.htm) Not as much variety as Trail canyon, and much drier. Some great downclimbs though, and a really neat spot where you could squeeze through a tight hole between a boulder and the wall. There were some cool sculpted sections, and we caught some really neat lighting too. At the end of the canyon, there is a long tunnel dug through a rock wall. Interesting. We hit it around 6pm, with plenty of light left. It was dark in the tunnel, but we decided to just head through without digging out our headlamps. Turned out to not be such a great idea as the floor was pretty uneven through the tunnel. I found a hole in the tunnel floor, and twisted my ankle a bit. Not too bad though, but enough that I'll use the headlamp next time. Hiked out of the canyon, and was back on the road home before 6:30pm. Enjoyed the views and sunset on the way home.

Added two pics of my torn shorts and kneepads from the weekend. This reinforces my mantra that canyoneering gear is inexpensive gear. I wear a layer of inexpensive gear over my wetsuit, harness and other more expensive canyon gear to protect it in the canyons.


Photos:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/album?c=...237975&.src=ph
(Link Good for 90 Days)