Woody May 3 2008

[french_de]

Hiked Woody on Saturday May 3, 2008. Woody has a lot of potholes. Somebody on Google Earth called the area Pothole National Park. Most potholes were dry. A few of the keepers had knee depth water levels. Ended up using potshots, a hook, couple of etiers and a dyneema six step webbing ladder. Rather than walk down the wash , we decided to cut across from the Hillers sign pullout about a mile down the road from the normal parking area. This knocked about one mile off the entrance hike and we only had to do the sandy cow pooed wash once on the exit. Very nice canyon and very physical.

[Jaxx]

Beautiful looking canyon. Thanks for the TR and pics.

[oldno7]

nice pics, looks like a fun canyon

[rockgremlin]

Beautiful looking canyon. Thanks for the TR and pics.

X2!



Niiiiiiiiiice!

[Felicia]

Very nice!!

[Iceaxe]

Just added anther canyon to the list....

Nice pics. T%hanks

[Scott Card]

Wow! That looks like fun. Thanks for the TR

[shaggy125]

Sweet, people are doing Woody, it's a GREAT canyon, only wish it was longer. Interesting to see it in such low water. A couple questions, how many pots did you have to aid out of? We did it last November and the thing had mid-level water that was SUPER nasty. We threw some potshots but think we only used aiders on one or two of them, the rest we partner assisted or used the potshot rope as a handline, but in lower water I'm wondering if the canyon is easier or harder. Were you able to just walk under the natural bridge hooking two pots together? How tall was it? We could only see the very top of it above water and I wasn't getting my face that close to the water to swim under. Thanks for the pics and report.

Eric.

[french_de]

Sweet, people are doing Woody, it's a GREAT canyon, only wish it was longer. Interesting to see it in such low water. A couple questions, how many pots did you have to aid out of? We did it last November and the thing had mid-level water that was SUPER nasty. We threw some potshots but think we only used aiders on one or two of them, the rest we partner assisted or used the potshot rope as a handline, but in lower water I'm wondering if the canyon is easier or harder. Were you able to just walk under the natural bridge hooking two pots together? How tall was it? We could only see the very top of it above water and I wasn't getting my face that close to the water to swim under. Thanks for the pics and report.

Eric.

We used shots to aid out of three holes. I learned something really quick with potshots. Don't make them too heavy, they don't always go over the first time. But it really works well once you get them over the lip. We sent our lightest person up and she rigged up some aiders for the rest of us. I am sure the escapes would be easier if the holes were full of water. We were able to walk under bridge ( see picture woody048 and woody055).

[shaggy125]

Nice thanks. So three pots plus the final keeper that you bypassed (that was the most difficult escape for us and looked harder if water was lower). Thanks again for the report and pics.

[tanya]

That looks like a pretty canyon.

[jwurst]

Not having been there... just curious what about that final pothole causes it to be hard enough to seek a bypass? In the photo the climb to the ledge looks pretty steep. Did it feel exposed?

[davehuth]

Not having been there... just curious what about that final pothole causes it to be hard enough to seek a bypass? In the photo the climb to the ledge looks pretty steep. Did it feel exposed?

I was with french_de on the trip... The pothole looked half full - 6' or so of water and 6' or so to the top, french_de went up and over to get a better look and we all decided to join him -- nobody felt like donning wet suits, we were tired from the rest of the canyon and hey there was a relatively easy way around. It could have been done, there is a pretty good undercut at the pothole rim that would have presented a challange getting up and over, making the pot shot or pack toss with that water level would have been tricky. I'll let french_de talk about the climb to the ledge...

[davehuth]

Not having been there... just curious what about that final pothole causes it to be hard enough to seek a bypass? In the photo the climb to the ledge looks pretty steep. Did it feel exposed?

I was with french_de on the trip... The pothole looked half full - 6' or so of water and 6' or so to the top, french_de went up and over to get a better look and we all decided to join him -- nobody felt like donning wet suits, we were tired from the rest of the canyon and hey there was a relatively easy way around. It could have been done, there is a pretty good undercut at the pothole rim that would have presented a challange getting up and over, making the pot shot or pack toss with that water level would have been tricky. I'll let french_de talk about the climb to the ledge...

[davehuth]

Oh -- unfortunately we did not get a pic of that last pothole...

[french_de]

Not having been there... just curious what about that final pothole causes it to be hard enough to seek a bypass? In the photo the climb to the ledge looks pretty steep. Did it feel exposed?

The last pothole is the toughest in the canyon especially if the water level is low. The downside lip of the pothole is an overhang and the top of the water at that point was about five feet below the lip. The length of the pothole was about 20 feet. The upcanyon dropin lip also has an overhang making escape hard. Since we didn't bring our 30 foot aluminum tubular telescoping pothole escape tool we thought of doing a shoulder stand at the downside lip where the lighter person on top could get a potshot over the downside lip. But we couldn't tell how deep the water was at that point and we didn't know whether the bottom guy's head would be under water while supporting the top person. It also meant that two of us would have had to enter the water with wet suits and up to that point we hadn't put them on. We have a standing joke among us about wetsuits. Whenever we think we need them and take them with us we ultimately never end up wearihg them. We always seem to escape a deep plunge. That may change in our future sojourns. Soo.. we got a little lazy and looked to the left just before the pothole for an upclimb. With the help of my BD grappling hook, a nicely placed little hole about 8 feet up and a good boost below from sister, brother and brother-in-law I was able to get to the ledge that traversed the pothole. The ledge angles up to about 30 feet above the pothole. It is a little exposed in places. The ledge has an easy walkdown just past the pothole.

[jwurst]

Thanks! I wouldn't have been too anxious to put on a wetsuit for one quick dip in the water either, especially already having had a satisfying day filled with pothole challenges.

[french_de]

Oh -- unfortunately we did not get a pic of that last pothole...

Yea!, you would think that with 3 cameras among us that we would have grabbed a shot.

[shaggy125]

Not having been there... just curious what about that final pothole causes it to be hard enough to seek a bypass? In the photo the climb to the ledge looks pretty steep. Did it feel exposed?

I've done the final pothole in probably different water conditions but yea it's the hardest in the canyon. Actually Dave P. did the initial escape. It is a long pothole and was difficult to throw a potshot all the way across from the opposite end but after a few tries we were able to get it in a good spot. Actually I think we may have thrown two lighter pot shots rather than one since it was such a long throw. Dave was treading water and had to pull out the Tiblocs and aiders to get out. Great canyon with lots of pothole problems... seems kinda strange that it's so close to North Wash

[french_de]

Not having been there... just curious what about that final pothole causes it to be hard enough to seek a bypass? In the photo the climb to the ledge looks pretty steep. Did it feel exposed?

I've done the final pothole in probably different water conditions but yea it's the hardest in the canyon. Actually Dave P. did the initial escape. It is a long pothole and was difficult to throw a potshot all the way across from the opposite end but after a few tries we were able to get it in a good spot. Actually I think we may have thrown two lighter pot shots rather than one since it was such a long throw. Dave was treading water and had to pull out the Tiblocs and aiders to get out. Great canyon with lots of pothole problems... seems kinda strange that it's so close to North Wash

So how deep do you think the last pothole is from lip to bottom?