THE MAZE (photos)

[canyonguru]

7-26-08 Three of us started the maze in red rock canyon at 7:15 am from the top of the rocky gap road. we reached the first rappel at 8:30 singed the log book and contiued down canyon. The first rappel we replaced the webbing around the small stone. There were a couple of defferences that we found on the write we took from lukes' web page. Some of the raps were a little longer then the RD posted, but that is canyoneering. We had and abosute bast, but it was a long hard romp of a day. Half way through the open section of the canyon we started getting a thunderstorm above us but all it did was sprinkle a little. It was kinda neet that we could look up and talk to some guys doing the Bridge Mt trail. They said that the storm looked pretty bad. Needless to say it wasn't. We reached that last 190ft rap at the end of the canyon just as the sun was setting. I was the seccond person to rap down and i could just barely see what i was doing, the last guy had to us a head lamp and rap down 190ft to the bottom in the dark. On the final pull our rope pulled just fine but when it fell it laded in a pothole ledge about 40ft up and got stuck. we tried for 45min to get it unstuck but no luck we had to cut the rope and leave it hangin. We made it back to the truck in pitch black at 10:30. so it ended up taking us 15hrs and 15 mins. we ran into a couple of problems early on. one of our guys sprained his ankle on rap 4 so that made things rough early on. the other guy was 53 so he was a little slow but still did an awesome job setting up the raps and keeping our heads straight.

this is an awesome canyon, it rips you up and spits you out but well worth it. this is the first 4 rated canyon i have ever done so keep in mind for all of you experts out there this would be a great day for you. there are plenty of naturaly anchors in this canyon so please keep the bolts out, unless the last rap bolt needs to be replaced which is the only bolt in the canyon. We were the 3rd group down this summer basted on the sign in book.

Overal a killer canyon with some of the most awesome raps i have ever done. oh a shorty wet suit is plenty of water pertection and does not need to be put on until the lower section, this canyon has water at the bottom of every rap but 1 or 2. check it out if you can.

the pics are not in order because they came out of a cheepo waterproof camera, and if someone can give me the steps to post the pics straight on to bogley i would apreaciate it, i am a little retarded when it comes to that sort of thing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2912009...7606431078109/

[goofball]

only done the top 1/2, but that was nice canyon. lucky for you the rain stayed in the valley yesterday and didn't get big, some high winds, thunder and lightning, and light rain for a while. having visited vegas 2 or 3 times to do the maze and defrerring to my local friends when they called it off, as well as having lived here for a few months now, i will never commit to that canyon if there is any chance of rain, and especially weather preceeding the day of descent. my limited observation and the agreement of friends and acquaintance who have been here for years is that only the rarity of descent keeps the canyon from being more lethal. and i have done some impetuous thungs (and probably will in the future as well...). maybe its because i am "local" here now and know that canyon is not going anywhere, but i have heard of a few descents when bad weather had preceeded and was forecast as possible for that day (10-30%). we had a 10% cahnce of scattered thundersstorms on this day




we did not go because the pattern had been totally clear mornings fololowed by isolated downpours by mid afternoon in varying patches throughout the spring mountains and red rocks area. when its the monsoon season its tempting fate to go here when the weather is inclement. but glad you got lucky enough to enjoy it.

can't wait to see the pics ! it is definitely worth the effort to visit.

[DiscGo]

You have to love the weekends where everyone is active.

[canyonguru]

holy crap thats a lot of water i had no idea that the canyon could flood like that. In the middle part of the canyon it looks like there is a lot of wash to soak up the water but aprently not. One thing i forgot to mention is the mesquito's were out in force on saturday and i am not enjoying the aftermath of bug bites. Thanks for the info about the canyon again, next time i head up there i will make sure that there is no possibility of rain.

[goofball]

i've heard a number of tales about that final pull being a bitch. one guy got stuck in the crack at its top for 30 minutes +/- last year. but he got out, sucked he was last in line or else it might have gone faster.

hidden falls/lost creek and ice box are pretty open drainages w/ plenty of room to hide if water comes thru. i would actually love to be in one of those and see it flash ! both are fun and short as well. ice box is WAY over rated, the most over rated canyon i have done. we made it out in 6-7 hours i believe, w/ 1 mandatory rap. lots of fun dc'ing ! (depending on your comfort level), and some way fun water filled potholes to play in just above the final rap.

[Pubalz]

The maze was the first canyon i ever did .It got me strung out on canyoneering. Would like to do it again some time this year maybe.

[goofball]

The maze was the first canyon i ever did .It got me strung out on canyoneering. Would like to do it again some time this year maybe.

this weekend ? if the stupid rain leaves the forecast. or the first possible weekend of good weather ?

[Pubalz]

I have to go to Hunnington Beach on 8-4 and ill be there for about 7 days.But a weekend after that would be cool.

[canyonguru]

well let me know i might want to head up there agian.