Newbie stuff

[Alex]

I am taking my wife and my kid down to Ding&Dang this weekend. I never done that canyon, is it kid friendly if I bring a rope?

I was also going to hit the Crack canyon right there. Anything else could be recommended for a 5 year old boy?

[qedcook]

Little Wildhorse Window is in that area and is supposed to be pretty awesome.

I might consider taking a harness (or rig one up with webbing) for a five-year old in Dang Canyon(i think it's Dang, it's the canyon that is farthest south). With a harness and a short rope, you'll be fine. The difficulty also depends on if you go up or down Dang.

The only drop that is a concern can be bypassed on the south/right(looking downcanyon) but it is partially exposed. He/she will probably not need to rappel but should have the rope and harness. You could tie a bowline and wrap it around the child but kids have a tendency to wiggle out of that.

I threw up a picture of the bypass here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/xmikecook/UntitledAlbum#

If you have two other adults going, I would send one across the 30-50 foot exposed part with one end of the rope and then attach the kid to the rope and have the other adult hold the rope from the other end so if the kid slips he doesn't fall, the rope holds him up.

Notice in the picture where the person is standing, at his feet the rock is chipped and narrow. that is the only real difficult part.

There are a lot of options but it mostly depends on the experience of the child. I would take him to little wild horse canyon/ bells canyon before ding and dang.

[Jaxx]

we just use a bowline under my kids armpits. One person lowered them and the other one at the bottom to catch them and walk them to safety.

There is a thread around here somewhere...

[FOX]

Alex, I've done Ding & Dang several times and hit them with a youth group last Fall. We had two little girls in our group ages 5 & 7. They did just fine. There isn't anything real harry in there anyway and the few obstacles that do exist can all be bypassed. You don't want your 5 yr old boy to be shown up by a bunch of girls do ya

[Sombeech]

I'd take a rope just in case. I've only done it once, and going down Dang, we went on this ledge on the right. I'm not sure if it was the normal route though, rockgremlin could tell you that, he was with us.

I think I remember there was a possible rappell that we went around, but I'm not sure...

[rockgremlin]

I think I remember there was a possible rappell that we went around, but I'm not sure...

Yeah - that picture you have posted is the possible rappel that we went around. That drop isn't too dicey if you take a short length of rope, and have two adults to act as spotters for the little guys in case you don't wanna rim walk along that ledge to the right there.

[Alex]

Thanks guys, I will post a TR once we get through it.