Arizona Canyons

[chabidiah]

We were thinking about cruzing down to Arizona in the coming months to hit a few canyons. We thought we might get warmer weather down there. Any thoughts on which canyons are memorable.

[shaggy125]

Haven't been but many of the canyons in Arizona are at high elevation and are more out of season in Winter than say North Wash. There are a few however that would be good in Winter, mainly in Marble Canyon. Death Valley however is a primo winter spot. The canyons are good if you like 6000 foot elevation drops and lots of big rappels and the average temperature in Febuary is 80 degrees! Make sure your downhill muscles are in shape, many seasoned pros were limping and could hardly walk from sore winter muscles last year.

[ratagonia]

Haven't been but many of the canyons in Arizona are at high elevation and are more out of season in Winter than say North Wash. There are a few however that would be good in Winter, mainly in Marble Canyon. Death Valley however is a primo winter spot. The canyons are good if you like 6000 foot elevation drops and lots of big rappels and the average temperature in Febuary is 80 degrees! Make sure your downhill muscles are in shape, many seasoned pros were limping and could hardly walk from sore winter muscles last year.

You talkin' 'bout me???? (I think he is).

http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/rave/0802death/index.htm

Beta available here: http://www.dankat.com/swhikes/content.htm

Tom

[Sombeech]

RedRoxx probably knows a bit about these

[Iceaxe]

First stop for anyone interested in Arizona canyons should probably be Todd Martin's book

Arizona: Technical Canyoneering
http://www.bogley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6520

[Felicia]

Here is the link to an Arizona canyon trip report:

http://www.bogley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13157

[RedRoxx]

I am useless for the tech canyons; the only ones I do are trying to get to some cave or limestone to check out. I'll second Todd's book, also email him if you have questions at his desert hiking website. He's very responsive if he's around.
Most of the water canyons will be right chilly right now, esp anything in northern az where there is still a bit of snow in spots.
However, it was almost 80 here today.

[skianddive]

First stop for anyone interested in Arizona canyons should probably be Todd Martin's book

I'll second getting a copy of Todd's book, and while you're waiting for it to arrive, you can check out his website where he describes most of the canyons in his book- and then some:

http://www.toddshikingguide.com/Hikes/Hikes.htm

Some must-do's in AZ - Salome Jug, Cibeque Creek, and Crystal Canyon. For the latter two, they are not in Todd's book because they are on Indian land and both require permits (and Cibeque "requires" an Indian guide), but you can find good descriptions of them, along with GPS coordinates, at Chris Brennen's Southwest Canyoneering site:

http://www.dankat.com/swhikes/content.htm

And I'll also second that about the water temperatures right now - cooooooold! April and early May would be better options.