Pandora's Box-which poison?

[heliodor]

Hello All,

I will be coming down from E. Washington in late April to the Escalante area to do a week-long foray into the desolate canyon country of the southern Kaiparowitz Plateau (an annual sojourn of sorts). Afterward, we're thinking of doing some slots as a change of pace and the siren call of Pandora's Box has been tempting us for a while. I've read a number of comments and excellent TR's and the issue of which exit to take keeps rearing it's head.

What are people's views on the upcanyon vs downcanyon exit alternatives, and if we choose upcanyon, is there a specific exit point, or do we just head up until a reasonable break appears to allow access to the Mesa?

Thanks and feel free to email me.

Robert

[Stick]

I have only done Pandora's box once using the up canyon exit. We hiked up until we saw a spot where it looked like we could climb back up on top of the mesa. Once we got to the top and looked back down we saw a nice dirt ridge that looked like it would have been a lot easier start up the mesa instead of the boulder scrambling we did. (This dirt ridge did not go all the way up to the top of the mesa, maybe 1/4 of the way up or so. I couldn't really tell from up on top. Then you would have to figure out a way through the boulders for the rest of the way up.) I think this dirt ridge is the standard place to climb back to the top of the mesa. If we had hiked another 5-10 minutes up the wash before climbing up we would have seen it.

I have never done the down canyon exit, but another poster on this board said hiking down canyon has a slog through sand and a greater than expected elevation gain at the end. I thought the hike out up canyon was brutal, but I also think the canyon is worth the price you have to pay on the hike out.

[heliodor]

Hi Stick,

Thanks for the info. Just the sort of thing I was fishing for. I think we're just hoping that after a week of slogging around with full packs and climbing gear, an exit hike like this won't seem quite so brutal!

[rockgremlin]

I've done the upcanyon route. It was long, and the boulder scramble exit wasn't too bad. I don't think there's any easy exit strategy out of Pandora's. You have to pay the piper whichever route you choose, but I would opt for the upcanyon just because its a little shorter, and once you've scrambled out of the canyon the views on the hike back are awesome.


Have fun and be sure to post up some pix here when you return.

[heliodor]

Have fun and be sure to post up some pix here when you return.

This time I'm going to go ahead and risk taking my camera in with me. I really regret not doing so in the past. I have a Canon XTi which is a small enough body for this kind of trip, but I'd really like to take my good wide-angle lens in there which is a dicey proposition. As dry as Pandora apparently is makes me a little more confident.

[shaggy125]

Both exits suck but I think the upcanyon sucks less as you don't need a car shuttle/hitchhike and it's less miles (although more elevation gain). Pandora's involves a long hike out no matter which way you exit. It's a good time though for sure.