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Thread: Lake Powell

  1. #1

    Lake Powell

    My wife and I have been invited to Powell in the middle of Oct. The group taking us is wanting to hike-canyoneer Face and West Canyon. Anybody have any beta on these canyons? Another place they want to hit is some spot by rainbow bridge. It has 3 big pour offs with a toilet bowel rappel in the middle pour off. Anybody familiar with this spot? Any other ideas on the south end of the lake.

    Thanks
    Mark
    Last edited by Iceaxe; 04-28-2010 at 04:33 PM. Reason: Added "Beta" Prefix

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  3. #2
    Moderator jman's Avatar
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    what a coincidence, I asked Shane if he knew anything about West canyon last week in a PM and he just referred me to Kelseys book. I looked it up and it looks like a lot of fun


    http://www.utahoutdoors.com/pages/westhike.htm
    This webpage only has 2 pics, but Dave Webb the author of the article said it follows a perennial stream and has a few "waterfalls".

    And by rainbow bridge there is a canyon called Diamond Canyon, although I've never done it, but its in that same area. It could be...(maybe not)

  4. #3
    I had read his book. I was just trying to see if anyone had been. His book is hard to follow. Maybe Shane could rewrite his book so it made sense? Lake Powell seems to be the secret playground. Beta is hard to get.

    Mark

  5. #4
    WEST CANYON TRIP REPORT
    June 19-22, 2002
    written by Kris Nosack


    While opinions of Michael Kelsey (the maverick canyon hiker) vary wildly, there's no disputing the fact that he's hiked a lot of canyons. And when he listed West Canyon as his favorite (open) canyon hike, it's hard not to be intrigued. Having done The Black Hole for the last 3 years with our youth group on their annual trip to Lake Powell, it was time for a change and that change was West Canyon.

    We left Orem around 6:30pm on Wednesday and arrived at Bullfrog around 11pm. We crashed at the campground. I got little sleep due to the nearly full moon and some nimrod two spots down who left his generator running all night. Thursday morning we loaded up the boats (3) and headed south for West Canyon. West Canyon extends to the south-east of the main channel of Lake Powell around 30 miles up-lake (north) of Wahweap. Coming from Bullfrog the distance was 60-70 miles. Surprisingly, it went pretty fast. And after a stop at Dangling Rope marina to refuel, we were in West Canyon.

    We were ahead of schedule so we spent a few hours boating and cliff jumping. Then we motored up the canyon to the end of the lake and waded to shore through some above-ankle deep mud. I noticed another boat and some folks with packs disembarking and I wondered if it was Lowell from the eGroup. We divvied up the food (MREs, granola & breakfast bars, apples, etc.) and headed out. The canyon walls are tall (around 300 feet) and the floor is fairly broad. We walked through some dried up mud flats at first and then slogged along the dreaded wash sand. With the lake level so low I estimate it added an extra 0.5 miles to the hike. Kelsey notes that there is a "swimming hole" near the beginning, but it must have dried up from the low lake level.

    Within 30-45 minutes of hiking we came to the first section of narrows. The canyon was still broad, but the water flow had carved a slot in the floor of the canyon which was slickrock now. With temperatures in the 90s it felt good to get wet. Mostly it was wading, but one or two holes were swimmers. The slot ended in a pool with a 10 foot high dry fall that we climbed out of with the aid of a hand line we rigged. There is a bypass route that begins at the mouth of the narrows via a fixed rope hand line on the right. But we were here to drink in all that West had to offer.

    After some more hiking we came to another section of narrows much like the first. It, too, had a bypass route on the right, but we went for the water again. After getting past the pool and dry fall (maybe only 8 feet high this time), we came to another dry fall after a short bit of hiking which we got around by scrambling up on the right. After another 30 minutes of hiking we came to another dry fall that was again bypassed by scrambling to the right.

    At some point in the lower canyon I met up with the other hikers I had seen back at lake's end. It was indeed Lowell. We greeted and talked a bit and then moved on.

    Another 45 minutes of hiking brought us to a huge undercut in the canyon wall as the canyon went around a bend. There were a bunch deep undercuts in West Canyon, but one of them (I forget where it fell in the order up canyon) was massive. It must have been 100 yards deep (probably more like 150 yards) and formed a nearly perfect amphitheater. The canyon narrowed up to a decent slot with water and pools to wade. While the lower slots were only 15-20 feet deep, this one was full canyon depth (at least 150 feet). While we saw water and damp sand occasionally in the lower sections, now we were seeing water more frequently and in some places it was running, although just a trickle. The water produced lovely riparian areas in this part of the canyon. A few Cottonwood trees, lots of cattails and grass. Kelsey only notes one section of narrows here in the middle of West canyon, but I seem to remember two.

    Now it's getting later in the day and were looking for the campsite. It's always further than you think, but eventually we found it and set about making camp and eating dinner. The evening was still and lovely. The small amount of water flowing just 15 feet away kept the temperature cooler. Some birds nesting somewhere in the canyon made a racket with their squabbling for a few hours just after sundown and then the moon shown brightly in my face, but I think I managed a few hours sleep after waking up cold and throwing on my shirt. (I was sleeping in a fleece bag which is normally perfect for southern Utah summer nights.)

    At daybreak we packed only the gear we would need for the upper narrows and left everything else at camp. We had scouted out the "escape" gully to the north-east the day before so we knew that was the route. With the fairly thick vegetation in the canyon bottom it wouldn't be too hard to miss this gully, but it's the only obvious exit so it shouldn't be too hard to find. A quick gain of 250-300 feet or so put us up on top. We found ourselves in a large drainage with big walls and buttes in all directions - some near, some far. It's a grand view. The trail up the gully was well established, but it got thin up top. I didn't want to spend time trail hunting so I followed my GPS. I think others in our group were following some semblance of a trail most of the time, but I stayed pretty close to the route in my GPS. I was glad I had the GPS because navigation in this terrain is tough. There are land features, but they're not all that distinct. There are some cairns, but they're often not well placed or are missing in places. We went through what Kelsey calls the "double dome hill" and spotted some cairns to the left so we followed them even though my GPS showed to go straight. I figured it might just be a better way around, but it turned out to be the wrong way (at least according to Kelsey's route). We got to the canyon rim and found cliffs. After some hunting up canyon a down-climbable route was found and most of the group entered there. I had gone off looking for the walk-down route described by Kelsey. But after coming to a crack of a side canyon, I headed up canyon to the drop-in route the rest of the group had used.

    By the time I got to the short down-climb into the canyon, the bulk of the group was well on their way down. I heard some voices and called out. It was two of our group who had followed some footprints up canyon. In the jumbled route into the canyon they had become disoriented and confused by footprints in the canyon leading up and they were about to head up canyon thinking it was down. I convinced them that the other direction was down and off we went - the 3 of us.

    The canyon was narrow and a nice walk at first. The floor was most often a jumble of round river stones from gravel to bowling ball size. After a short walk I spotted the walk-in spot. As Murphy's Law demands, it wasn't more than 200 feet from where I had stopped in my venturing along the rim. I pulled out my GPS, got 3 then 4 satellites and recorded a waypoint so I could find this place easier next time. We continued down canyon in similar nature for a bit and then the canyon narrowed up good. It was slot canyon time. The floor changed to slickrock and the walls showed dramatic sculpting. My guess is that the depth went from 150 feet to over 200 feet at the end. I felt like a kid at the playground as we wound through the twist and turns and short chutes.

    Shortly we arrived at the pothole. It was dry. There were some fixed ropes there and even a length of chain. We used the up canyon rope as a hand line and dropped the 10-15 feet into the hole then used the rope and chain on the other side to escape. The down climbs and scrambling got more interesting after this. And while there were a few tight turns and deep, narrow spots, I never felt like I needed to reach for my headlamp as Kelsey suggests. Maybe later in the day when the sun is lower in the sky, but I still have a hard time imagining it would be THAT dark.

    After a whole bunch of slot canyon fun, we came to the first pool. I down climbed into it and checked the depth of this part of the pool by going under. It was deep enough and as I swam for the other end I became aware that this pool was REALLY cold! As cold or colder than Keyhole cold! I yelled back to the others that they could safely jump into this pool and I focused on getting out of this freezing water.

    After a short time we came to the second pool. This one had two bolts installed on the right (LDC) with a rope tied to one of the bolts. The other end of the rope was tied around one of the chokestones on the left. But too me, the water lover, the route under the chokestones and into the small pool looked easiest. You have to pay attention on the down climb, but it wasn't that bad. The second guy decided to try the rope. This is a drop of at least 15 feet and he was hand-over-handing it down the rope. It wasn't easy and he was lucky not to chew up his hands more on that ratty rope. The last guy went under the chokestones like I did - much easier.

    Six more pools and some good slot canyon fun later and we were back at camp. We packed up our gear and headed down.

    I kept a pretty good pace and knew that the last of our group were far behind. Another guy and I had spotted a slotted side canyon on the way up and we had talked about exploring it on the way down. With time to burn this is what we did. It was an excellent slot! Plenty of chokestones to scramble over, good sculpting in the rock, deep - it was great fun. We kept expecting to run into some obvious obstacle that would be impassable or risky to climb, but we didn't. So we gave ourselves 3 more minutes of hiking before we turned around. I looked around one last bend and the canyon was still going. If you're in the southern end of Lake Powell and want some sweet slot canyon fun but don't have the time for the full West canyon enchilada, try this side canyon. I think it was less than 3 miles up West and is on the left side (LUC). It's mouth would be hard to miss.

    After the little side slot canyon adventure, we slogged the rest of the way back to the lake. Two guys had stayed behind to watch the boats. They picked us up and we rested back at the boats. We were on a pretty good beach, but better beaches were to be had so we headed down the West canyon arm of the lake. Sadly all the beaches were taken so we laid claim to a muddy beach just off the main channel. The wind was blowing just enough to be annoying. The boys found places to lay out their sleeping bags while we started dinner. After a meal some went to bed while others relaxed. Fortunately the wind calmed down to very soft breeze and one of the guys broke out his guitar. He was an excellent musician and we listened and sang to tunes from a wide variety of bands like the Eagles. What would have been just a hum-drum evening camping turned into an event - thanks to this man and his skill with the guitar.

    Another fitful night of sleep for me as it was unseasonably cold that night for Lake Powell. Even after putting on my pants and two shirts I was still chilled. Rotten luck. Saturday morning we woke up, ate some breakfast, broke camp and headed back to Bulfrog. We got off the main channel in Rock Creek canyon, but eventually found our error and continued to Dangling Rope for gas. The marina doesn't open until 8 am Arizona time (9 am Mountain standard time) so we had to wait for half an hour. After gasing up we headed out. Got off in side canyons a few more times. (Note: going down Lake Powell is easy because all of the side canyons are coming IN to the main canyon, but going up they are all BRANCHING OFF making it much easier to get side-tracked. Watch those channel marker buoys!)

    The wind picked up and bit and so did the chop. We had to slow down some to avoid getting pounded. Eventually we made Bullfrog. There were a LOT of people there either launching (most) or loading up boats. We finally got the boats trailered and headed for home. Stopped for lunch at the A&W restaurant just outside Bullfrog and man did that taste good! Arrived home around 6pm and took a shower - aaaaahhhh!

    The upper narrows of West canyon is one of the best (for sure in the top 3) slot canyon experiences I've had. Couple that with the markedly different nature of the lower and middle canyon and West canyon serves up an incredible canyoneering buffet.

  6. #5
    What I know about Lake Powell in one post.....

    We did a lot of Powell from our boats in the 80
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  7. #6
    The group taking us iswanting to hike-canyoneer Face and West Canyon. Anybody have any beta on these canyons?
    West is nice, but the only problems with it (on our visit) were that with the lake low you had to hike a bit through the mud to get to the good stuff and the inlet was clogged with lots of debri near the end (we were there in August 2007 and after heavy rains).

    Other than that, the Kelsey info is enough, but I wish we would have backpacked into the canyon instead of day hiking it. We never did get to the upper end. If you can, try to spend more than one day.

    Face Canyon is nice too, but you either have to have a small boat or swim in to start the hike.

  8. #7
    Debris clogs at the end of Powell Canyons can always be a problem. As a safety measue don't ever expect a boat to be able to pick you up at the head of the canyon without checking it out first. It's not uncommon for a debris barrier to be a mile or more from the canyon head. And rental boats are a lot like rental cars, they will go a lot of places normal boats fear to tread ;-)

    I'm guessing out of the approximately 10 times I've attempted to boat to the end of Navajo we were only able to reach the end of the canyon 5 times because of debris. Some canyons are worse than others, I've probably been up Antelope 100 times from the lake and have only been stopped by debris 2 or 3 times. The last time I was up Antelope the lake was about 50' below full pool and Antelope was an open sewer and not a pleasent place to visit.




  9. #8
    OK.... I have good news and bad news.....

    The good news is I finally found my box of old Lake Powell pictures....

    The bad news is the box is huge, filled to the top with pictures, and there is no organization what-so-ever....

    But I'll try to sort through the box whenever I get a free minute...

    But to start things off I'll post a picture of my big box of pictures....

    And a picture of my hot young stripper wife and myself on our second date, which was a week on the lake....

    Attached Images Attached Images   

  10. Likes summitseeker liked this post
  11. #9
    And here are a several pictures from Swiss Cheese.... or Pinon Falls as Kelsey calls them...

    Swiss Cheese (Pinon Falls)
    36N 50' 07", 111W 13' 02"

    These pictures are from 1993 I believe..... it would be a long hike to reach the falls from the lake right now....

    .
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  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott P
    Other than that, the Kelsey info is enough, but I wish we would have backpacked into the canyon instead of day hiking it. We never did get to the upper end. If you can, try to spend more than one day.
    indeed, the upper part of west canyon is excellent.

    it's worth mentioning that it's a bit of a hike in from the dirt road, with a long section of sandy wash and convoluted terrain in the vicinity of west canyon. It can also be tricky finding the standard route down into the canyon from the rim, below the upper slot, given the domes and microwashes dropping into the deep canyon. There usually are cairns marking this descent into the canyon off the cattle trail to the east which one could look for should they not find the descent route on their own. MK's map, of course, is not detailed enough to determine the exact location of this long existing route that he describes into the canyon from the rim.

    also worth mentioning that the water in the upper slot (dark and narrow) can be very cold compared with the water in the main canyon. i can't say how cold or how much water there could be in october, but there can potentially be a decent amount of swimming and the water can be very cold.

    the overland route to the canyon is certainly best during the cooler times as it can be scorching on the rainbow plateau, but the longer days of late spring give one more time to enjoy the area than october.

    and regardless of lake level, to do the entire main canyon + upper slot in a day from the lake is a good challenge even during the long days of spring and, needless to say, this superlative canyon will need to move by at light speed. backpacking from the lake makes it more reasonable, but there are intermittent slots with deep water that one may need to deal with.

  13. #11
    At one time I was planning a trip to do West Canyon but things didn't work out and I never went. But.... here is a map of the upper tech section I put together at the time with the help of Kris Nosak (See his TR above). This map should work pretty good.

    If anyone uses this map I'd appriciate some feebback.

    thanks


    .
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  14. #12
    Navajo Sand Hill Slot
    N36
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  15. #13
    Moderator jman's Avatar
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    Shane,
    where is Swiss Cheese/Pinon Falls. I put the gps coords u gave me into google earth, it flew me to poland. when I put the -111.whatever into instead, it brought me to Navajo Canyon at Lake Powell. Is that where its at?

    I'm sure hoping this is the place I went to as young kid, long, long time ago but didn't know what it was called or where it was till you reminded me! yay!

    BTW - which kelsey book did you look to find Pinon falls?

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by jman
    Shane, where is Swiss Cheese/Pinon Falls.
    Swiss Chees is in Navajo Canyon. I was posting from my lap top and couldn't find the degree symbol so I wrote it out a little different. 111W = -111 = W111

  17. #15
    Penny Beach
    N36
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  18. #16
    [quote=Iceaxe]Face Canyon: I did a great slot there in the mid 80
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  19. #17
    Is anyone else had problems with Bogley just kicking you out for no reason and losing your post? I just typed a trip report on Face and while viewing it blew me out?
    So here is a condensed version. Just got back from our couples trip. That picture of Shanes is in Face. I will try to post pictures later. We did not come down that slot we went up it. Down canyon from where those people are swimming we climbed out and the cut over and rappeled in right above the final pour off in that slot. We then climbrd up and out the top. Awesome fun. After topping out we cut across to the left and rappeled into what is the main Face Slot? It has some amazing down climbs in it. At the end of it we had to rappel down a 40 ft. pour off. Probably the funnest 4 hour canyoneering I have ever done. I would reccommed this to anyone looking for a fun canyoneering activity at Powell. To actually do the full loop you need two boats.

    We also went up West. Not nearly as great as Kelsey makes it out to be. Has some cool slot swims at the first but pretty much just a nice canyon to hike up. We went up 8 miles and turned around and came out. One LOOONNNGGGG Day. Destroyed an outdrive on the way back to the house boat in the dark. We were able to limp back to the house boat luckily. To see the better part of West it sounds like you need to back pack in.

    The guys that took us claim there is an arm in west as fun as face but at this lake level they cannot find it. By looking at google earth after coming home I think I know where they are talking about. Next time have to check it out.

    Great trip, brand new 80' houseboat and beautiful weather. We were livin the dream.
    Oh we also went up and rappeled thru a toilet bowl by the mouth of the San Juan river. Had to rappel to the lip of the toilet bowl then rappeled thru the toilet bowl and then had to rappel again to get to the boats. FUN.

    Mark

  20. #18
    I've been in this Face side canyon a few times. Once at low water where it was quite a walk to where Shane's photo is. (The lake was receeding and there was water running out of the sandstone.) There is a fork in the canyon and the deepest slot goes south, the north west fork is also a slot, but not so deep.
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  21. #19
    Here's the pictures from Face and West. I left my camera in my truck. I borrowed a few pics from those who remembered their camera. Sorry about the different sizes but I pulled them from different files.

    Mark
    Attached Images Attached Images                       

  22. #20
    Dark Canyon
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