TR: Englestead, October 15, 2009

[Deeps]

Last Thursday I finally got my shot at Englestead. The past two attempts had been scratched, and I heard mid-October was a great time for leaf peeping in the canyon.

I drove down Wednesday and crashed with Kevin in the Watchman campground. The next morning we met up with Jacob, Andy to head up. I'd heard a lot of stories about Englestead this year. Between the media coverage and online commentary I imagined this would be a step up from previous canyons (Spry, Keyhole/Pine Creek, Lodge), but not undoable for me. I was cautiously confident without being stupid.

The approach hike was easy and direct. The logging equipment was really interesting. It's just there, weathered and Kevin noticed the mismatched treads on it. The first view of the canyon was impressive. After setting the rope, we waited for the sun to break through the trees and warm us up a little before the descent. We originally planned to do the first rap as a 300', but Shaun was delayed a day and he was bringing the 300' rope. We sent Andy down to the bird perch to help with the transitions. I was using a Piranha, and had a nice rap to the bird perch. It was much smaller than I had imagined, but I was glad to have Andy there despite the crowded ledge. Immediately after leaving the perch I had to lock off to adjust where my pack was hung. The rope had crossed to the left side of the hung pack after leaving the perch, and I was concerned it might cause trouble on the descent. I was able to flip the rope to the right of the pack, after a minute of looking at what was happening and trying to figure out the best way to proceed. In the future, I'll use a shorter leash on the pack. Obviously watch the rope as well, but I believe the rope looked good when I left the station. Lesson learned.

The rest of the canyon was beautiful. Lots of fall colors, mostly yellows with some rich reds. The rappels were nicely spaced. The down climbs were fine, I hand lined two of them and we set Andy as a meat anchor on the drop into Orderville because I wanted to go down the fluted drain on canyon right.

This was my first time down Orderville. I'd gone up it a short distance when doing the Narrows from Chamberlin's Ranch, but had never seen the really good stuff. The water was fine in a 4mm wetsuit. Mostly mid-calf, one dunker down climb, and several short swims. When we reached people coming upstream it was the first time we saw anyone else all day. I kept thinking they were looking at us wondering why we were all suited up, since they were mostly wearing flip flops and shorts. One guy was even in jeans. Wow.

I really wanted to be able to post a trip report about how flawlessly the permit system works when reserving online ahead of time. Unfortunately, I cannot. I had been on the east coast and my flights were delayed. I did not have an express reservation, just a normal one. Fortunately, I called Andy and he was able to pick up the reserved permit. Winter hours have the backcountry desk opening at 8, making a late start for Englestead. We got out of the canyon at 4:45, too late to shuttle down and pull our permit for the next day or sign up for an express registration for next time. We decided to take our time packing up Kevin's camp Thursday morning. Shaun came down that night, and we picked Birch Hollow for our Friday canyon due to time and permits. I tried to check in about an express pass at 8:00 Friday morning, but the line of 40 or more people at the counter deterred me. I looked in again at 8:45 on our way to the trailhead, and found the line had grown even longer. Maybe the system was down? I didn't hang around to find out. I'll need to try for an express pass next time.

Andy and Kevin did a great job keeping us moving. Jacob was funny as always. I had a good time and learned a lot before, during and after the canyon. Thanks for all the pointers along the way.

I had some trouble with the camera, and the aperture priority setting had inadvertently been set at 4 or 5. Oops. A few blurry photos early on in the lower light, then some water spots on the housing in Orderville. More lessons learned. Lots of photos here: http://homepage.mac.com/deanpaulruss...estead_101509/


Would you trust these guys with the beta?


Jacob was the only one who had done Englestead before, and he led us right to the rusting logging equipment.


First looks.


Kevin on rope toss.


Long way down.


Jacob.


Andy on his way to the perch.


Jacob, going down.


Wow.


Kevin.


Andy after the perch duty.






Rabbit hole.












Kevin, Orderville rope.


Guillotine.

[Cirrus2000]

Terrific pics, DP! I'll post mine as soon as... D'oh!!! I can't believe I forgot to take my camera on this one!!! Glad you were able to document it so well. Sure was glad that Andy's rope was 220 feet - simplified the second part of the first rap sequence!

Followed up by dinner at Oscar's - fantastic!

[ratagonia]

Great pics and story - thanks for the TR.

Tom

[blueeyes]

Nice pics Deeps!

[Deathcricket]

Thanks for organizing this trip Deeps! I had a blast hanging with you guys.


For anyone else curious, I think the bird perch route is the better way to go. You avoid the huge mud puddle at the bottom of the first rap and the ackward anchors and start of the 2nd rap (while muddy and slippery). The only downfall is changing ropes while standing on a tiny 3 inch ledge almost 200 feet off the ground definitely increases the "pucker" factor. Both routes are a lot of fun though, don't get me wrong. Woohooo!

[Deathcricket]

@Deeps - Oh man, just finished looking through your pics on the other pages. #47 came out epic man! I know you are too modest to admit this, but damn, you take some darn good pics pics. It's always a pleasure doing a canyon with you because you document it so amazingly.

[accadacca]

Great stuff!

[Jaxx]

Great TR and pics. I am super jealous. I have been itching to get down there and the wife has canyon blocked me. She is preggers and is jealous when I go canyoneering without her. Thanks for posting those pics up for me.

Death what happed to the goat. You look so clean cut now.

[Deathcricket]

It got too long and I tripped over it. And people started confusing me for Confucius. Asking me for wise words an stuff.