Another Mystery canyon report..

[DSTRBD]

Seeing as how it was my first time in mystery, I thought I would add my .02 to the trip reports. I met Jeff (p40whk) and his friend Paul at their camp around 7:30, we BS'ed until the road opened at 8.
We were the first vehicle up the canyon so we made good time along the way to the trail head, only stopping for the lights and a nice herd of big horn sheep along the way. We made the trail head by about 9:00, we grabbed our gear and cruised out to the entrance to "death gully".
Looking into mystery was very exciting, We started down the death gully trail and with in about 10 feet Jeff realized with his rope bag on top of his pack that he was destined for a serious header. So we hung his rope bag off the bottom of my pack, I absolutely LOVED the hike down into mystery, the death gully is just my kind of down hilling!
We wandered along the trail making our way around numerous fallen trees and debris, we down climbed the first 6 or 7 bolted "raps" until we got to the one rap that is obviously not to be down climbed, we dropped into the main "narrows" section full of excitement!

What an amazing little section of slot canyon mystery has to offer up! We made our way out the end of the slot section and settled down and grabbed some lunch, after about 30 or so minutes we wandered along the trail wondering if there would be any mud in the "lake" for us to wade through...nope..dry as a bone.
I myself am shocked/amazed at how much rock/sand there is from the landslide, truly amazing to think about the magnitude of that slide. We made our way up the sandpile and scurried down the other side looking for some shade! Soon enough we found shade and the rappel we had all been excited to find....mystery springs..
I rigged the rap and Jeff wanted to go first so he could shoot video of us coming down. So Jeff then Paul then myself worked our way down to the bottom and splashed into the very refreshing mystery spring on such a hot dry day. After a few minutes of relaxing and a couple high 5's, we headed down the "jungle" section of the canyon, a couple down climb's later we were looking into the narrows at all the people whom will probably never get to experience such a wonderful canyon as mystery.
Looking down from the rappel we noticed that there was only one little 4x8 foot area to land our rope bags without them being washed into the river, after a couple of friendly wagers as to if I could hit the sand bar with both bags, I launched the bags out to where I thought they would land on the sand bar.. Both bags landed on the bar within a couple feet of each other.. I wish I would have made those bets 20 bucks each! LOL.
After I rigged the rap I went down followed by Jeff and then Paul. Once we received our standing ovation from the tourists we collected our bags, tucked away our gear and walked down to the shuttle stop for a ride back to canyon junction.

[ratagonia]

Seeing as how it was my first time in mystery, I thought I would add my .02 to the trip reports. I met Jeff (p40whk) and his friend Paul at their camp around 7:30, we BS'ed until the road opened at 8.

Very nice - thank you for sharing your impressions of this wonderful canyon.

Any trouble finding the start?

Just a reminder for your companions that helmets are currently on sale!

http://canyoneeringusa.com/shop/prod...age=1&featured

Tom

[DSTRBD]

Very nice - thank you for sharing your impressions of this wonderful canyon.

Any trouble finding the start?

Just a reminder for your companions that helmets are currently on sale!

http://canyoneeringusa.com/shop/prod...age=1&featured

Tom

Thanks Tom, Mystery is truly a beautiful canyon with a little bit of everything to see .

We had no problem at all finding it, I am amazed that people actually have trouble finding it, it now has two huge cairns marking it.

Im sure Jeff and paul will get helmets very soon.

[p40whk]

Just got home (Cincy) from an exhaustive drive from out west so I'll add some of my pics to this and post a full trip report of all our hikes in a few days.

Mystery was probably the highlight of our trip, thanks Tracy for joining us. It was a pleasure meeting you and your wife Wendy and we hope to get back there soon so keep some days free.

I actually had my shred-Ready helmet sitting on the dining room table ready to be loaded into the truck for the trip and yes, it was still sitting there when I walked in the door this evening! I just bought it so wasn't going to purchase another. Will definitely try to kick this old brain into gear next time and not forget!.

The canyon is as good as Tom's description (thanks Tom, I've worn your book out) but going down Death Gully at the end of our trip with sore muscles was a real chore! To me, it was the hardest part.

I spent the week wearing the 5.10 Savant's and have to say these shoes were great (same sole as the canyoneer), I highly recommend you try them. Still, the last rap down Mystery falls was like walking on snot and even the 5.10's had a problems sticking there!

I'm definitely looking forward to getting back out there to do it again. My friend Paul was asking me on the drive home when I wanted to fly out to do it again, I think he's hooked! It couldn't have been in a nicer canyon or park!

Zion is still my favorite!

[mtthwlw]

Nice to see the TR. I love Mystery. We did Spry that day and the weather couldn't have been better.

I spent the week wearing the 5.10 Savant's and have to say these shoes were great (same sole as the canyoneer), I highly recommend you try them.

I'm interested P40whk... I bought the Canyoneers this year and lost toenails because of the sizing. See: http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...at-size-to-buy

I'd like to get a pair to replace them, but I'd like to know if I should plan on getting size 13 (the next size that I'd like to try if I stay with 5.10 Canyoneers) or if I should go with my real shoe size-- 11.5. Do they have a similar fit? (Are they wide like Canyoneers?)

Thanks.

[p40whk]

Nice to see the TR. I love Mystery. We did Spry that day and the weather couldn't have been better.



I'm interested P40whk... I bought the Canyoneers this year and lost toenails because of the sizing. See: http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...at-size-to-buy

I'd like to get a pair to replace them, but I'd like to know if I should plan on getting size 13 (the next size that I'd like to try if I stay with 5.10 Canyoneers) or if I should go with my real shoe size-- 11.5. Do they have a similar fit? (Are they wide like Canyoneers?)

Thanks.

I tried 4 different pairs of the canyoneers on and none of them felt comfortable. I've worn many of the other 5.10 approach shoes and they all fit me true to size so I couldn't figure out why the canyoneers were so different. The Savant's have the same sole as the canyoneer and they fit me in my regular size using both a hiking sock and a Neo-Sock. I think the canyoneer's are designed to use the heavy weight neoprene socks with a sole on it rather than the neo-sock.

[p40whk]

A long video of each of the major rappels (sorry for the shaky camera work and vertical format):