Zion: Right Fork Great West Canyon

[JSprow]

I very much appreciate all the great info I got from this forum prior to venturing into the Right Fork of the Great West Canyon in Zion. My buddy Greg and I did it last
weekend and it was all it was supposed to be. Rugged, beautiful, and challenging route finding.

[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]After renting some gear we arranged a shuttle from Right Fork to the West Rim trailhead. The shuttle picked us up at 8:40AM at Right Fork and we went up the twisty road towards the West rim. Given we were still eating and caffinating, we were a bit nauseous when we arrived at our starting point and did not think to double check where we were. After the driver pulled away I fired up the GPS in my phone. I couldn

[tanya]

You could try La Sportiva's - the canyoneering version

http://www.thedesertrat.net/store.html

http://www.zionnational-park.com/canyoneering-gear.htm


Great trip report! Thank You!

[trackrunner]

[QUOTE="JSprow"][SIZE=3][SIZE=2]I

[spinesnaper]

Congrats on going through the right fork. Very interested to see your photos.

I think you are heroic for renting boots and hiking 21 miles in them! Personally I don't care for the 5.10 canyoneers. I prefer the 5.10 Savant which is an amphibious urban freerunner shoe. They lace up making it easier to control the fit. As of late I have been seeing Merrill amphibious shoes in Marshall's on clearance if price is an issue for a shoe that will be destroyed in a season.

Ken

[JSprow]

Thanks for all the shoe recs. I will DEFINITELY be doing something else next time. I've never had issues with the 5.10s before but they certainly failed miserably. I should have gone a size larger but the flesh wounds heal.

Yes, I will post pix once my buddy gets them to me. He had a new waterproof/impact resistant camera so he got shots all thru the goodies. Including the lovely black pool. I will pester him.

[oldno7]

I also prefer the Savant. Only drawback is their durability, they last me about half as long as the canyoneers.

[DSTRBD]

I use the exum ridge pro with a neo, They are a great (probably my favorite of all time) But they don't handle the side impacts of canyoneering very well. Amazing for light canyoneering and hiking though!!

[JSprow]

Simple iphone pixs at the top of the staircase. We bivy'd there on Sat nite. Yes "real" photos to follow. iphone sealed up on day 2 for the water.

[Sombeech]

Yes, I will post pix once my buddy gets them to me.

If it's any easier, you may be interested in putting them on picasaweb and just embedding the slideshow here.

[trackrunner]

Hey the thread is not worthless.

your new here and haven't learned the rule: if there a no pics for a TR report then it didn't happen and the thread is worthless.

This thread now has 4 pics so it did happen and is not worthless.

can't wait to see the others pics

If it's any easier, you may be interested in putting them on picasaweb and just embedding the slideshow here.

how to embed a Picasaweb slideshow

how to embed a Flickr slideshow

how to embed a Webshots slideshow

[spinesnaper]

Boy, tough crowd. Must be all that video gaming.

[comicdr]

John Great report! I have nothing to add except. I was very very glad to have John navigating. We were well up to the physical challenge, but I felt pretty lost and looked to John for GPS guidance often. Thanks for being a great partner in the canyon. I was glad to drive. Thanks everyone for the show alternatives I love my hiking boots but hated this length of canyoneering route due to the shoes.

[jman]

Boy, tough crowd. Must be all that video gaming.

trackrunner is our local "hall monitor" as another member posted awhile back...hehe

[Scott Card]

Love it!! New members, new reports.... very nice. I love my 5.10's but I refuse to hike very far with Neos. I will hike with wool socks then change into neos for really cold water (Freezefest type water) and then back into wool. I actually own two sizes of 5.10's due to the fact that if I tried to slam my neo covered foot into my regular size I would hate life after a mile. But in that same shoe with thin wool socks I can hike all day, wet or dry. I go up a full size for the neo/cold water trips and wear thick wool socks until I hit the extra cold water. To be clear, unless there is ice in the water or very close to it, I stick with wool.

[ratagonia]

Love it!! New members, new reports.... very nice. I love my 5.10's but I refuse to hike very far with Neos. I will hike with wool socks then change into neos for really cold water (Freezefest type water) and then back into wool. I actually own two sizes of 5.10's due to the fact that if I tried to slam my neo covered foot into my regular size I would hate life after a mile. But in that same shoe with thin wool socks I can hike all day, wet or dry. I go up a full size for the neo/cold water trips and wear thick wool socks until I hit the extra cold water. To be clear, unless there is ice in the water or very close to it, I stick with wool.

I concur, Dr. Card.

I use much the same system. Heavy Wool most of the time (TEKO Heavy Hiker). I ADD a 2mm Neo sock for coolish water (Das Boot, Imlay, Heaps, Kolob, Boundary, Choprock). I use the 5mm Argos for the same list in the colder season, though in Imlay recently I noticed that the Argos worn directly against skin yielded two blisters/rub spots from the seams inside the sock. For Heaps a week later, I went with a light wool sock inside the Argos to prevent that. When I use the Argos, I need to remove the 5.10 footbed to get a little more space.

Sorry to hear about your feet getting torn up. Very important in the Canyoneer to get them long enough; but for people with other than wide feet, the shoes will be very sloppy. Adding wool socks to fill it up helps quite a bit.

Tom

[ratagonia]

I very much appreciate all the great info I got from this forum prior to venturing into the Right Fork of the Great West Canyon in Zion. My buddy Greg and I did it last weekend and it was all it was supposed to be. Rugged, beautiful, and challenging route finding.

After renting some gear we arranged a shuttle from Right Fork to the West Rim trailhead. The shuttle picked us up at 8:40AM at Right Fork and we went up the twisty road towards the West rim. Given we were still eating and caffinating, we were a bit nauseous when we arrived at our starting point and did not think to double check where we were. After the driver pulled away I fired up the GPS in my phone. I couldn’t make sense of the landmarks. Then I went to the map at the trailhead and that sinking feelingin my gut reached a new level. The driver had dropped us at the Wildcat trailhead, NOT the West Rim! We were a good 5 miles from where we were supposed to be and already had a late start.

John and ComicDr. booked their shuttle with us, Zion Adventure Company, and were generous and understanding about the screwup. Jonathon refunded their shuttle fee.

Excuses:
1. We do not do very many Right Fork shuttles, so they are unusual. Thus, we have not had a separate item for this, it has been handled as a custom shuttle.
2. Those that we do do, are often done in the spring, when the West Rim Trailhead is closed by snow, and the best starting point is the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead.
3. A "Right Fork Shuttle" can mean from the Right Fk Trailhead to either Wildcat TH or the West Rim TH.
4. The Right Fork adventure requires quite a bit of navigational savvy - I (Tom) would expect that the RF Adventurers would have sufficient savvy to realize what trailhead they are being dropped at. (see below)
5. In General, may I suggest that people booking shuttles would do better to specify WHERE they want to get to, rather than what adventure they wish to do. Much less ambiguity that way.

Anti-Excuses:
1. John probably made it clear what he wanted when he booked the shuttle, but those specifics did not make it into the notes on the reservation; and thus not to Maria who drove the shuttle.
2. While Tom might expect the adventurers to be savvy, visitors who have not spent a lot of time in the Park rely upon Zion Adventure Company to know the Park and the adventures well enough to deliver people to the best trailhead or at least the trailhead that they choose. We should be able to deliver to this standard.

Corrective Action:
1. We have added a new product to the list, a Right Fork TH to Lava Pt (ie, West Rim TH). This is a bit more expensive than the Subway Transfer as it takes the Shuttle Driver about an extra hour to zip up to the West Rim TH and back.
2. It has been added to the training manual (and alerted to current staff) that for the Right Fork, some people might choose West Rim TH and some people might choose Wildcat TH - but that the client should be given the choice and their choice should be clear in their reservation.

We are discussing the socks and shoe program and what might work better for adventures other than The Narrows, and what we should communicate to adventurers.

My thanks to John and Dr. Comic for their understanding and good humor. My apologies for our failure to deliver up to standard.

Tom Jones
Zion Adventure Company

[JSprow]

Hi Tom,

Shite happens. I know ZAC and Jonathon for many years (maybe 1996/7) and know you guys are great. I learned what little I know from Jonathon and others in his crew and will always be grateful for that. I understand accidents do happen and that's why I didn't mention who the shuttle arrangement was made thru. Too much negativity (and whining) goes on various boards (not here) and I have never been, nor will be part of that mentality. I know I learned something (check before releasing driver!) and all one can do now is what you have, to be sure it doesn't happen again. That's what really counts. Jonathon did the right thing as I knew he would.

Now the shoe thing is BIG and I continue to absorb all this info. I have narrow feet and while I did use other socks a bit on day 1 I will do wool next time. For some reason I seem to learn best thru my mistakes and certainly this is another good example of that. My kids think it is funny or dad is crazy.

Thanks again Tom for the advice which was all spot on. Great place and an experience to remember. In fact it gets better with each passing day!

[comicdr]

A few shots of the trip; while not as eloquent as John, I found the trip to be extremely satisfying from a challenge and pure fun standpoint. Had we gotten an earlier start and dropped in from the rim, I feel day two would have been less of a slog. Route finding as said was a bit confusing so a GPS beta and ma skills all are necessary to avoid undue worry. But a lot of the fun was the bushwack and element of surprise. I am now hooked and look forward to our next multiday trip.

[tanya]