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Thread: Robbers Roost

  1. #1

    Robbers Roost

    My buddy Tad and I just got back from 4 days in the Roost Swell area. We headed down Sunday night and set up camp at Burr Pass. Monday we dropped down the East fork of Blue John. There was water from above where the Squeeze comes in and down the hallway after the Squeeze. the water was up to your waist and COLD. Made are feet ache with 2 mil and wool socks, painful. Lucky we decided to haul our wetsuits or we would of really been crying. Headed up the Middle Fork and back out the top. For us old folks climbing out took quite a bit of energy. Had never been there before and those are two awesome canyons. I can promise you will never see my butt come down the Squeeze variation!!! Climbed up that a ways and not going to happen.

    Next day we rode our motorcycles out to the Doll House. Flint trail was covered in snow and probably shouldn't of gone down but we did and had a hard time getting back up. Other then the flint trail the roads out in that area were completely dry. On a side note my WR450 with a desert tank and a 2 liter bottle of gas goes 111 miles, it was 114 back to camp.
    Wednesday Shane told us to go hit High Spur. Rode our moto bikes over there and headed down. That is an awesome slot canyon. The corkscrew section is amazing. Is there a more fotogenic slot around? It's to bad it is on the other side of the planet. I would like to take several of my relatives out there to see it.
    Tad wanted to see where Larry and Alcatraz were so we rode out there after High Spur, road was in great shape. Did not look like anyone had been out in that area this winter.


    Wednesday night we loaded up and headed over to Temple Mtn parking lot. Got up and rode the behind the reef road/ATV trail. Hit Ray's for lunch and headed on home. We had perfect weather and never saw a human other then the female ranger out jogging. Why is the park service manning the Ranger station in the winter? Seems pretty lonely.
    We had a great time. Here's a few pics.


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  3. #2
    Moderator jman's Avatar
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    satellite on the RV...chillin in luxury mark. Very nice!
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    Content Provider Emeritus ratagonia's Avatar
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    Awesome! Thanks Mark.

    Tom

  5. #4
    Bogley BigShot oldno7's Avatar
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    Looks like a good time.

  6. #5
    Nice TR Mark. Was there any water in High Spur? I am thinking of the father-in-law next weekend but his is very prone to cold water. Ive been down the EF of BJ and know better than to take him there this time of year.

  7. #6
    Very nice. My High Spur trip is planned for mid-April. Can't wait.

  8. #7
    Looks like you got some great pictures.

    I think High Spur might be the most beautiful slot canyon on the planet. I think I need to repeat that canyon again in the very near future.

    At one time I would have ranked Antelope Canyon it's equal, but ever since it was dressed up like Disneyland with metal stairs and ladders it's High Spur all the way.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by canyondevil View Post
    Nice TR Mark. Was there any water in High Spur? I am thinking of the father-in-law next weekend but his is very prone to cold water. Ive been down the EF of BJ and know better than to take him there this time of year.
    Not a drop of water. I wouldn't go out there in a passenger car right now. The road has a stretch where there is a pretty large wash out running down the side of it, if you slid in it you would be in for a long day. Anything with 4wd will have no problem getting by. Awesome canyon, wish it was in Moab, but someone would be charging money.

  10. #9
    Very nice! Going to be in that area for 9 days next week!
    Thanks

  11. #10
    Thanks! GOing to do Blue John and High Spur next week...Can't freakin wait!!

  12. #11
    Long time lurker here. How much of High Spur, and its side canyons can be done without tech gear? I'm not really a tech. hiker. I've done a few rappels, but thats it, and I don't have any gear. I'm basically going for photography purposes. From what I've read, there is only 1 big rappel. Is most of the scenic stuff before or after this rap? Thanx!

    Adam

  13. #12
    Just did High Spur on Saturday and the last rap is just after all the real goodies (watch for for my coming trip report with lots of photos) but if you're a decent climber and maybe leave a couple handlines in place, you could retrace your path to escape the canyon. Take a tripod and take your time in the slot sections cause it's AWESOME. And it was dry - no wading

  14. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by akavalun View Post
    Long time lurker here. How much of High Spur, and its side canyons can be done without tech gear?
    Realistically I wouldn't do High Spur without tech gear and completing the route. Its a beginner friendly technical slot and any competent leader should have no problems. So my suggestion is to find a techy to help you through the slot.

    A hiker could visit many portions of the slot, but its a tremendous amount of work and I highly advise against it. This canyon is very fluid in nature and has rappels that appear and disappear. For any hikers safety they should have at least one competent canyoneer/climber along for the ride. And if you have someone like that along you might as well do the entire route because its much easier than attempting some of the escapes.

    You have been warned!

    Your milage may vary....

  15. #14
    Thanx for the info guys. I'm kind of leaning against going with tech. canyoneers simply for the fact that they will probably want to continue when I want to sit at a spot and wait for better light. Or I may want to hike back up canyon to revisit a shot that didn't have the right light earlier. My goal isn't to just bag the canyon and move on, it will be to spend the whole day there (or 2) to come away with some really good images. But unfortunately, most serious photogs aren't canyoneers, and most canyoneers aren't serious photographers. :(

  16. #15
    It's a pretty canyon. I assume you have also been following this thread:
    http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?48965

  17. #16
    Yeah, it looks amazing, rivaling the canyons around Page, which is why I really want to spend some time there. I may have to see if I can wrangle someone to spend a full day or 2 doing the canyon.

  18. #17

    High Spur from Horseshoe Canyon

    I don't have a good map showing both High Spur and Horseshoe, but it looks like there is a 4x4 road (don't worry, for hiking in this case) connecting the two that enters Horseshoe below the Great Gallery. From the exit area of High Spur that road looks like about four miles roughly? Is that about right? Anyone been that way?

  19. #18
    I've done High Spur before but apparently I wasn't paying attention! I need to get back there because this place looks amazing!

  20. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by blueshade View Post
    I don't have a good map showing both High Spur and Horseshoe, but it looks like there is a 4x4 road (don't worry, for hiking in this case) connecting the two that enters Horseshoe below the Great Gallery. From the exit area of High Spur that road looks like about four miles roughly? Is that about right? Anyone been that way?
    When I was there with the family in March, we took that road (Deadman's Trail) to that southeast Horseshoe Canyon trailhead and hiked to the Great Gallery, the day after doing High Spur. That is, we drove the road. From the trailhead, it's a mile and half each way, and I think 800ft of elevation.

    If you are thinking of doing High Spur and then hiking over to the Great Gallery and back in one day, I suppose it could be done, but would be a long, tiring slog. If you did so, I suspect a better bet would be to stay in the canyon bottoms to get over to the Great Gallery. A little more linear distance, but you would eliminate a lot of up and down and it would be more scenic.

    A lightweight backpacking trip to do High Spur, parts of Bluejohn, and the Great Gallery over 2-3 days might be feasible, if there is a way from the bottom of Horseshoe to a Bluejohn entry point. There are prospects for such a route from the aerials, and it looked promising viewing the west rim from the east, but who knows what one might run into on the ground.

  21. #20
    Went there in January 2008. At the time, hans flat ranger said there were reports of snow filled slots in the area. There was 12" of snow on the road from hans flat to deadman's trail and an incessant wind. Overnight temp around -5F. The 5 gal water jug froze 100% solid overnight -- bummer. This was a 3 day tour and we didn't have enough gas in the tank to run the motor if we wanted to warm up cuz we had already driven all over kingdom come. Might have been uphill both ways too now that I think of it -- but I digress. Anywho...I was dying to get some pix of the good stuff. We took off not sure of what we might find in the canyon in the way of water or snow drifts so we were trying to really bust it. Once at the canyon, I realized I had left my camera in the car. Bummer! We didn't dare take the time to go back and fetch cuz we were worried about daylight and conditions. Turned out to be spectacular, all water was solid, no snow drifts, a pleasant 10F, and incredible sinuous, slots. Not a single picture though. My wife doesn't believe we were even there with the no picture story and all. All the chatter about high spur makes me want to go back and get those pix.

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