LIttle Bull Canyon and South fork of Bull canyon

[Whitnoid]

we dropped into both of these canyons in one day this weekend (Sunday, Nov 6, 2011)and ran into some things we did not expect!
The only description we had of these canyons was from Kelseay's 2nd edition technical slot canyon guide to the colorado plateau.
South fork in this book is rated PG but possible R to larger folks. I found this canyon to be more R rated all around. the top section is narrow and basically just 2 downclimbs of 10 ft and 20ish feet. those seemed to be ok and fit the pg rating. however, down canyon we ran into the last downclimb which looked more like 50 feet and was a bit bulged out and over hung(i.e. not a safe downclimb no matter what your size). I'm very curious if the canyon has changed much since 2008 when the book was published? also, it was a beautiful and amazing canyon and I would have loved to rap down that last slot. Would anyone be opposed to bolting that part seeing as there is really no other trusty anchors?

Little Bull Canyon was amazing! I have never been in a canyon that narrow or dark and I have never rapped off a choke stone! WOW.that is stemming at its' finest! Please be sure to bring a headlamp and watch where you put your hands and feet in the dark narrow slot. We saw two small scorpions hiding in the darkness. And again I am very curious about the bottom of that canyon. I found no suitable anchors for the bottom section and would love to go back and bolt it. probably in two sections seeing as the bottom drop is very far and has some traversing in the middle.

[ratagonia]

Yes, in general, an objection to applying a bolt. That YOU did not find an anchor solution does not mean one cannot be found.

Now the real question - where? I cannot find this Little Bull Canyon. Mr. K's books do not have indexes. What page?

South Fork Bull might more commonly be known as Chambers?

http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/roost/cham.php

This is pretty entertaining too: http://www.themountaininstitute.com/.../chambers.html

... OK, now I see. My bad - I was expecting Little Bull to join with Bull Canyon. I forgot how silly Mr. K's names are.

Looks cool. Might have to check it out.

Tom

[CarpeyBiggs]

we did lil bull in 2007. i'm pretty sure the big rap could be downclimbed by someone with some real cajones. it's awesome. my write up on the latest rave - http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/rave/...st/pages/day6/

the lower part of the canyon doesn't have anything in it, from what i recall? you can walk around to it from the dirty devil river into white roost, IIRC.

awesome TR, thanks.

[accadacca]

Looks like a lot of stemming.

Nice report.

[Coselmar]

Thanks for the report and photos.

Four weeks ago (October 13) my brother and I descended Chambers (SF Bull) in combination with Lost Angel (on the other side of the Dirty Devil). I agree with your comments about the R rating, mainly due to the extreme tightness in the upper section and the hard upclimb in the lower section. I don't remember any downclimbs being very difficult and I can't think of any places where a rappel might be necessary. Also, none of your photos look much like the canyon we descended. I wonder if you might have stemmed up high over some of the tight spots where we were on or near the bottom?

Here is a photo of my brother and I in the chamber rooms.

[Whitnoid]

Agreed. that is an awesome photo but definately not the canyon we were in! hhhmmmm we followed the channel down but possibly we were not at all in chambers.
after the first 2 down climbs it opens up into more a drainage than a canyon. we stayed left where it looked like water had flowed. possibly we were in the wrong canyon all together. maybe we had to stay farther NW and hike on plateau for longer before dropping in? maybe we should have gone right in drainage.
on second thought i think we were just south of chambers... because the drops that we did had no resemblance to the 'chambers' in any of the links you've all shown. and the final 'down climb' was atleast 50 feet.
O well guess we'll have to go back and explore. but if anyone does head out there to drop chambers, try staying farther S. and let me know what you think.
thanks for all the responses

[spinesnaper]

Love the stemming in the open toed sandals. Fun!

Ken

[eldofool]

What Kelsey calls "Little Bull Canyon" actually enters Robbers Roost Canyon from the west, just down-canyon from Little White Roost. A bit of a misnomer, since it is on the other side of Bull Point from the Bull Canyon complex. MK describes fixing a line at the first drop, descending the canyon to the final pour-over, then reversing the canyon from that point. (See MK's Technical Canyon Guide, 2nd ed., p78; or MKs Henry Mountains/Robbers Roost, 3rd ed., p72.)
We descended the entire canyon March 5, 2012 as a party of two. The first drop is a 90-foot rappel from a good chockstone. The rappel involves awkward chimneying, traverses sideways 20 feet, and goes over several chockstones. There is very high potential for sticking your rope on the rope pull, if not at the anchor point, then from the rope wrapping around the chockstones midway down the rappel. An intermediate anchor from one of the chockstones may reduce this concern, but would involve a very cramped rappel station. We were lucky and had no problem with the pull. Below here is a very nice, very dark section of slot (bring a headlamp!). The final drop, which Kelsey measured as a single 57m drop, we did in two stages. First, a tight, awkward elevator downclimb of 40 feet (perhaps R-rated); then, after a short distance, a squeeze through a flared slot to a drop of 100 feet, over the pourover to the canyon floor and the end of the technical section. We rappelled from a small chockstone for this drop. This anchor was difficult to establish, but after very rigorous testing, was adequate for us. Future parties may want to re-establish this anchor, or reverse the canyon from this point. From here a short walk downcanyon leads to RR Canyon, which is followed downcanyon to a small side-canyon on the right, just across from where the South Fork meets RR. Where the ascent in this side-canyon is blocked by a pourover, we scrambled up and left, eventually reaching the slickrock and the dome exit from Chambers to Bull Point. Our total travel time, round-trip from our camp at Bull Point, was 5 hours. A very good canyon, but more difficult than most of its neighbors.

[stefan]

What Kelsey calls "Little Bull Canyon" actually enters Robbers Roost Canyon from the west, just down-canyon from Little White Roost. A bit of a misnomer, since it is on the other side of Bull Point from the Bull Canyon complex.

i suppose it depends on your point of view.

he calls it 'little bull canyon' because it is close to and descends off of what he calls 'bull point' (which itself is named after bull canyon).

[ratagonia]

This photo (attached) is looking into the middle of Chambers. If you came down from the point as shown on the map, following a drainage, the drainage drops into the canyon at this point. http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/roost/chambers.jpg

You can rap in at this point, for instance by tying off a rope to one of several anchors back away from the edge, and picking it up on the way back. If you track right across the slickrock, you can get to the main canyon where it is a wash, and then start the canyon part at the head. Fun downclimbs, some narrow stuff, a couple hard upclimbs. I give it a rating of SLOT-R(minus), which might be a little high; SLOT-PG(plus) might be more appropriate. The SLOT- ratings have not really gelled yet, so it is hard to be really specific with the ratings. Most of the stuff in there is not very high up, just a couple sections that are strenuous. The one place that is high is not very difficult. It seems like rappelling would be unlikely - we do not usually bring a rope, though we try to bring a long piece of webbing in case someone needs a little help.

Tom