Alcatraz'ed

[Audilard]

Given the tremendously mild weather and overwhelming desire to get out of town and enjoy a secluded canyon, my bro-in-law and I packed up on Friday the 13th of January and headed south. Arriving at the trail head, or should I say, rappel head of Alcatraz around 11 p.m. Friday night we set up the truck tent back at the big Juniper tree a quarter mile from the rappel and called it a night. Overnight low was about 15 degrees on a crystal clear night. Woke up early, around 5 a.m. to the sounds of Jimmy Buffet blasting on someone's car radio. Unable to sleep I got up and walked to the canyon rim to find two cars, 5 guys and 2 girls, all college age cooking a dutch oven breakfast and sleeping on the ground. They drove by us at about 3 and set up "camp" right at the rim. Good kids, having a great time. We backed the truck up, set up rappel, and off we went.



I was up first on rappel and we were fortunate to have the college kids there so we both could get the glorious Mountain Dew pictures.





I don't believe that rappel is 165ft as listed. More like 100ft at most. I forgot something and had to send my keys up my 200ft rope. I tied them in at the bottom and sent them up. When they reached the top I could still grab the end of my rope. FYI.

Alcatraz is a fantastic canyon. Once you start DC'ing, you never stop squeezing, shuffling, stemming, sliding and tearing your clothes. It is a physically demanding canyon, but loads of fun!





I'm 6'3" and about 180 pounds, had on multiple layers and could generally squeeze through all but the last part where everyone has to climb up and over.

There are some spectacular sections and we hit some amazing sunlight in a few areas.
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We were fortunate and encountered no water except for an easily avoidable spot at the very end.



I believe it took us truck to truck about 5 hours to complete. The afternoon yielded about 45 degree sunshine and little wind. Perfect day. I only wish I had more time to do another canyon, but there is always next time.



And finally, here is a rather comprehensive video of nearly the entire canyon. It's 30 minutes, complete with hilariously loud commentary from excited college kids. It was interesting to get my digital camera back and see what pictures they took of themselves while I was in the bottom of the canyon. You can hear them behind us throughout the beginning of the canyon. Not exactly a peaceful climb, but fun nonetheless. Enjoy!!

[ratagonia]

Awesome pics. Good on ya getting out there. Tom

[Slot Machine]

Great Video! Way to stick the landing at 8 min 30 seconds!

No elbow/knee pads?? Ouch.

Nice TR!

[accadacca]

Great stuff!

[rick t]

the Emperor sits through 28 minutes of video without putting on his helmet police badge? Getting soft, or old?
questions about no knee or elbow pads, with no HELMETS?
nice romp and pics guys, but despite what you apparently think, somebody somewhere loves you and hopes you will come back still with a full deck.
stuff happens out there, especially off season. get some helmets.