Badger Canyon--- Can You Hear Me Now?

[deathtointernet]

Been kind of taking things light for the year so far, running through dry Yankee Doodle and exploring the depths of the Upper Keyhole Canyon complex in Zion. For the weekend I thought I'd try some more involved winter canyoneering. Driving out to Marble Canyon, on Saturday I did a dayhike up and back in South Canyon. On Sunday I decided to take a stab at a technical canyon, the North Fork of Badger.



Passing underneath Highway 89 in the upper canyon. A bit of frozen water in the bottom. I was hoping not to see much more of that. It wasn't exactly warm... the previous night had been a bit warmer than the first, only getting down to 22 degrees or so, but still kinda cold.



After some downclimbing to get around a dryfall I reached the first rappel, a straightforward 30 foot drop down a wide shaft anchored off a wedged rock underneath a ledge on the right.



The rappel dropped me down into muddy, shin-deep water. Took me a minute of hanging on the rope to convince myself I wanted to drop into it. Cold but just on my feet, not a terrible thing. I pulled the rope with the usual bit of nervousness I always feel when at the point of no return on a solo descent, especially a solo descent of a canyon I've never been down before. I'm in it now.



Walking around a frozen pool on a ledge, I immediately came to the second rappel, a 60 foot drop down a beautifully polished shaft, anchored off another wedged rock. The canyon was getting nice and deep now.



Looking back at the second rappel. The shaft dropped directly into a deep, small pothole, which was separated from the larger pool just below it by a thin rib of rock. It was easy to rappel to the rib, pull the rope, and walk out on the ledge to make a jump to the muddy ground just beyond the water. Glad to avoid any more freezing water, thank you!



A few downclimbs followed, and then the South Fork entered and the canyon dropped into a narrow section with several semi-frozen pools. I tried to bypass the pools via some ledges on the left, but nothing seemed to work, so I dropped into the narrows to check out the pools. The first looked shallow and not bad, so I decided to just suck it up. In retrospect I should have spent more time... I missed an easy bypass down a crack in the ledges somehow that would've avoided the water completed. Instead I plunged in and had one of the more surreal moments of my life.

The pool was deeper than I thought... waist deep, and frighteningly cold. Smashing the thin layer of ice over it, I waded through, mentally not in a good place, worried that I wasn't prepared for this much cold water. And then the unthinkable... I had my cell phone in my pack, buried somewhere, and must have forgotten to turn it off. Incredibly it managed to pick up a signal, and as I stood there in the water, ice swirling around me, I received a text message from my friend Elaine back in St. George about the spaghetti dinner party she was at the previous night. I stared at the phone for a minute, laughed out loud, any tension completely gone, and discovered that I could climb back up to the ledges and then back down the other side, avoiding the second, deeper-looking pool. So hooray for Verizon cell coverage, apparently?



Continuing down the dry section of the narrows, chuckling to myself the whole way.



The third rappel had two anchor points, one that dropped down the watercourse into a big pool, or a second that created a longer, freehanging drop down the cliffs to the side of the drop (right looking down canyon). While Todd's book mentions the first anchor as being on the right and the second anchor as being on the left, both are on the right side.



After the last rappel the technical canyon was over, and it was an easy walk to the river. A little chilly at the beach compared to the one at South Canyon the previous day, but still comfortable and very scenic. I had lunch and packed up the gear.



I had decided to use the downriver exit described in Todd's book. The boulder field was a slow grind, with constant scrambling up and down and around car-sized boulders. But I did manage to surprise several bighorn sheep on the other side of one of the larger boulders. They ran up the rocks a little way and stood watching me. I saw one the previous day... there's sort of a running joke about how I almost *always* run into bighorn sheep when I go out. Probably has something to do with the places I go, and the fact I'm usually solo and making far less noise.



After a while the boulders got a little more manageable, and I made better time. Reaching the next little unnamed drainage coming in, I identified the debris slope on the left as my route up. It was of course steep and loose and a little treacherous in places, but I did find pieces of a path here and there.



After a long ascent the debris pile led to some ledges going up the cliff barrier of the Coconino. The river was absolutely stunning from up here. A few small climbs got me above the cliff band, the first was easy enough that I could do it with my heavy pack on, the second had a rope fixed from a bolt, and I used the rope to haul the pack up. Once above the Coconino, the exit was surprisingly quick, a path led up the boulder strewn canyon to some short ledges that allowed escape. Several miles of easy hiking through the open desert brought me back to the highway and my car, and my adventurous weekend was over. Great to get out in the winter, and an interesting canyon.

Oh, and I'm seriously considering approaching Verizon about an endorsement deal.

[ghawk]

Awesome TR Looks like a lot of fun

[CarpeyBiggs]

beautiful stuff. nice!

[accadacca]

Excellent!

[Dan-wild]

Nice one! I love the pics. Looks like a fun one to do solo!

[oldno7]

very well done

[Iceaxe]

[spinesnaper]

This just isn't a problem with ATT.

Ken

[Scott Card]

Nice. I don't know whether to admire you or think you solo guys are crazy.

[deathtointernet]

Nice. I don't know whether to admire you or think you solo guys are crazy.

Yeah, I'm not sure on that one. It's sort of like an addiction... first I said I'd never do it, then I said I'd never go alone down a canyon I had never done before, and now I'm just putting my foot down on making sure to tell someone when I go. I've been yelled at and lectured, and I know it isn't the swiftest idea. That said, there's something about being alone in a dark canyon that really allows you to focus on your surroundings and the experience.

That said, apparently this time I could have just called for a rescue!

[qedcook]

Where is Badger Canyon? I'm not asking for specifics, just the general area?

[deathtointernet]

Arizona.

Okay, it's one of the upper tributaries of Marble Canyon just a few miles south of Navajo Bridge. Todd Martin describes it in both his books.

[canyoncaver]

Nice TR. My wife and I did this canyon on January 2. We did not know about the exit trail, so ascended back up all the drops. That was a pretty fun way to go too, but we'll have to try it your way next time. We took our shoes off for the one plunge pool, so kept dry socks and shoes. That was nice considering it was about 45 degrees in the canyon! We bypassed the waist deep pool. Didn't see any bighorns, but saw a large Condor soaring and then perching on the edge of the canyon.