Rock of Ages

[moab mark]

Does anyone know of a route to the first rappel (Pool Arch) without following Shane's Beta? Ran into a guide there yesterday and they did not come in the way we did. They said they parked at the mouth of Pritchett so they are going up one of the other fingers. Any ideas? On the last rappel he said they are probably going to come and place some glue in anchors. They are using cams right now and re rigging on the bolt on the face for the last guy. On a side note I have to give those who are doing ROA props, the social trail has grown substantially over the last few years but everyone seems to be doing a good job of staying off the crypto soil.

Heads up if you are playing in the furnace. Do not leave your pack and go scrambling. We were playing in the infinity loop area and a Ranger came and found us. He had a melt down about not keeping our packs andd especially our permit with us at all times. He was pretty bent out of shape.

Mark

[Iceaxe]

FWIW: 100-yards south of the final rappel a heavily used trail reaches the slickrock. The trail extends back up one of the canyons to the east (south of the ROA route). You don't find the trail unless you go look for it, because it's not visible from the final rappel station.

Anyhoo.... from looking at this trail I can see it is heavily used by some group or guide. It has been my intention to follow it and see where it goes, because from past experience every trail in Behind the Rocks goes to something cool. If anyone knows anything about this trail I'd be interested in hearing where it leads to or from.

[moab mark]

Instead of going east you can also follow it south and down onto the Pritchett Canyon road and by pass the last rappel if you want to. It has to go somewhere due to the size of the trail. I have wondered if it hooks onto the Hidden Valley Trail. It is to well established not to go somewhere.

Mark

[PG Rob]

Does anyone know of a route to the first rappel (Pool Arch) without following Shane's Beta?

I have been told there is a way of doing the route essentially in reverse. There is a chimney near the final rappel and a rope left to help ascend it. I do not know where it is.

[Iceaxe]

Instead of going east you can also follow it south and down onto the Pritchett Canyon road and by pass the last rappel if you want to.

Are you sure? I have looked for a walk down/walk around and never found one. I hiked the south rim about 1/4 mile or more from the final rappel.

[moab mark]

We ran into a guy with a big dog one day at the last rappel. He came across on that trail we are talking about. I asked him how he got up here and he pointed towards that trail and said he came up from the Pritchett road. I can't imagine that social trail that goes east could be that traveled unless they are coming in from the road?

Mark

[moab mark]

I have been told there is a way of doing the route essentially in reverse. There is a chimney near the final rappel and a rope left to help ascend it. I do not know where it is.

Where you are talking about is probably where Shane and I down climbed instead of rappeling the first time we went. If you can get around the last rappel on the social trail you could probably climb back up that spot and then hike around past pool arch and back out. It would be a pain climbing over the log but it could be done.

[Iceaxe]

We ran into a guy with a big dog one day at the last rappel. He came across on that trail we are talking about. I asked him how he got up here and he pointed towards that trail and said he came up from the Pritchett road. I can't imagine that social trail that goes east could be that traveled unless they are coming in from the road?

The social trail disapperred on the slickrock as I walked south and I could never pick it up again. I walked until the slickrock ended at crypto and there was no trail. So if they are comming up from Pritchett they are not following the rim exactly. I wish I had of spent a few more minutes searching but I had a group waiting to do the rappel. I do believe there is a way around the final rap, I just haven't found it yet.

If you can get up the bottom rappel (last rappel) reversing ROA would be easy. Up climbing the short rappel is pretty easy. I think most would downclimb that drop if the route down was not so difficult to spot from above. I've downclimbed that ledge half-a-dozen times and still have problems locating the route down from above.

[PG Rob]

Look at the route here: List+of+places.kml

and then look at the route on maps.bing.com

[Iceaxe]

Thanks

That makes sence... looks like I lost the trail where it cuts through the fins at point #4. I was following the rim and looking for a way through the cap rock and eventually became cliffed out. My next exploration was going to be looking for a route through the fins.

Now, the next big question... from point #7 (top of the final rappel for those without a map) there is a major social trail heading due east. Where does it go?

[moab mark]

No the big question is how do you get to the first rappel without having to go thru all the posion ivy? How are the guides gettting there?

Mark