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Thread: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

  1. #1

    Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Our group of 4 descended Kolob Canyon on Saturday and had a great time in the canyon. After calling the water release people the day before and getting the usual "We don't recommend descending the canyon" statement and a report of 3 CFS we headed down Friday after work from Utah county. The plan was to throw out some sleeping stuff at the West Rim trailhead and get an early start but one vehicle in our party was met by a ranger near the trailhead and told you can't camp there and the Lava Point campground was full so we headed up to Kolob Res and found a spot to make a quick camp and hit the sack at midnight. For those that don't know, there is free primitive camping at Kolob Res and it's less than 5 miles up the road from the West Rim turnoff. Up at 5 and breaking camp we were on our way to the trailhead. We started our hike at 6:30 and were at the first rap at 8:00. This was my first time in Kolob but was disappointed being a photographer to find way less than 3CFS flowing. We checked at the bridge under the road earlier and there it looked like quite a bit of water was flowing but not so in the canyon. A 5/4 wet suit was plenty adequate as the water wasn't that cold and the pools were clean and clear with lots of fish. We made good time in the canyon and really enjoyed the technical section. Shortly after the last big rap we peeled off our wetsuits and began the hike out. Soon after that last rappel we encountered 4 rattlesnakes within 300 yards of each other and it made us a little jumpy as one of them I almost stepped on. Now we're walking with hiking sticks trying to announce our travel downstream to avoid any unfortunate encounters with poisonous reptiles. The creek dried up entirely but came back after a while so boulder hopping in the stream bed provided some comfort from the snakes as we figured they'd be avoiding the water. Soon we passed Oak Creek and then Boundary and continued down the canyon. Maybe we took off our wetsuits a little early but we enjoyed the several jumps and swims w/o too much discomfort. We were at the MIA exit at 2:30 contemplating the climb out.

    It was in one of these jumps where the "Lost in Kolob" part of the thread title comes in. Many of you have expressed appreciation of the photographs I post on my trip reports but alas, I have no photographs to post along with this thread. I can only guess that in one of the jumps or swims in Kolob Creek, my DSLR popped out of the outside pocket of my Imlay Kolob pack and was lost in a deep pool. It was double dry bagged but with little to no air for flotation and with the camera being much heavier than the little bit of bouyancy in the dry bag it must have sunk like a stone. It wasn't discovered until I was prepping myself for the MIA exit that I found it was missing. BUMMER. If you know that route, there's not much point in trying to retrace your steps as it'd be next to impossible to climb back up most of those jumps and then trying to see the bag in the bottom of one of those pools - no way. I would imagine even well wrapped in a good dry bag it won't survive too long but at least it could be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. If found maybe the CF card would survive and someone could see that there are some pics of a kitchen I was working on and a few photos from Kolob Creek. Maybe some good Karma will come my way as I was able to return to it's owner a lost GoPro camera I found in Zero Gravity last year and from this trip I found a watch in Kolob creek that I'd be happy to get back to it's owner if anybody can describe what they lost. I'll bet it'll take a flood in the canyon to flush out the camera and then maybe it'll turn up.

    The MIA climb out wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered from last year doing Boundary but still pretty taxing for this 55 year old guy. Some cloud cover rolled in that afternoon so temps were much better than full sun for all that road walking. 2 hours up to the road and then back to the truck at 6:00 so nearly 12 hours for the day. I'd like to do the canyon again with a bit more flow. All in all it was a fun day but with a $3000 price tag.

    Wish I'd started up that special insurance policy for my gear

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  3. #2
    Content Provider Emeritus ratagonia's Avatar
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    Great TR. Thanks.

    Otherwise...

    Tom

  4. #3
    Nice TR, bummer about the camera.

  5. #4
    Oh, and I'll be happy to reward the finder of my camera too.

  6. #5
    Reminds me of my very first 35 mm camera, an Olympus OM4. Loved that camera. It was from an era when the Japanese manufactures did not offer english manuals that were quite as well written as they generally are now. In the back of the manual were a series of cartoons indicating things that you should not do with your camera. One of the cartoons showed a camera plunging into a river. The next panel showed a grey outline of a camera with angel wings flying out of the river. So if you dropped that camera in almost any of those pools, I don't think any one will ever see it again. That is a painful loss. My motto is that all gear in the field is disposable which is why I am increasingly reluctant to bring my leica M9 into the canyons.

    Ken

  7. #6
    Content Provider Emeritus ratagonia's Avatar
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    Big Rain today.

    Abandon Hope, All Yee...

    T

  8. #7
    Yeah, I'm hoping this rain might spit it out so it could be found

  9. #8
    I'm still hoping the recent rains might have spit out my camera . Anybody been down Kolob recently?

  10. #9

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Found a DSLR in Kolob creek on aug 21, send me a PM with a description and we'll figure out a way to get it to ya. Unfortuanely both dry bags failed and were full of H2O, but the memory cards appear ok. The camera will be at my friends near St. george if you are in the area and want to pick it up.

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  12. #10

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Quote Originally Posted by Mojave Silence View Post
    Found a DSLR in Kolob creek on aug 21, send me a PM with a description and we'll figure out a way to get it to ya. Unfortuanely both dry bags failed and were full of H2O, but the memory cards appear ok. The camera will be at my friends near St. george if you are in the area and want to pick it up.
    WTF!! Nice dude. So where was it?
    Your safety is not my responsibility.

  13. #11

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Yeah, I'd like to know where you found it too.

  14. #12

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    It was in the last pool prior to the intersection w/ Oak Creek

  15. #13

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Huh, I would have thought it happened in one of the deeper pools a bit farther down. Thanks for dragging the thing out. I know my climb up the MIA exit was a little easier w/o that weight so thanks again for the effort to help out a fellow canyoneer.

  16. #14

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Whoops, my bad. It was after oak creek, before where boundary dumps into Kolob. My friend carried it out, no way was I carrying that weight out MIA. If i was solo in there, my previous post would have stated that I found only the memory cards!!

  17. #15

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Hey, let's get those photos posted. We are all anxious to see these image saved from the depth of Kolob Creek. By the way, try slowly drying out the camera (160 degrees in the oven for many hours). Let us know if the camera comes back to life. This brings new meaning to geocaching.

    Ken

  18. #16

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Here are pictures from Kolob 8/21/12 - when they found the camera.

    http://www.meetup.com/AZ-TECH-CANYON...otos/10355442/

    I doubt that I would have hauled a heavy camera out the MIA trail. I would probably bring it just up out of Kolob and then stash it somewhere for the owner to retrieve later ......

  19. #17

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    A buddy is meeting up with my camera's rescuers in Hurricane to pick it up. I'm hoping it's salvagable.
    Thanks to Deven for packing it out and contacting me.

  20. #18

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    Great pix for sitting under water for a month! Thanks for sharing.

    Ken

  21. #19

    Re: Trip Report - Kolob / Help - Lost in Kolob July 7, 2012

    FYI-the link to the Kolob pix were from our recent descent not from the recovered camera

  22. #20

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