North Wash Weekend

[burley]

What we had hoped would be a challenging outing for two with multiple pothole escapes evolved into a fun weekend for three with one little pothole. Due to some gear limitations we decided to stay dry and hit up the North Wash area last weekend. The drive down began in snowy conditions with horrible traffic, but by the time we hit Price the weather was looking better and roads were dry. The weather was AMAZING all weekend, though quite chilly, and we had clear skies above us which made for some great photos.

We arrived Friday night and set up camp at an empty Sandthrax before doing a quick run through Morocco by headlamp. It was a new moon and the stars were amazing. We greatly regretted forgetting the camera once we dropped in, you'll just have to take my word for it: the view was incredible! We had been a bit worried about the approach in the dark but it ended up being pretty straightforward (I had just done Morocco at Freezefest, which helped).

We found it difficult to get out of the sleeping bags the next morning but eventually made our way over to Hogwarts about 9am. There we set up a couple guided raps to avoid some water and mud and played around for a bit with the pot shot. Conditions were great the whole way through, with only a little skiff of snow on the approach.

After a quick bite to eat we drove over to Leprechaun and went down the Right/East fork. This was the first time in the North Wash for my two friends and they both ate it up. We had a blast as we flew through this fun little slot. Again, conditions were great and we didn't encounter any snow or water that wasn't iced over. We made it out by about 3 and decided to try out Blarney, so we hiked back up the Leprechaun approach and cut West over to Right Blarney. Not much to it, but it made for a nice addition to the day, and we were able to finish up before the sun went down.

All canyons were dry or stemmable, anchors and webbing were good enough for us to use, and no injuries reported.

And let me just give a shoutout to a tool I used once again: Backcountry Navigator (app for iPhone or Android). I am constantly amazed at how great it is. It's always reassuring to pull out my phone at the first drop and see that we are EXACTLY at the coordinates given in the Beta. And to be able to have a 'full function' GPS integrated into my phone for free, well you can't beat the price...Now if I only knew how to use it, Gmap4 and Google Earth I could include tracks with this TR. Maybe next time...

Photos courtesy of Duke.

The Day Begins:


Hogwarts:






Right Leprechaun:










Right Blarney:










Back At Camp:

[Rob L]

Great pics and TR!

[Mountaineer]

In the dark and in this cold! Good job. Can't believe how little snow there is.

[Joseph]

Now if I only knew how to use it, Gmap4 and Google Earth I could include tracks with this TR.

I just tried to embed a Gmap4 map in my reply and got an error message saying that the