Quandary - Knotted Rope Loop

[Absolute Gravity]

Day 4, Monday March 18th. 11-ish hours car to car.


The direct section of Quandary has been high on my list of canyons to do for a long time now so I was pretty excited for this day. Bob wasn't feeling great so he sat this day out while Stephanie and I set out to meet up with an awesome team of canyoneers consisting of Ram(@RAM), Jennymae(@JennyMae), Tom Jones(@ratagonia), Steve Ziff, John and Mark ( I can't remember John or Mark's last name ). Everyone was super capable and I look forward to doing some more canyons with them in the future.


Anyway, the canyons. We met up around 7:15 and were off by 7:30 or so. Up Quandary we go. There was water everywhere. Eventually we get our first view of the bottom of direct. Wow. This is going to be fun. We hike to the top of direct and suit up. Most of the potholes were completely full and with only a few exceptions were easy to escape. The only bad thing was that the water, and therefore most of the group were quite cold. My wetsuit was a little thicker than the others and I ended up being a little too warm and spent as much time as possible floating on my back in these fantastic pools. Towards the end we had the opportunity to rap off of a water trap. Felt perfectly secure on my way down the short rappel. Once at the bottom I felt like doing another lap, but we still had lots of hiking in front of us and everyone else was a little chilly so up the bypass route and some more of Quandary until we could cross over to Knotted Rope.


Knotted Rope. After doing the direct section of Quandary I asked Ram what he though Knotted Rope would be like. I was pretty sure of the answer but wondered what he would say. With a big, wide eyed grin he said "It's going to be a waterpark!". Awesome, can't wait.


Knotted Rope is a romp-and-a-half. Just pothole, into pothole, into pothole for hours. So much fun. I was probably having a little more fun than everyone else due to my nice warm wetsuit, but I think we all got our moneys worth. Stephanie and Mark got the shivers along the way but were able to eventually warm up a bit for the best part. Towards the end of Knotted Rope there are some fantastic slides into large potholes which we giddily slid down.

The views from the first part of the exit are some of the best I've ever seen. The group was booking it back to camp but Jenny needed to shed a few layers before hiking out so I took a little extra time enjoying this amazing view while waiting for Jenny.

So, in summary, one of my favorite hikes so far with some great new friends.


*Unfortunately we left the camera in the car so no pics this time. If I'm able to get some from one of the other members of our group I'll throw them up.

[moab mark]

Sounds like that was a great time.

[outsider]

Nice TR! A great day indeed. The waterpark in lower Knotted was fantastic. Glad you ran warm and could do some depth testing for us. Wish I could help with pictures, but as you know I fumbled my camera into one of the deepest pots in KR... Haven't pulled that stunt before... think I'll rig a leash next go-around.
-john

[Absolute Gravity]

Wish I could help with pictures, but as you know I fumbled my camera into one of the deepest pots in KR... Haven't pulled that stunt before... think I'll rig a leash next go-around.
-john

I think a leash is a great idea. If I was standing next to you I think I could have caught it . I saw it all in slow motion. From the look on your face I think you knew it was gone even before you jumped in after it. Super bummer, would have like to see the pics on it.

[ratagonia]

Nice TR! A great day indeed. The waterpark in lower Knotted was fantastic. Glad you ran warm and could do some depth testing for us. Wish I could help with pictures, but as you know I fumbled my camera into one of the deepest pots in KR... Haven't pulled that stunt before... think I'll rig a leash next go-around.
-john

http://www.store.canyoneeringusa.com...60&id=10914119

Jus' sayin'...

Tom

[outsider]

Tom, I watched you using your camera float for 2 days and was thinking I'd get one... now I'll definitely get one for the pothole/wet canyons. But for more general use I'm still planning to go with a tether - a float won't save my camera if I drop it in a high-stemmer.
Tony, if you had been floating in that pool cooling off it may have bounced right into your lap! But not to be...
-john

[Iceaxe]

Just curious.... why climb that crappy by-pass in Quandary twice? I've done the Knotted Rope/Quandary Loop once and we went up Knotted Rope and Down Quandary Direct. Well.... actually we went down Quandary Direct and up Knotted Rope because we came in from the top, but you get the idea. Getting up Knotted Rope was interesting, not really difficult but a good lesson in teamwork and problem solving.

FWIW: If doing the up Knotted Rope and down Quandary Loop again I think I'd try coming in from the bottom like you guys did.

[jman]

Knotted Rope is a good time

Thanks for the sharing the adventure.

[Absolute Gravity]

Just curious.... why climb that crappy by-pass in Quandary twice?

I wasn't driving, just along for the ride. But...since you mention it I whole heartedly disagree. The view of the bottom of Direct while walking up the bypass was great, one of my favorite of the trip. Plus I don't think the bypass hike up was that bad. I think most exits are quite a bit worse than hiking up the bypass. And going down Direct totally makes up for it. With that much water in it I wouldn't mind doing a few laps.

[Iceaxe]

The view of the bottom of Direct while walking up the bypass was great, one of my favorite of the trip.

You mean this view?



I sat up there one day after a rainstorm the night before and watched a couple groups play through, it was actually pretty entertaining. And than we did the route with my daughters who were 6 and 8 at the time.

[Absolute Gravity]

You mean this view?

Oh yeah . And even the view from lower on the bypass where you can just almost see the potholes, but you see the shape of Direct and it just taunts you.