old folks go canyoneering - Choprock, Neon, Ringtail; Oct 2011

[kiwi_outdoors]

FWIW - some terse notes from October 2011 - including the entire trip there and back
October 2011 Canyoneering and Canyonlands

Originally planned to include car camping at Canyonlands, and hiking the Virgin River Narrows in Zion – cancelled that part due to weather.

Sept 27 - Day 1 – left home in Oakland, CA, circa 2 pm for a leisurely drive to Bakersfield, we had a hard time finding a dinner restaurant in this part of town, and when we did find one it was mediocre anyway.

Sep 28 – Day 2 – walked to breakfast at Dennys, drove to St. George (stopped at AAA for maps and at Best Buy to look at cameras), then on to Escalante, dropped by Excursions of Escalante to say hello, played “slobber ball” with Sam the black Lab (Rick’s last dog). Lodging at Circle D, good dinner at Cowboy Blues (caf

[peakbaggers]

Your notes may be "terse," but enjoyed the report, especially of the trip through Choprock. Sounded intense. Quite a trip overall.

[kiwi_outdoors]

Fear of the unknown can lead to excessive worry - anticipating the intense aspect. But our guides Rick and Jim had gone thru it a few days prior to ensure that all would be well. Once we got started my butterflies all vanished. My wife had no butterflies.

We only recently discovered the Utah area, and have been coming back for several years. The next trip is more mellow, but still full - Arizona Strip for Pictos and Petros, Wave, Bucksin (Wire pass end and the middlel region), Tappeats Canyon and Thunder River, Canyonlands (various areas), some geode mining in Nevada, and the possibility of East Walker River Hot Springs on the way home.

If you get a chance to camp on the Kaiparowits Plateau at the south end - looking out towards Monument Valley and Lake Pwoell, I highly recommend it (though water is scarce).