The Dirty Devil North Route - May 4, 2013

[reverse_dyno]

I normally take a longish desert backpacking trip every year. This year I decided on Steve Allen's Dirty Devil North Route in his Canyoneering 2 book. It surprised me how little information I could fine on this route. The route explores the country just South of Robbers Roost Canyon, popular with canyoneers because you can access the canyons via a network of dirt roads. During our 7 day trip, we never met anyone, although we did follow a pair of foot prints that looked a week or so old for most of the route.

The route goes in and out of quite a few canyons including; Twin Corral Box, Larry Canyon, and No Mans Canyon. You also need to cross the Dirty Devil twice, which was not a problem and easily done in bare feet. It has one section of class 4+ climbing, exiting Twin Corral Box, and a few class 3 and 4 sections. We never used the rope we were carrying. When we were exiting the Twin Corral Box canyon I wanted to use the rope, but there was nothing to anchor it to. If you fell on this section, you would be dead. It was exposed slick rock slab climbing with no hand holds. Only do this route if you are comfortable climbing steep slick rock! All the other class 3 and 4 sections were no problem and had little exposure.

The two of us followed Allen's schedule, and planned the hike for May 4 to May 10, 2013. If you wanted to shorten the trip by a day, you could do Allen's day 3, 4 and 5 in two days. On day three Allen only has you hike for 3 hours. You could hike longer and then sleep on the bench near the road.

Our OR Aurora bivies came in handy, as it rain on and off for three days. The route required us to sleep at dry camps on the benches a few times, meaning there was no over hangs to hide from the rain. We also had brought full rain gear, which helped a lot. I am glad we did not go ultra light on this trip. For two people we had a total water capacity of 11 liters. Water was never a problem, but then again it rained heavily on us and the day time highs were in the low 70's. Even if it had been in the 80's, 11 liters would have been fine for two people.

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------------- Our route started at Burr Point, the Southern most way point. -------------



------------- Looking down into the Dirty Devil Canyon from Burr Point, where we parked. -------------


------------- Looking up after having done the first class 4 down climb. -------------


---------- Looking up at the class 4+ climb out of Twin Corral Box. Thankfully it had not started raining yet. --


------------- Looking down from the class 4+ climb out of Twin Corral Box. -------------


------------- Resting at the top of the class 4+ climb. -------------


------------- There was a lot of bench hiking on the route. -------------


------------- Looking down at the Dirty Devil. -------------


------------- There was a lot of blooming cactus. -------------


------------- Going the wrong way trying to get into Larry's. This section is a little confusing -------------


------------- Looking up at the route we down climbed to get into Larry's. -------------


------------- Larry's canyon, plenty of clear water.. -------------


------------- Time for a break. -------------


------------- One of many alcoves in Larry's Canyon. -------------


------------- Looking down into Larry's after having climbed out. -------------


------------- Here comes the rain, just in time for another bench hiking section. -------------


------------- Blue skies are boring anyways, who needs them. -------------


------------- Looking down into No Mans Canyon, we need to find the route into the canyon. -------------


------------- At this point it is raining, and our route takes us through a few sections of narrows. -------------


------------- We moved through this section as fast as we could because of flash flood danger. -------------


------------- Water fall in the main fork of No Mans Canyon. -------------


------------- I always wondered if the wash ever filled up with water. This was dry the day before. -----------


------------- Looking at the Dirty Devil river on our way to Angle Cove. Trying to out run the rain, again. ------


------------- Almost to the Angle Trail, our way down to the Dirty Devil. -------------


------------- Rain, but not much lightening, just a little. -------------


------------- Campsite above Angle Cove, finally, after three days the weather is clearing. -------------


-------------Henry Mountains, with some fresh snow. -------------


------------- Looking down at Beaver Canyon, on the last day. -------------

[Sombeech]

Excellent report!

[Mountaineer]

6 days, 2 people, and only 11 liters for the entire trip?

[reverse_dyno]

6 days, 2 people, and only 11 liters for the entire trip?

Mountaineer,

We had a total water capacity of 11 liters. Which means that at any one time we could carry 11 liters. There are a few days where you can only get water at the beginning and end of the day. There are also a few dry camps. The area is dry, but it is not that dry .