3 days in Ouray

[edsbay]

Watching the weather prior to arriving in Ouray we thought we would be dealing with monsoon conditions but when we started our hike on Friday up the Oak Creek trail the clouds cleared and the weather warmed to the low 80's to make for a perfect start to an epic canyoning weekend.
To get our feet wet we embarked on the middle/lower oak creek double. For experienced canyoneers I think this is a great way to start your Ouray wet canyoning experience. Middle Oak Creek consists of about 7 raps up to about 80 feet with plenty of soaking free hangs so you really get a good taste for being pelted by high volume waterfalls right off the bat. Moving into lower oak creek we were hit with a 3 stage slippery 90 footer. A short down canyon jaunt and the canyon drops away at which time you realize your at the 170 foot waterfall.
For alot of folks this is about the largest rap many have done including 3 out of 4 of our group. Sending the first guy down and reassuring us of a firemans belay, we reset the rope by about 3/4 feet each time in hopes of not coreshotting it, set some extra friction on our rap devices and went about our way. This is a spectacular waterfall and about half way down you realize that in addition to potential rock fall, you also are wearing a helmet for the pelting you take by the volume of water. "Absolute Chaos" one of my buddies commented. "You can't see much, can't hear your buddies and just keeping your wits, continue until you see the ground inch closer and closer to you. After your feet hit the ground and you get off rappel, walk out of the watercourse and look up at what you did and give "hi fives" all around. A great accomplishment for everyone in our group not realizing tomorrow would be way bigger.
2 or 3 short raps, some downclimbs, a snack break mixed in there and we were done with the Oaks. A short 1/2 mile hike back to the car at the corner of oak and queen street, shedding wet suits to the dismay I'm sure of many a local looking at 4 -1/2 naked guys and we were in town for burgers at beers at Ouray Brewery.
Day 2 was the longest and toughest day. Cascade Creek! We all were very excited about this one and ready to step up our game with 3 raps close to 200 feet or more.
We parked a car at the base of Cascade Falls and checked the water in the cement aquaduct. We started the hike at the Amphitheater campground road and saved about a 1/2 mile and 400 feet of elevation gain. Still Jason said the hike is "the ticket" to canyon fun!
After many steep switch backs we reached the high point and made a side trip to the Chief Ouray Mine site which is probably a 15 minute detour. We decided to gear up before the steep downclimb into the canyon and then it was on. This canyon is slick everywhere and many of the downclimbs are as sketchy and scary as they come. We probably did a total 2/3 meat anchors throughout the day.
Hiking down canyon mixed with short rappels and down climbs your body and mind really starts to wander. We took a couple breaks throughout the day to rehyrdate and eat something so our minds were sharp. This is not a canyon for you to be off your game. Downclimbs in cascade creek are no joke and you can hurt yourself badly from a twisted ankle to a broken back to a rescue.
Moving down canyon through tin can alley you reach the first big rap of approximately 200 feet. Setting your friction and off we went and all felt good about the upcoming 300 footer later in the day.
More sketchy down climbs and more raps we reach the Charmin tube which is another 200 footer. A great rap! I even passed a swifts nest with eggs in it!!!! Very cool thing to see. I decided to pass by as quietly and as quickly as to not disturb the little guy waiting to enter this world. Heck....the little guy has enough to deal with being born on a water fall 150 feet up!
At the base of the tube we decided to take our final break as the day was getting late and we still had the big 300 footer left.
A few more down climbs and raps and more downclimbs that we turned into raps we reached the final waterfall. It really is an amazing view when you reach the top of the falls as the canyon opens up, the world falls away and you have a nice view of Ouray looking southwest over town. You can almost taste the victory beers at this point but we all knew we still had work to do.
Setting the rope we all took our turns experiencing a 300 foot rappel for the first time on Imlays 8.3 canyon fire rope. My Pirana worked just fine setting friction level "2". We even brought a 2 foot piece of industrial tube (hose) that we used to protect the rope at a section about 100 feet down. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of this piece of gear. It worked just fine. In this case we had to to pull the rope all the way up each time to get the tubing back and to set it above the rapper. Next time I would cut the tubing length wise so you could remove it when rapping from above and placing it in the appropriate spot. The last rapper tied the tube to the pull cord so it would stay attached to the pull cord line and slide down the rope when we were pulling the pull cord getting the rope back.
Rapping into a crowd of 20 folks cheering and clapping this day really was fantastic and a great accomplishment for all in our group. When you do this rap let the hikers know they should move from under the falls when your pulling the rope because of rock fall. A few small rocks came down when we pulled the rope and scared the hell out of all of use even though we were still were geared up with helmets on. Those things are projectiles.
Back to the car after 7 1/2 hours, a car shuttle and we were once again down in Ouray drinking beers planning our next day even though we were all destroyed.
Day 3 called for Bear Creek. Once again the hike started with steep switchbacks but gave way to one of the most picturesque hikes in all of Ouray. Hiking the Bear Creek ridge gives numerous views of the waterfalls we would run into later in the day. We reached the drainage and found our way to the creek and gear up.
We hiked down canyon for the better part of an hour wading in a few spots up to our thighs and waists. Nice thing about bear creek the rock is no where near as slick as Cascade. Bear Creek was the gem of the weekend. A few spots where your in a deep beautiful canyon and opening up into alpine cascades throughout. The flow in Bear Creek was the highest we experienced the entire trip but all the pools at the base of the raps were silted up so no swimmers and not hydraulic to speak of at the base of La Capella. Seems random how some years are complete swimmers and other years are not!
Bear Creek consists of a total of 6 raps, down climbing and wading and was a great way to end 3 days of canyoning in Ouray and the group consensus was our favorite route of the trip.
The next day we all had to head home but had time to head over to Telluride which is about an hour away and do the via ferrata on the north wall of the box canyon to the left of Bridal Veil Falls. The via ferrata is more of an adventure hike where you wear a harness and attach to cables with your tethers and traverse the wall. I believe this system was pioneered by the Italian ARMY training for mountain warfare. At a few points you are more than 200 feet above the valley on a cable system and hand and feet holds that have been bolted to the wall. A real great way to end your trip if you have time to get to Telluride.
Overall an absolute wonderful trip and I highly recommend any canyoneers that are used to Zion need to take a trip to Ouray. I think Ouray canyons are much much harder than what I have done in Zion. Gotta make sure to inspect all the anchors as well here and replace when needed. Some of the logs we rapped off of I did not like and only a couple of bolts with all the 25/30 + raps we did in total. Mike Dallins 2nd edition of "Ouray Canyoning" is the definitive resource for all the routes describe above which give great route finding and down canyon descriptions.
One suggestion is to soak in the Ouray Hot Springs each evening which is where we told tall tales and figured out what the next day had in store. Really relaxing and great for the muscles.
I did put a coreshot in my rope I believe on the final rap in Bear Creek but that is the price you pay for canyoning in Ouray. Just be careful to inspect your rope often and take the time to reset your rap each time if need be.
A great 3 days of canyoning! Can't wait to get back!

[Slot Machine]

Very nice report! Looks like a blast!

How did that SeaLine backpack hold up? Looks cool.

Also, what kind of rope did you use? I'm a huge fan of the Canyon Fire, but suspect it isn't tough enough for Ouray. What would you recommend?

[edsbay]

The SeaLine bag is fantastic! I believe I have 12-15 days of canyoneering on it and it has held up great. I am not a pack thrower like some folks so probably get a bit more use out of it than most and showing no wear other than the normal. It has been dragged through a lot of stuff so very happy with it. Got it a few months back on S&C for about $70. The only thing I don't like is that you cannot attach a rope to it because no additional straps but you can carry all the food and dry clothes which is never very heavy.

We used a canyon fire and canyoneero and both worked fine. In Ouray you just have to be extra careful with ropes because of so many sharp edges and except coreshots and rope damage is more or less inevitable. Like I said in the report I put a core shot in my 9.2 mm rope on the last rap of Bear Creek I believe but comes with the territory at Ouray.

i'm thinking next time bringing a couple of pieces of carpet to pad the bad edges that you come across so often out there.

i really don't think there is a rope out there that won't take some kind of damage in Ouray. Just par for the course and something you gotta accept.

[mzamp]

Awesome report. I am heading there in a few weeks but will only have one day for canyoneering. I was thinking Oak Creek but now you got me thinking Bear.

[edsbay]

If you got going early you could probably do Lower Oak with the big 170 foot rap as well as Bear Creek. Would be a long day but well worth it!

[jman]

Love the pics! Ouray is on the hitlist one of these years.