Messin' Around Canyon

[Slot Machine]

On August 30th, 2013, Steph, Tom (@TommyBoy ), Micah (@MiCamp ) and I headed for Foolin' Around Canyon in the North Wash.

And missed.

A navigational snafu on my part led us into a slot between Foolin' Around and Horse Play. It's a pretty good one; good enough quality that we didn't question that we were in the correct canyon. Until the end.

The finale was a very nice 90 foot free-hanging drop... into some trees. With no signs of passage, it could be a first descent. Given its location, we realize how unlikely that is.

Either way, it was a very fun and memorable morning with some great new friends. I'm thankful that everyone completed the canyon without incident, that we found our way back to the car quickly (thanks to an outstanding climb by Tom), and that everyone had a great time. We realize how fortunate we were to do this 'exploration' without a major problem.

Beta to be published soon...

Bob



Does Micah have the skills to do this outward flaring chimney?...


He sure does.


Tom and Micah.


Micah.


The final rap. An optional shorter rap on the RDC side (booooor-ing).


Steph making it look easy.

[ratagonia]

Awesome!

Where dat???

Tom

[Slot Machine]

[Kuya]

WOW! What a fun adventure! Way to go Bob!

[Mountaineer]

Nice. Lots of slots around there. Maybe luck it didn't turn out to be "Shenani"s twin?

[MiCamp]

If you're going to have a little navigational oops it can't turn out much better than this one! Messin' Around turned out to be a great little canyon with some wonderful downclimbs and great scenery.
Many thanks to Bob and Steph for inviting me down for a great weekend of canyons and sharing their tips, techniques and wisdom with a newbie. You guys are very cool.

And as Bob said a big thanks to Tom for pulling out a tough climb and mantle up some pretty crumbly rock. Truly awesome.
It was a terrific adventure with excellent teamwork.

Micah

Here are a few more pics

[Slot Machine]

Nice. Lots of slots around there. Maybe luck it didn't turn out to be "Shenani"s twin?

Thanks! Lucky it wasn't Sandthrax's twin. Or another Upper Stair. Or a slightly taller rap at the end. Really lucky.

It's crazy, I've spent hours looking at images of the North Wash and never noticed anything worthwhile there. Such a pleasant surprise.

It was a terrific adventure with excellent teamwork.

It was! Can't wait to go again.

My favorite 'teamwork moment' was our double decker assist on that awkward 22 foot downclimb. You pinning my feet above your head. Then me guiding Steph's feet above my head. We should join the circus!

[SRG]

Very cool man! That exit rappel looks stunning

[Byron]

I say first descent unless someone comes in with proof within a month!

[Scott Card]

Been there (pretty sure it was this canyon) did that (yep, trying to find monkey business after only being taken there once) and hiked out to the highway (we didn't have our climbing gun (Spidey) with us). Fun canyon but not as good as as Monkey Business or Foolin' Around. And BTW, there was really old webbing in there when we went through a few years ago.

[Slot Machine]

Been there (pretty sure it was this canyon) did that...

A strange thing to say, considering you are potentially disqualifying a first descent. Pretty sure?

Did you ghost it? No other specifics? It's not by Monkey Business. There are other options to exit without a climbing gun. Just sayin.

[PG Rob]

Let's hear more about the navigational error. From your parking spot for Foolin' Around (which can vary greatly, depending on how far south you dare go on the road), you typically head west until you hit a wash and follow it south to the head. Messin' Around is south-southwest of parking. Were you using a GPS, map, compass or sense of direction alone?

Also, there is no slot or canyon where you are pointing to on the map. Look at it on Bing. You are pointing to a dirt wash. It looks like the slot is further south still. There really is no slot until within the circle. Looking at this arial photo, it is easy to see where the final rappel is.



Glad everything turned out fine. It sounds like a fun and memorable day.

[Slot Machine]

Let's hear more about the navigational error. Glad everything turned out fine. It sounds like a fun and memorable day.

Thanks Rob, we are also glad, and consider ourselves lucky.

The above image is a digital rendering (forgive me if I don't know the technical term) of the landscape. Sometimes Bing has photos, sometimes not. In this instance, they do not. The above rendering is "soft" and distorted. It does not show what's really there.

So, what happened exactly?



We probably parked at point "A", but possibly not. I'm not sure because my GPS was destroyed the next day. Either way, "A" is not the trailhead.

Using a compass we headed SW toward the only drainage in the SW direction- Foolin' Around Canyon. It is the wash labeled "B". We did not head west down the seismic road, then south down the drainage, as Tom Jones suggests in his beta (my first mistake). I elected to hike cross-country directly toward the head of the canyon. Sloppy, I know. We soon came to a faint wash "C", not knowing that it even existed. "B" and "C" are 250-300 yards apart. If you look very closely "C" continues north a bit. I'm not exactly sure where we entered the drainage, again, because the GPS route has been lost.

Satisfied with the developing drainage before us, feeling about the right distance from the car, I put the compass and map away. The second mistake I made was not checking our position on the GPS when we arrived at the head of the deepening slot canyon. I feel that this is understandable, given the circumstance.

[yetigonecrazy]

A strange thing to say, considering you are potentially disqualifying a first descent. Pretty sure?

Did you ghost it? No other specifics? It's not by Monkey Business. There are other options to exit without a climbing gun. Just sayin.

Strange thing to immediately claim a first D in such a well known slot area without too much checking, and then question someone (who has an impressive desert resume) that says he's done it. Webbing disappears. Just because you didnt see any doesnt mean its pretty sure a first d. Still a sweet canyon and not trying to diminish your post....

Just sayin.

[ratagonia]

Ha ha ha... Slot Machine.

See how sweet and thankful the Bogleyites are when you share something good with them???


Tom

[jman]

Ha ha ha... Slot Machine.

See how sweet and thankful the Bogleyites are when you share something good with them???


Tom

Ha ha...oh classic Tom...

Hey we are always thankful Tom! We have probably have the most cynics here, but hey, we are always thankful.

As a common societal norm - if you are dick or condescend to others - those people can expect the same treatment in return.

[Taylor]

Well done. First descent or not, irrelevant in my book. Couple of questions: When did you realize you weren't in the canyon you had intended to do? Why did you have enough rope for the final 90' rap(I haven't done Foolin' and don't know the length of the longest rap in there)? I usually take more rope than necessary but have been trying to limit that lately. Your trip report could have been quite different if you'd only planned on and taken enough rope for a max 30-40' rappel.

[Slot Machine]

Strange thing to immediately claim a first D in such a well known slot area without too much checking, and then question someone (who has an impressive desert resume) that says he's done it. Webbing disappears. Just because you didnt see any doesnt mean its pretty sure a first d. Still a sweet canyon and not trying to diminish your post....

You don't know who I talk to.

Ram ain't done it. Tom ain't done it. Scott C isn't even describing the right area. Kit, that canyon was PRISTINE. Cleaner than anything I've seen.

and

With no signs of passage, it could be a first descent. Given its location, we realize how unlikely that is.

^I'm not "immediately" claiming anything.^ ... Except your lack of reading comprehension.

I am saying Scott's post is douchey, because he is "pretty sure". That is insufficient evidence, to use lawyer speak.

[Slot Machine]

Well done. First descent or not, irrelevant in my book. Couple of questions: When did you realize you weren't in the canyon you had intended to do? Why did you have enough rope for the final 90' rap(I haven't done Foolin' and don't know the length of the longest rap in there)? I usually take more rope than necessary but have been trying to limit that lately. Your trip report could have been quite different if you'd only planned on and taken enough rope for a max 30-40' rappel.

Thanks Todd!

Good questions.

We realized we were probably in the wrong spot at the last rap. The canyon ended far too quickly, and the drop was like nothing that we had seen, or read about.

We had a bunch of canyons planned for the weekend, and ended up doing 6 canyons in 4 days. I don't memorize everything, so I snagged Tom's beta out of the car. Front page says "raps to 100 feet", so we grabbed 200 feet of rope. Organizing last weekend was a monumental effort in logistics. Minimizing rope weight seemed like a finer point. Shoot, we also brought 200 feet through Duckett by mistake. Too much rope isn't a bad thing, at least in a short canyon.

[ilipichicuma]

Sounds like what happened when we made a navigational error and did Mindbender instead of Not Mindbender. On the map it looked like the first drainage we came to would be our canyon, but it had rained like the day before, so all of the drainages were more pronounced. We didn't realize we were in the wrong canyon until the last rap, too, when our rope didn't reach the ground. We made it work, though. Good job on this canyon! Looks fun!