Upper Black Box

[Udink]

"Black Box on Monday?" said Chris' text on Thursday. It started simply enough, and though we didn't do much planning together after that, everything came together nicely on Monday morning when Chris, Karin, and Katie met at my house and we got a late start driving into the San Rafael Swell. Karin and I parked our Jeeps at the end of the Mexican Mountain Road, where we all geared up and started hiking at about 12:30. After a short walk down the road and then down a small drainage, we arrived at the rim of the Upper Black Box. I could hear the San Rafael River below but couldn't see the water due to it flowing under a huge rockfall that choked the canyon.




Gearing up at the trailhead



Road-walking to the canyon rim



Side canyon leading to the Upper Black Box



Side canyon leading to the Upper Black Box



First view of the Black Box





We spent some time searching for existing rappel anchors and found two sets: one high and easily accessible and one down low requiring a sketchy downclimb. We set up a 200' rope on the upper anchor but couldn't see whether it reached the bottom, so Chris came up with another plan. He tried and succeeded at climbing down to and back up from the lower anchor, so we set up a short rappel (double-strand rope anchored to a sling around a tree) to get everyone down to the lower anchor, then pulled the rope and fixed it single-strand at the lower anchor. Chris and I returned after the hike to retrieve the rope and tree-sling. It was Katie's first time rappelling and she did well with amazingly no hesitation. For both raps, Chris went first, then Karin, Katie, and finally me. It had taken two hours since leaving the vehicles to reach the bottom of the canyon.




Chris downclimbing to check out the rappel anchors



Karin on the first stage of the rappel



The appropriately-named Black Box



Katie on rappel



Setting up the second rappel



Spire on Mexican Mountain



Chris on rappel



Karin on rappel with Chris belaying



Katie near the bottom of the rappel





Once at the bottom of the second rappel, everyone switched from rappel mode to swim mode. Each of us had a PFD, but I'd accidentally brought my son's instead of my own--they look very similar--so I hiked the canyon with it strapped to my pack. We made one last downclimb from the rockfall using a handline, but from that point on there were no real obstacles except for the occasional submerged, knee-banging boulder. We had to swim almost immediately after entering the water. After a short swim, though, we could walk while trying to avoid rocks and boulders hidden by the murky water.




Karin, Chris, and Katie overlooking the San Rafael River



View up the rappel



View upstream along the San Rafael



Switching from rappel mode to swim mode



One final awkward downclimb using a handline to get into the river



We immediately encountered a deep swim



Floating down the river



Draining Chris' pack






Katie and Karin






Mud layers on the shore





Walking through the canyon was challenging at first. It took me a little while to learn to walk while leading with my toes instead of my knees. On average the water was knee- to waist-deep, but it also ranged from a few inches to probably a dozen or more feet deep. I carried my camera through about 95% of the canyon and put it in a dry box for the swimmers. Among the few items we found in the canyon were a broken canoe paddle and, of all things, a bolwing ball perched 12 feet above the current water level! :D




Chris and the bowling ball that he packed out of the canyon



Mud


















A swimmer








Just before the end of the Upper Black Box was a lengthy swimming section several hundred feet long. Wedged between the narrow canyon walls was a large tree perhaps 20 feet above the water. The mud was pretty bad just before and after this section and I nearly got stuck a couple of times. We exited the river and I was sad to see it go--we'd only been in the water for just over two hours. Luckily it was a short hike back to the vehicles. Chris and I detoured slightly to find a geocache while Karin and Katie went ahead. Shortly after we got back to the Jeeps the girls left, then Chris and I retrieved the rope before starting our drive home. Along the way were some nice, hazy views of the cliffs north of the San Rafael River. A couple of buck deer surprised us, heading away from the road and toward the river.




A long swim ahead



Tree lodged between the canyon walls



At the end of the Upper Black Box



Exiting up a wash



View down the exit toward Mexican Mountain



Almost to the old road



Jeeps at the trailhead



Cliffs above the San Rafael River



Two bucks heading toward the river at sunset





The San Rafael had been flowing at between 12-14 CFS during our trip and the air temperature was about 85 degrees. The water temperature was perfect and none of us ever felt cold beyond the first immersion. Conditions were nearly perfect and I wouldn't hesitate to do this trip again under the same conditions.




Photo Gallery: Upper Black Box
GPS Tracklog and Waypoints:
[Google Earth .KMZ] [Google Maps] [Gmap4 Topo]

[Scott P]

I've found a lot of things in canyons, but thus far, not a bowling ball.

[jman]

A great report like always Dennis! I haven't seen this until now but I like the additions at the bottom - full gallery pics, gps waypoint and track. Very cool!

I really enjoyed the Black Box as well. It's a good short wet route. It sounds like the mud is basically there 24/7, so we just gotta embrace it. :)

In higher water, its fun to climb on top of the logs and jump down 10ft into the water below. But at 15cfs or so...probably not a good idea. ;)

[Scott Card]

That "Cliffs above the San Rafael River" photo is a winner - just beautiful.

[Kuya]

I Love the Black Box! It was my first technical canyon, and the canyon where I had my first "epic".

[Iceaxe]

I enjoy both the upper and lower Black Box. Both are a fun trip.

Tap'n on my smart phone.

[rick t]

Did the upper saturday and the lower sunday. Doing both back to back was a little like work if you do the full upper, and don't just drop in to the bottom end using shanes beta. Great weather, good weekend, the thing I had forgotten in the 10 years since I had last done them, was the road in to the lower box trailhead. Definitely not subaru/SUV territory, high clearance serious 4WD only, and slow going at that, took us almost an hour and a half to get from the trailhead the roughly 6 miles to the main road. Had never hiked back to the lower trailhead from the takeout, it was a quick and easy lark, using the opposite side trail, just over an hour to get back to the drop in point, LOTS better, and faster, than dropping a car at the other end and shuttling. CFS 30 saturday, 25 sunday, down from hitting 500 on tuesday.

[DougInGJCO]

Did it June 29th this year at about 9 cfs. It had been 300 cfs with releases from dams upstream.

In 2013 we encountered lots of ankle to almost knee deep mud. In 2014 there was no mud anywhere. Walking on lots of course sand and fine gravel plus the too be expected sub-surface rocks and boulders.

We do a compromise entrance: not the 3 mile walk-in approach but not the 200' rap in at the large boulder jam. From the sharp V in the road we walk, down climb and do 1 90' rappel to the river. It is a glorious way to get in.

There are 133 photos at this link http://www.meetup.com/WesternSlopeAd...otos/22902182/

[rick t]

we had a butt load of mud. all long both boxes, often a foot to 18 inches, once over my knees. dry ground sounds pretty good, certainly a ton easier walking.