Clothing Recomendation for Late March Buckskin Gulch Trip

[hpinson]

Hello. I am in a group going into Buckskin Gulch March 29 of 2015, and down the Paria to Lee's Ferry.I was wondering if anyone with experience in Buckskin at this time of year could provide some advice:
Are we better off in wetsuits, presumably bottoms or the farmer john type, or - heavyweight smartwool long underwear under water resistant quick drying nylon shell pants.

Really not sure which way to go in early spring.

[Iceaxe]

Wetsuits would be very difficult to hike in for such a long distance. The water in Buckskin can be deep in a couple places but it's short and usually spaced several miles or hours apart. We never wear wetsuits, just quick dry clothes. We blast through the water and keep hiking to dry out.

Once you reach the Paria the water is only ankle deep, unless you encounter the extremely rare ice dam, in which case your best option would be to reverse course.

[Slot Machine]

No wetsuits. What Ice said.

Also, don't do Buckskin right after it rains. If it is muddy right away, turn back. Freezing slick sticky mud for 20 miles is no fun. Been there, done that, not worth it.

[Erik B]

We went the last week of March last year. http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...skin-amp-Paria

We had to delay our entrance into Buckskin by one day due to bad weather. That night was a cold, wet, uncomfortable evening at the stateline campground hiding under the shelters. We too were worried about water/mud in Buckskin, however, found absolutely no swims and went mid calf in mud twice. (last year was very dry). Of note, we went to our waist in Paria only once.

I agree with Slot Machine in that if you find unpleasant conditions in Buckskin that make for slow going I wouldnt push it. Our group was full of fit 20-somethings and we were very surprised how long it took to clear the Buckskin. The Whitehouse enterance wouldnt be as awesome as Wire Pass but if it takes you two days to get through the Buckskin due to poor conditions than WH is an obvious winner.

Obviously you'll have to play it by ear once you get a short term forecast but I'd plan for layering with long underwear, convertible pants, pullovers and puffys. Expect cold nights and warm-ish afternoons. There were days for us where I wore everything I had in the morning and by afternoon I was down to shorts and a t-shirt. I highly recommend neoprene socks but I wouldnt bother with the wetsuit.

FYI: Watch the road reports for House Rock Valley Rd. Every once in a while that thing gets a little narly.


Feel free to email me: ebernhoft at hotmail . com.

Buckskin is at ~ 7:00

[spinesnaper]

I have been very happy hiking in Buckskin in NRS hydroskin neoprene pants. They are the right weight for hiking, handle getting wet and retaining heat. Mine have proven to be amazingly durable.

Ken

[mzamp]

I just went through in November. We wore neo booties and layered clothes. There are currently two swimmers (depending on water depth). I would expect in March that the chances are they will be the same. For the swimmers (or nipple height if you are tall) we stripped down to our base layers. The first swimmer is near the beginning of Buckskin once you hit the confluence with wire pass. The other is about 30 minutes up Paria from the Buckskin confluence. Both are early in the day if you are doing the overnighter.

Buckskin only had a couple holes that you could not avoid. A few in the begging and then a few more before we hit the camp near the confluence. In between the mud was avoidable and we were never too cold. For us the water in the paria had a small flow and the water was extremely cold. So the constant knee deep wading was the bigger issue then the 1 swimmer.

Good luck and have fun.

[hpinson]

Thanks, these replies are super helpful. We live in Northwest New Mexico, and have had more storms this winter of 2014-15 than the previous winter, which was extremely dry. If the trend continues it may be fairly wet. I am closely monitoring the Hydrograph Paria @ Lees Ferry closely and rainfall at Page, AZ. While we are all in good shape and preparing, we have at least two in our party who don't have much body fat and tend to get cold quickly. The NRS Hydroskin pants are a great suggestion. Stripping to base layer if there are any swimmers is another good suggestion, and now I know to really waterproof the gear in our packs. I don't know if we will make it through to the confluence in one day, and I guess the Middle Route is a difficult but non-technical scramble and a place to dry camp, if the going is really slow. Since we are going downstream to Lee's Ferry, I hope we avoid the swimmer upstream on the Paria that mzamp mentioned. I can't imagine the water being much warmer than in November, though the Escalante River last year at the same time was tolerable without special gear.

[peakbaggers]

I find the following link quite useful in monitoring conditions, temps, rainfall, etc., across Utah, especially around Zion & the Paria/Buckskin.
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/gmap/

[hpinson]

Interesting discussion about using HydroSkins in canyons in another thread. Here is a quote from it:

But lets think about what you said about suits and canyoneering at the same time and see if it is the "right environment". Lets face it canyoneering is not really a high activity sport, the majority of the activities are walking and descending. And now with that said, if you are in a group, we all walk down canyon till you come to an obstacle where we all stand around waiting till its our turn. I am just saying we are not really pumping out energy, its a pretty leisurely sport where we are working with gravity and not against it.

If there is water around we normally hope in then hop out on the other side and continue down the canyon. Where are you spending more of your time in or out of water? I am assuming out, so why would we want to wear things that sole purpose is to trap water NEXT to the skin? Out of water a wet suit works just the opposite as it does in water and that is against you, because heat is transfered faster through water than air. Resulting in you losing more warmth than you would if you where not wearing them.

I know from my own experience, I prefer two pairs of wool socks (thick and thin) as opposed to neoprene booties. Having used both, early march, in the Escalante River, the wool socks drained quickly and did not trap water, and my feet stayed reasonably warm once out of the stream. The neoprene socks trapped the water, and my feet stayed wet, and were cold.

Other opinions on the HydroSkins vs a wool base layer for hopping in and out of water?

[hpinson]

Here's a link to the Hydorgraph for Paria @ Lee's Ferry. The record goes back to 2007.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=09382000