Dead Eye Dick 4/11/15

[2065toyota]

I'm always trying to get my mom to do things outside of her comfort zone. She likes to go, but is always hesitant. It was my step dad's bday on Saturday so I used that as an excuse to get them out of the house and come go on a new adventure. It was a last minute trip, so Dead Eye Dick was the choice as we were going to have 7 of us and didn't have time or desire to deal with permits. I had done DED from the top with a car shuttle and from the bottom as a loop. We decided on the loop to avoid the car driving. I will always push for that option.

We parked above the Narrows and headed down the dusty road to the start of the narrows. The first main slot drainage on the left was to be our approach to reach the DED drainage. My last trip I remember 2 small upclimbs, that a few needed assistance but wasn't too big of a deal. My mom's fear came to fruition as we reached the first upclimb, and the 10' boulder that was there last year had tipped over leaving us a 20' smooth wall climb. A well place tree that almost reached the top was used, and my 2 kids assisted each other up the top with my son making the final scamble up and over the lip. He was then able to drop some webbing and provide a top belay for everyone else. It took us over an hour to get everyone and their packs through the obstacle. This was definitely not the way I wanted the trip to start, but oh well, that's part of the adventure.

Up the canyon we continued until the first weakness to the West, then climbed out of the drainage until we reached the top which overlooks the DED drainage. My first two trips here the canyon was litter with animal bones and lion tracks. There were none to found on the trip, the lions must have moved on to a different area.

Now were to the fun part, so I thought. The first rap was an easy drop into the canyon. The second drop is off a cairn anchor. I had left this out of my canyon description to my mom, because I knew she wouldn't go had she off known . I provided a back up for everyone and it all went smooth. I get to the bottom, try the pull it only will slide about a foot. We can pull it back and forth as many times and from multiple angles, but it will never go more that a foot. The biner block must be catching in a crack. So outcomes the micro and the tibloc, my emergency gear and up I go. We need the rope for the last rap. Once I reach the top I see the stupid little crack that I kept wedging in. I readjust the positioning of the rope and head back down. Now my mom is pretty freaked out, thinking that this is normal. I try to convince here that it isn't, but she doesn't believe me.

The next couple raps go easy, and she is starting to enjoy and relax again. We get to rap 5. No anchor exists. It must have been washed down with the last flash. The only choice is to go back up canyon and start farming some rocks down to build a new anchor as there is nothing in the hole before the drop. It was a good learning experience as it was my daughters first chance to build one from scratch.

Down the drop everyone goes without a problem. Now to the final rap. There aren't many canyons that have better scenery than this spot. It has a fun start and and awesome rappel back down to terra firma. The group continues down to the Narrows, has a quick lunch, neo socks on and then the hike back up to the cars

All in all, a very fun day. My parents mental and physical limits were pushed, but sometimes its the kids jobs to do that for them.

Also, the final rap is washed out and is probably closer to 110' rather than the published 100' in length

[ratagonia]

Sweeeet!

[gootwan]

It was my group that placed that tree to assist with the 20ft. upclimb back on November 8th. I'm really surprised its still there. We reached that obstacle and thought we were in the wrong place because it didn't match the beta we had from Bluugnome. We got lucky to find the uprooted tree down canyon a bit. Without assistance we would've had to turn back. A good lesson in how canyons change.

I emailed Luke that the "10ft moderate upclimb" is now a 20ft dryfall. He appreciated the update and said he might edit his route description but I don't think he has yet.

I read on Tom Jones' site that he found another way to access DED... climbing up to a ridge and following it around and up the canyon itself. That might end up being a better option now.

[2065toyota]

For sure. That tree won't last too much longer and it's starting to get more brittle. Tom's route will probably need to be the non shuttle option

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[WorkBad]

Great TR, thanks for sharing.

Here's a comparison of the same drop from a while back. Crazy how objects this large can move around with the forces of nature.