Upper Black Box

[hikster11]

Sunday May 24th the weather cleared up for most the day down in the Swell. So my wife and I went for a quick trip through upper Black Box. Have never been through there we took life jackets knowing the water was running at 45 CFS. They were definitely overkill but gave my wife piece of mind. The canyon is a fun and easy short trip.

[Slot Machine]

Awesome! Nice video.

[WorkBad]

Yea, great video for sure. Thanks for sharing. I need to do this one.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

[Iceaxe]

I think the Upper Black Box is very underrated. That canyon packs a lot of bang for the buck.

[hikster11]

I think the Upper Black Box is very underrated. That canyon packs a lot of bang for the buck.

Yes I agree. It has almost no approach and a very short exit.
Shane you have on your site 50 CFS as the limit on doing it as a hike. Im just wondering how you came to that number? I didn't notice anything that I thought would make it more difficult or dangerous with higher than 50. Seeing it at 45 I would feel comfortable doing it at 60 - 75 CFS. We floated alot of the canyon. As wide as it is without it ever getting very narrow it seems it would just be more and faster floating.

[Iceaxe]

50 CFS was just a wild guess at a number I knew would still be safe. Like all beta sprayers I like to error on the side of caution. I've only done the route at about 25 CFS and I figured it was easily safe at twice that.

My main concern at higher water would be strainer's (debris snags), I know at least one of the deaths in the Lower Box was caused when the current sucked the hiker into a strainer from which he could not escape.

FWIW- this hike is not much fun in late summer when flow drops to near zero and the route contains lots of mud bogs. In normal years June is usually a good time to do the route.

[Scott P]

That canyon packs a lot of bang for the buck.

At least if you take the rappel route in. It's a long way to get to the good stuff via the standard route.

[Iceaxe]

Nobody does the "Standard" or Steve Allen route any more. The shortcut is the new Standard route. The rappel is really easy as it's just a steep incline with no overhangs. It's really beginner friendly. Last time I was there about 10 groups were doing the shortcut and no one was using the Allen route, which turns a great canyon into a long sucky hike.

[hikster11]

I wondered how much slot section you miss dropping in where we did. Thanks for letting me know its not worth the work to see the upper section of canyon. The route on Climb-Utah is a great route.

[Iceaxe]

I wondered how much slot section you miss dropping in where we did. Thanks for letting me know its not worth the work to see the upper section of canyon. The route on Climb-Utah is a great route.

Almost none. When you drop in on top of the rock pile if you look up stream you can see the start of the slot. It's easy enough to walk upstream 2 minutes and see it all.

Dropping in on top of the rock pile also has the advantage of seeing if the route is safe as the rock pile is the most dangerous part of the route. It turns into a waterfall in high water and is the crux for kayaks in high water.

FYI- I bumped the max cfs recommendation to 75 after seeing your video and your comments.

[Scott P]

Almost none. When you drop in on top of the rock pile if you look up stream you can see the start of the slot. It's easy enough to walk upstream 2 minutes and see it all.

It's actually narrow above that. The real narrows start about where the river takes the bend before the rockfall. It's maybe about a mile up from the rockfall.

It's still a long way to hike to that section from the top and via the old route though, so coming in the rockfall has a much higher bang for buck ratio. I much prefer coming in from the rockfall route.

[rick t]

How times have changed. In SA's original Canyoneering tome, the San Rafael Swell (1992) he recommends not doing it above 25 CFS. I like to drop in at the old trailhead, there are several interesting routes down to the river other than the walk in clear over right, down the gully. Makes for a full day instead of just a hit and run, and you can leave the rope and include non rappelling hikers..