Woo-hoo! Cherry canyon rocks! Although, I am still not sure where it gets its namesake; I didn’t see one cherry on the way. Anyhow, we started about 9 AM on what was going to be a beautiful 70 + degree day. The flow rate of the Virgin River was at around 104 CFS which translates to about knee deep and your feet hurt from the cold by the time we got across. We stashed our sandals and began the trek to the top. The hike up to the ridge was spectacular; I never realized how much plant life existed back in those canyons.
Once we reached the ridge, we took a break and took a minute to absorb the surroundings. Barrel cactus, sage, pinon, etc. absolutely lovely! We scrambled down to the first rappel and found a pile of rocks with some webbing sticking out…WTF? Yup, first experience with a cairn anchor. We looked around for a tree or a log or something that looked a little more …substantial, but there was nothing else to be had. In the end, we rolled a bigger boulder over to the rappel and anchored to that with me clipping in on the back side as a meat anchor. Miracle of miracles, the rock never moved after 3 canyoneers went over the edge. So, I clipped in and joined them down below.
By the end of the canyon, we were getting much more comfortable with the cairn anchors… but I still prefer a nice tree or a big log. Just sayin’.
All in all, the canyon is in great shape. I understand there was a water event in 2014 which scoured most of the plant life out. We were able to rap off of one tree and a bush, but everything else was either chock stones, cairn anchors, or natural rock formations. We replaced several pieces of webbing and added additional webbing in one spot, but all in all, most of the raps were excellent.
The walk out was beautiful with all of the different colors in the canyon. I am just blown away with the beauty this canyon has to offer. This was a great canyon and I highly recommend it!
Ram
Ahhh the cairn anchor has another convert. All the supposedly marginal anchors….seeing them in action is what sways folks. The adding of an extra rock…Hee hee, a long tradition. The anchor we built on the exploration of Trail grew so large as not to be inspect-able. A reminder that rubbing, animals teeth and age can all compromise the webbing of the cairn anchor and that too many rocks make inspection more difficult and sometimes undone, to the peril of all involved.
Kudos on a fine effort and your enjoyment of such.
As for the aching feet? This also brings a smile to my face. What we all do in the name of fun!! It’s all in the way we let it in, is it not?
Wes1
When you consider the webbing suspect, it is best to remove the old suspect webbing, and replace it with new webbing that you trust. When you add additional webbing(without removing the suspect stuff) it just creates a rats nest, and does not do much in the way of your safety.