Great People in the North Wash

So I’ve Some some pretty cool trips recently but I thought I’d post my most recent trip to the north wash because it involved meeting some really cool people and some great canyons.
I posted in meetup forum and was contacted by Spiderzak AKA Julie. We figured we were at about the same skill level and she expressed interest in Witches Cauldron and Blushing Bride/Jilted Lover. She hedged a little when I said “Great we can start at 7 and do 2-3 canyons a day.” We decided on an 8 start that Saturday the 10th. I got off the 8th so I had a day to myself. Last time I was in the area I psyched myself out of Hogs 2 and 3. This time I decided I’d do them. I had kneepads and elbow pads which I hadn’t last time. I parked at hog springs to head up and met a lot of people who looked like they were going canyoneering. “We’re part of Uberfest, we’re doing Hogwarts” They Said. We chatted and figured maybe we’d meet at the Sandthrax campground.

The hogs were pretty straight forward. The beta said there was a 110 foot rappel but I came in from the very top and never saw anything close to that big I easily stemmed over the section that sketched me out in hog 2
Then Downclimbed the Birth Canal

I finished in about 2.5 hours and hiked up and over to hog 3.

I hemmed a bit before dropping in. The downclimbs and stems made sense except for this one

I set my pack in a pothole and rappelled /fell the 10ish feet,. Downcanyon, the exit rap came all too soon

Hiking out I ran into another group at my car, also part of uberfest. We chatted a bit and they invited me to do Hogwarts with them. I was considering trail but thought sure, why not. It was a largish group, with 7 including me. We proceded slowly but very safely through the canyon. Belays were given on every rappel and partner assisting was abundant. On the last rappel we almost had a stuck rope but walking way up the slope with a few people pulling and myself whipping the free end up to loosen the rope we were able to get it down. I’m going to abstain from mentioning people throughout my post because I met so many awesome people and got so much contact information for future partners that I don’t wish to do anyone a disservice by not including them. Overall I was very impressed by the methodical organization of this group

The next Day I met Julie at about 7:30. After some discussion on rope/wetsuit we took her 100 and 3 potshots for Witches Cauldron. She also generously let me borrow her shorty for the trip. We arrived at the trailhead at about 8:30 and Julie, ready to go, started off in the direction of the north wash. “Umm Julie, I think the canyon is the other other way” We turn around and head into the Cauldron. I put this in not to discredit Julie, she proved herself very competent and safe, including taking point on an R+/X- that sketched me out.

The Cauldron started straight forward until It came to an awkward donut shaped pothole with a 15 foot downclimb at the end. I offered a handline and then climbed/slid after Julie tested the depth. We continued downcanyon until it slotted up in a V.

there was highstemming to about 20 feet for a while then we dropped back down to the canyon floor for a short 30 foot rappel. After we pull our rope Julie says “I think this might be the place it said to leave a rope if you have any doubts.” We laugh In about 15 minutes we arrived at the cauldron “Is this the Cauldron” I asked. “Umm probably” (un)Fortunately it was full and we simply climbed out the other side. Then we entered a beautiful slot and proceeded midlevel for about 150 meters to the exit. We did not downclimb the exit but rappelled out off a jammed log.

We did not end up using our wetsuits.

The hike back to the car was uneventful and We got back about 2:00. Plenty of time to run jilted/blushing, a canyon that had stymied me only a couple months ago. This time through there was a lot more water AND a lot more sand in the bottom of the potholes. We actually tossed a potshot before entering the pothole, only to find, when we entered, it was about 3 feet shallowed and we were able to climb out. It was fun to toss the potshot as it went about 35 feet and followed the same method I’ve seen of people tossing in Poe, a canyon I hope to do.

Shortly we came to the junction of Jilted Lover. This canyon is short, and I did not enjoy it that much. We decided I as the heavier person, would downclimb with a handline then spot Julie. I’m glad we decided this because I ended up using it heavily on the first of 4 downclimbs. Unfortunately, the geometry at the bottom was not conducive to spotting, but fortunately Julie was able to downclimb all 4 spots with no assistance. We made it back to Sandthrax around 6:30. In addition to the Uberfest group that was there, a Utah canyoneering meetup was in the area. One of the highlights of this trip for me was definitely learning about the California Canyoneering meetup run by Klaus and the Utah Canyoneeering Meetup run by Jeanie.

The next morning Julie was able to recruit John from California for Woody. We were wheels turning at 8 and took 3 potshots, a 40, and a 50 foot rope. We arrived at the canyon and started the technical section around 10. After suiting up we proceeded quickly through the canyon. 2 obstacles are of note, the one 20 foot rappel, which was rigged off a bridge, and the keeper right after. Fortunately, me and John were able to stem into a beached whale move and escape. We proceeded with no issues to the exit of the canyon.

We made it back to the car at 12:40

I was interested in doing some slots from the road trip ryan beta called the lower sand slide slots. Julie was a little hesitant about #7, and R+/X- but was willing to join me. We staged my car at the Angel Point turnoff and drove out to a beautiful overlook of the dirty devil river. We proceeded up 5 and were met with an interesting obslacle; a dryfall into a pool of water. Fortunately we were able to upclimb this with some difficulty

and preceded to 7. The canyon started with a moderate downclimb then dropped suddenly in a V stem about 25 to 30 feet above the ground. We quickly passed this first slot with little exposure.

The next slot started similarly, in a safe V. As we approached a right hand turn the far wall started to slope in and under. At first, I downclimbed 10ish feet with Julie up top with a rope. I did not like what I saw so I upclimbed and we continued. In about 15 meters the separation of the walls became more pronounced. Having not done a lot of exposed high stemming I started to hem about descending into the slot and started wondering if we could backtrack the canyon. After about 3 minutes of this Julie said “I’ll go down” and was able to drop from about 45 feet to a safe passage at 20 feet above the ground. After about 20 meters of midlevel stemming a pool opened up beneath and a safe slide was found. Mad props to Julie for her skills in this canyon. We climbed up 3rd class to the capstone then headed to 6. At this point the sun was setting and we were both pretty tired. Fortunately, this canyon can best be described as stemming without exposure as it steeply drops to the dirty devil river. We get some cool photos as I was afraid of dropping my camera in 7 and once it was away did not bring it out.

The hike out involved crawling under some Russian olive (yuck) and arriving a Julies 4runner about 25 minutes after sunet, about 5 minutes away from needing to pull out the headlamps. After the canyon we ate at Stans and looking at the map realized how close the Sand Slide access is to chambers. We hope to explore this entrance as an alternative for people hoping to do chambers soon.

I’m thankful to have met, in no particular order Mark, Gwen, Rob, Ron, Liz, Wayne, AJ, Logan, Marlene, John, Klaus, Jeanie, and everyone else I spent time with this weekend.