It was a great winter with lots of powder, but my heart turns to canyoneering each March. Where to go? I’ve had my eye on Constrychnine for a while; good place for a March trip. Carved out a Friday AND a Saturday. Luxury. Two days. Can also hit other North Wash canyons of our choosing. But on Friday, the weather report looks unfavorable for Saturday. I mostly go with my daughter and her college-age friends. It’s a great way to get gear hauled and find good-quality climbers. I highly recommend it, except raising the kid for the first 20 years. There might be better ways to get canyoneering partners. Oh well, too late now.
So, I ask if they want to try North Wash Friday and then drive to Moab, with a better weather report, for Saturday. I say: It’s a long drive. They say: How long? I say: 90 minutes. They laugh. They drove 10 hours to see the mega-bloom in Death Valley and then home the next day. Not worth it, I think. Yeah, I am old.
Anyway, C. was fun. Tired of spelling it already. Not sure what is happening in this photo. Perhaps we attempt to enjoy the canyon in too many ways.
The exit right where C. meets Slidenide is a winner. Bluugnome details it, and I don’t like exposure, but I would say the exposure is minimal. After C., we enjoyed a burger in Hanksville, then headed for Moab. Ugh. Busy spring weekend. First camping spots we checked all full. I think of Ken’s Lake. We head out there. Nearly empty. Awesome. Bonus: cell phone reception.
The next morning, one of the guys says he wants to try this cool new kite. It’s a perfect day for it. We all crash it quickly, doing reasonably good imitations of Charlie Brown. He flies it and makes us look stupid.
We take our time and finally get to Pool Arch Canyon. Lots of paid groups seem to do this canyon. We’re stuck only momentarily behind one, but it doesn’t last too long, thank goodness. Everyone loves the Pool Arch rappel. Great rap!
We get to the last rappel and catch another paid group. That last rap is kind of a pain to set up. The guides tell us we can just follow the beaten path through the crypto to the walk-off where the cliffs meet the main road through the canyon. That sounds better. We already had our fun on rappel. The walk-off is great too, and we love us some handstands on the edge of the cliffs above the road.
Ten days later, I’m looking at my schedule for April. Can’t find a weekend to do a canyon. I like to do one canyon weekend a month. Tragedy. So, I make the obvious choice and decide to do two weekends in March. A winter storm that weekend, and I’m not really a cold-weather camper, so we decide Capitol Reef isn’t that far. Up Saturday morning early; drive through a snowstorm the whole way down. I’m going slow and thinking: the weather report saying this clears out at 10 am better be right! As we got to the Wives at 10, blue sky greeted us. A bit of snow on the ground in spots, so I’m calling it my first canyon in the snow. Argue with me if you like. I know the truth.
We do Wife 3 and 5, as recommended by various folks. When I text my wife my itinerary, she wonders why I didn’t start with just a second wife. Hey, I have polygamous ancestry. When I go in for more wives, I go all the way. We had a great day. That first rap in Wife 3 is HY-YUGE. I’m very happy with myself; my longest rappel, and free-hanging. I spun a bunch. No one else did. They all laughed at me. But I laughed longest ’cause my SQUREL is great.
The wives were better than I thought they would be. Yes, you can read that any way you like. Thanks for the beta on all these canyons, Road Trip Ryan and BluuGnome!