Thursday afternoon we hiked in from the Egypt trailhead and set up camp about a 1/2 mile downstream of Neon. Knowing we were doing Baker & Ringtail and trying to avoid some of the Neon traffic.
Friday morning we hit the Ringtail approach and about half way up, veered off towards Baker. Route finding was fairly easy and we made good time and found a way down off the ledges for the drop into Baker. We all carried 4 and 5 mil suits, but it was pretty warm and all the water and swims actually felt really good and we never did suit up. Group of 10 of us were about 9 hours round trip from camp.
Saturday morning we headed up the Neon approach. We seen a group of 4 rapping in, so we choose to not get congested and went another 20 minutes up canyon and found a spot that we could downclimb in. Quite a few downclimbs, swims, wades etc we came to the first keeper pothole. The group of 4 was still at the keeper trying to get out of it. We suited up and were ready to go when they finally were able to escape. We filled 2 potshots, threw them past the keeper which was in full swim mode, with about a 6′ lip. With a little assist and Brians skilled he was out in under 30 seconds. We sequenced our group through really quickly and headed down canyon to play in all the water and swims. Golden Cathedral rap dropped into about 4′ deep water. Awesome place.
We got back to camp around 2pm, Grabbed some food, filtered another 2 litres of water and headed to Ringtail. We hiked way too far up Ringtail before dropping in and wasted a couple of hours on the approach and walking down a sandy canyon before hitting the good stuff. The bid keeper was completely dry with about 10′ vertical slimy lip. We threw a pot shot which did not hold, 2 would have worked for sure, but me being 6’5″ and Todd prob 6’2″, Brian climbed up us and onto our shoulders then we boosted him up high enough that he could get over. Everyone else was quick to the escape as we were starting to loose light. We moved quickly through the canyon, never suiting up, and I wish I would have taken more pics, but we wanted to get out before dark.
Of the canyons, Ringtail is the bang for the buck in my opinion, although Neon is cool with all the water and the Cathedrail
Sunday morning was a 6am start and hike out before it got too hot.
Great trip with some good friends
Rick Gerber
Great pics. We did a day trip into Ringtail on Thursday ourselves, but had never been there and spent a bit of time trying to find the canyon. Made for a long day!
Ram
Confusing sometimes. The canyon coming off Choprock Bench has 3 forks. The north one is called Poison Ivy Fork…sounds lovely, but is quite nice actually. The main fork has been called Choprock, for sometime. The other fork, the main canyon destination was often called South Fork or East Fork Choprock. In the last half dozen years, we have found out that the pioneers named the place Kaleidoscope. For a brief time this name gained some traction, just like the name Poe did in the Waterpocket Fold. Traction that seems to be slipping a little, if this thread is an indicator. Aside from Kaleidoscope being an awesome name, as the canyon DOES show a new look around every corner, it will reduce confusion.
The public decides such things. Canyons get called what people decide to call them and it does not amount to a hill of beans, compared with other challenges in our world, but what the hey!! It does not hurt to toss this out. It honors some of the pioneers, who happen to follow our board too.
Cheers
ScottM
Ram, thanks for the great history on the various arteries throughout that section. I was aware of the alternate name (“Kaleidoscope”) at the time we ventured through the main fork and found that to be a much more fitting name.
dakotabelliston
So the fork that most people are doing is kaleidoscope while the main fork of the drainage is choprock? Do you have a beta reference for these. Would be awesome to look into. I’ve only seen the information for the one route.
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Ram
Poison Ivy Fork section can be found in the Steve Allen book on the Escalante. Probably info on the main fork too. The main has one short wet section in the middle but is mostly hiking till near the very top
dakotabelliston
Awesome trip. Next time I make that hike it will be for Choprock.
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2065toyota
Ya, we are planning another trip to go do Choprock also
ScottM
We must have barely missed you on Sunday morning. We too were making the slog up to the Egypt TH, but from the Fence/Escalante River confluence. We ran Choprock on Saturday – great conditions, perfect day. Ringtail is an amazing canyon, wish there would have been time to do that again while down there.
2065toyota
Sorry. Not sure why it doubled up on some of the pics during upload.
Mountaineer
Love it! Missed you by a half a day!! We camped Tuesday night, did Choprock Wednesday, and hiked back out Thursday morning. Choprock was a full, physical day. Bring your energy.
It took us almost 2 hours to hike from the TH Tuesday to setup camp by Fence. Moving as efficiently as possible. Down…
It took us 1:15 to hike back up Thursday morning. Yes, up…
2065toyota
Egypt Trailhead looking East to the Neon dome
Almost to the River. Mouth of Neon
Bushwack on the way to Baker
Drop into Baker
Small pothole in the narrow section
Refreshing swim
Another refreshing swim. Good thing we carried our wetsuits.
Downclimb into another swim
Nice grassy trail along the river on the way back to camp. Too bad it wasn’t all this nice
Cool wall looking down into Neon
Eric downclimbing a narrow slot into some nasty deep mud
Long wade/swim
No suits yet, its still too warm
Dillon getting ready to climb out of the keeper
Another long swim
Go around the corner and the swim continues
Fun pool to jump. Unknown depth, nobody touched
Obligatory Golden Cathedral rap
Ringtail Approach ramp. Very few spots you can climb out of the river
Ringtail Canyon
Rudolpho coming down after the stem.