We got the PNW crew to assemble once again in the Southwest for 9 days of fun and excitement. The itinerary went as such:
Saturday: Depart Cars at 7:30pm and hike to Escalante River
Sunday: Choprock
Monday: West Baker
Tuesday: Neon…skunked on the addition of Ringtail
Wednesday: Hike out + Egypt 2
Thursday: Headless Hen + Raven
Friday: Coyote Gulch
Saturday: Coyote Gulch
Sunday: Peak-a-boo, Spooky, Brimstone
Headless Hen is a gem I’ve been trying to visit for some time. The complexities of trips out to Escalante, compounded by Road conditions and the overall remoteness have made it challenging to visit but we were fortunate to have good road conditions, decent weather, and the time to go get them.
Camped near Chimney rock.
We dropped into the Raven only to have the ladies bail out at the escape route. The high stemming and the strenuous nature of Raven just wasnt for t hem for them. The canyon itself is a fantastic place with lots of scultped twists & turns, tight slot, and potholes. It reminded me of Trachyotomy, however, I was prepared this time around as I brought nearly nothing unnecessary in my backpack. The lack of bulk/weight made this canyon SO MUCH MORE enjoyable.
After Raven we met up with the rest of the crew ready to hit up Headless. Water conditions were definitely below their high in the Egypt area and appeared to be similar in Raven. I wasnt sure whether to expect a splash-fest or business time in Keeper-Alley….turns out it was business time. We were a team of 6 with varying degrees of experience. We were expecting a 2 hour jaunt. The canyon is absolutely in difficult mode right now with all but one of the obvious keepers in full on, 10-15 foot deep, mode. Ultimately we worked our way through Keeper after keeper taking 5 hours to complete the canyon. FANTASTIC place. All the potholes were defeated with packtosses/partner stacks, however, the true difficulty (as the beta had suggested) was safe capture of the LAMAR. Fortunately we had several ladies in the 120lbs category that safely completed pack drag after partner capture after pack drag.
Headless was better than I had dreamed it would be and would recommend it to anyone looking for some serious practice with KPHs. The beta recommends a minimum group size of 4….I couldnt agree more. At one point our team was dispersed in three separate keepers at the same time and it was very useful to have multiple people to partner assist/ LAMAR capture.
Headless is the real deal!!! In low water I’d consider it equivalent in difficulty to Imlay (but of course is much shorter)
… More photos/video to follow…
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Rapterman
Great photography and TR, as always!
What kind of camera do you use in the canyons?
hiac
I was turned away from similar pothole. good photo!
Spiderzak
We went through some of Headless on Monday, May 5 and it was still quite dry. Just one hole with a swimmer and one with waist deep water. We only completed the first section of potholes and then exited due to weather. It thunderstormed briefly, but still no significant rain fell while we were on the way out.
We added some extra time because we pulled the rope from the knot block at the swimmer before seeing that there were two more fairly deep potholes immediately below. We ended up sending LAMAR into both those potholes off a pack. But I think it would have been more efficient to treat it as a 3 stage rappel from the knot block, and I think we had enough rope for it and could have made the pull. Erik, just curious if you could relate how you went through those three?
Erik B.
We followed the same steps you did.
Even though the consequences were very low in the first pothole (full of water…the only one full of water) we meat anchored everyone in and used the knot chock for the LAMAR (me…). I was very careful to keep a downward pull on that knot chock because it looked that it could destabilize with lateral pull. I would be very hesitant to use it as the anchor for the next two potholes specifically for that reason. As I recall the canyon bends ever so slightly which could content with the pull as well.
just my two cents…
Bootboy
Looks awesome!
this one has been on the “list” for a while now.
Ram
The 2nd half of Raven (AKA Foxhole) is quite engaging. The tip toe around the silo is memorable. A fine R canyon experience. Headless? That 2nd picture? The black and white? used to leap the left ledge LDC. Not me, no more!! I recall there is one pot where even with the pack drag, it is a high and tough capture. A moss filled pot with a bit of an overhang on entry. Glad you appreciated the joys of this canyon. It has been a long spell since i have been there. A grooving going on on the lips of those pots? There used to be a raven’s nest in the short stem part of Headless, on the left just up a few feet. I suspect with the traffic that the raven’s found another home. The only place I saw baby ravens close up. Faces only a mother could love! BTW the final set of pots, more elongated? You note the moki step escape? Tough anchor in low water. Congrats and thanks for sdharing
Erik B.
I noticed a few rope grooves, ironically at the only full (TIP TOP) pothole we came across.
I missed the moki steps…I was pretty head down in the game for quite a while there.
One thing to note….Two days after we descended Headless we were chased out of the area by this: (Headless might not be so dry anymore…hard to say)