For Sunday it looked like it was just going to be Adam and I in lower PINTAC. Everyone else had plans to head to other canyons. But then late Saturday, in rolled Chris, ready to make us a group of 3. The idea was that a reasonable start time, paired with the relatively short canyon, would make for a nice getaway day. A pleasant walk into and out of Coyote Gulch and within 2 hours we reached the mid-canyon break that allowed us to skip the burly upper canyon. The stemming started early, and after one brief touch down to ground level we were up again for a ways, with beautiful, dark, sculptured canyon below us. Adam spent a little time down lower (but not at the bottom), and it may be that a lot of the canyon can be passed at that lower level, but in general we found travel a little higher to be comfortable and mostly straightforward. The walls were well-featured and all the moves reasonable. After just over an hour, the canyon widened and we dropped to ground level, soon entering a fantastic stretch of canyon with deep, flaring overhangs. Be fun to see what a talented photographer could do there. A riparian section interspersed with a couple raps brought us back to Coyote and the hike up to the trailhead.
heading to King Mesa
early in the slot
start of biggest upclimb (not hard)
the slot relents
-john
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