It was my friend Jake’s bachelor party, so naturally we decide to spend the weekend partying in… Hanksville?? OF COURSE ! It was perfect, we would stay at the Whispering Sands Hotel, reminisce with the owner of +North Wash Outfitters who just happened to be staying there for the evening (it was awesome to talk with him again, great surprise!) Go to bed early, sleep in, eat a yummy “gas station” breakfast, and then head to HOGWARTS! (The canyon, not the magical castle of Harry Potter It was panning out to be a amazing weekend. The company was great, the weather was perfect, and the canyons were beautiful! It was fun bumping into +Jared at the hotel. I also bumped into Spidey at Stan’s. It was pretty fun.
Jake (the bachelor) and I had a great day running two canyons. We did Hogwarts and Merry Piglet Canyons. Hogwarts was by far our favorite
To add some fun to our adventure we decided to use my Fiddlestick to ghost hogwarts. It was my first time ever using the fiddle stick in a canyon environment, and I had a great time using it. For the most part it proved very easy to use. All but the last rappel was smooth. It took two of us pulling as hard as we could to yank out the fiddle stick for that last rap in Hogwarts. Not sure why it was so difficult, but it was. Luckily we were able to execute the pull!
Getting right to the good stuff… Hogwarts arch was amazing! Probably one of the neatest sections of canyon I have ever seen. The view from the top of the rappel was pretty cool, but the view I really enjoyed was the one from the bottom of the arch looking up! What an AMAZING place!
This is the view looking down through Hogwarts Arch
Jacob on rappel coming through Hogwarts Arch
Jacob cheesin’ it for the camera! Yes he things he is pretty Tought Stuff! haha
After this arch, things got a little wet for me! I tried to stem over a little pothole filled with water, but when I was almost over, the weight of my backpack kept me from executing the final move to dry land, and I ended up slipping into a muddy chute right down into the waist deep water filled pothole! Fortunately for me, my phone that was in my pocket survived the water! I couldn’t believe it! Jacob on the other hand, very much enjoyed laughing at me for falling in. Of course he made the stem over the arch with out falling. Needless to say, I never heard the end of that mistake for the rest of the trip!
The rest of the canyon was pretty straight forward. There is a large rappel at the end of the canyon which was really fun! Like I said previously, we used my Fiddlestick for the rappels, and the pull for this big drop was unusually difficult. It took both Jacob and I yanking on the rope in order to pull out the fiddlestick so we could retrieve our rope.
After that, we had a short hike back to the Truck where our friend Jeff was waiting for us! It was perfect
Hogwarts is definitely a canyon I will do again. The approach was a cardio blast! but other than that, it was a really fun canyon, with some exceptional scenery!
Blake Merrell
duplicate post
Ram
Doesn’t the final rap area in Hogwarts have a minor “V” shape to it? Did you set the fiddle on existing webbing? Webbing out far enough?
Also when a rope is stuck, gently weighting the rap line can help. Also setting up a prussic or a biner handle helps those times were “muscling it” works
Great trip report thanks for sharing….A phone? A phone? If it was a satellite phone, I could see it….sort of. A cell? No service anywhere near there. Why bring it? Did you have car keys too?
Imagine the joy and surprise when Penny and Dave saw that bridge for the first time? Very cool
The rap at the 43 second point? Is that out of the watercourse? It looks like a side entry and is unfamiliar to me?
Jared Hillhouse sighting! Hey Jared. I would tease him about staying in Hanksville, but then again, he LIVES in Blanding. Love ya guy!
Canyonbug
Ha Ha Ha. Thanks Ram. Not sure what to say after that endorsement
It was great to see Blake and his buddy’s and chat for several hours about canyons. I was surprised when I found out they were staying at the Whispering Sands also. It was a great evening.
I also ran into a couple of other Canyoneering friends (Cathy and Rose headed to Poison Springs area) at Stan’s when I went over for dinner. The North Wash was getting a lot of action last weekend. Great weather.
Mountaineer
Great report, love this canyon. Hotel, then a canyon? You are living the dream Blake! 😉
Curious, what kind of knot did you tie? Was the pull clean/straight?
Blake Merrell
I sure am! Canyoneering that past few weekend has been awesome! Hotel in Moab and Hanksville! No complaints here
I tied a normal upward stone knot. . Maybe when we were pulling the Fiddlestick out it was being driven into the rock? maybe the angle of the pull was really bad?
Kuenn
Nice report. I likewise prefer the hotel/canyon combo…hot shower and hot meal. We stayed one night in Hanksville this past summer. Don’t remember the name of the restaurant, it’s the one where the entrees are named after John Wayne movies; that was some fine viddles at the end of the day!
And we also had our first experience with the Whispering Sands hotel. Nice place and very nice people operating it. We had a canyon related conversation with them, as I recall they are SAR people.
Which brings up an interesting situation dilemma. When you have trouble with the Fiddlestick pull and you’re unable to complete it, how likely would you be in jugging for inspection? What additional steps could you take to retrieve it or would you simply leave it for a return trip retrieval?
Blake Merrell
In this specific canyon, if the Fiddlestick would have really gotten stuck, I would have just walked to my truck, picked up my second rope, and make a another lap through the canyon to pick up the rope. In different canyons however, that might not be possible. Maybe what I should have done is have my buddy work the rappell rope, while I worked the fiddlestick pull (or vice versa) Maybe that way we could have wiggled the ropes into a more favorable geometry for the pull?
ratagonia
Not seeing the actual setup, but knowing the rappel…
It has a big, rough, rounded surface that the pull cord lies on. To get a better pull, you would want to back up away from the bottom of the rappel as far as possible, so you would want to climb up the rocks opposite the bottom of the rap to the highest attainable point, that would give you the least contact rope with rock.
There are certainly places where putting a piece of webbing on the anchor so the Fiddle is off a piece of webbing is a good idea.
Perhaps the better idea is to tie the Stone Knot close to the lip, to the start of the rappel. In this case, you could handline double-strand down to the lip, then have your stone knot/fiddle where the real rappel starts. HOWEVER, on this rappel, the rappel rope tracks sideways as you put your weight on it and ease over the edge – which could entangle the FiddleStick or (WORSE) knot the FiddleStick out of place. Additionally, now you have a 20 foot tail of rope to pull out from around the Alligator, which might be difficult.
Did I mention that using the FiddleStick requires careful judgment???
Tom
Blake Merrell
I had the rope threaded under the alligator with the short end wrapping over the top so that the rope pull would be clean as possible. The Stone Knot with the Fiddlestick was tied about 5 feet from the Alligator.
I guess I should clarify, I say Fiddlestick, when I mean “homemade smooth operator that is thicker, wider, and longer” than the Imlay version. That might have somthing to do with why it was more difficult to pull.
When we did the pull, we hopped up on some of the larger boulders far from the initial drop and started yanking from there. I imagine that since my Fiddlestick is a bit longer and thicker than some, it might be important to consider where the fiddle is set when secured in the Stone knot. If the fiddlestick needs to be pulled 10in rather than 3 inch for release, it might make the difference of weather I need 50 lbs of pull or 200? Any body out there test this before?
ratagonia
Blake –
You mean, has anyone else tested your unique, homemade FiddleStick-like device?????
I think we can give you a positive “NO” on that.
Tom
Blake Merrell
LOL, Touche!
Mountaineer
I’ve done several pull tests with various knots using the “smooth operator” version, posted here on CC. Seems 50lb force was a high mark (unless a clove).
Used it over the weekend, and the pull each time was always easy. We were always careful to keep the pull cord clear out of the way.
Either the knot, or pulling it somehow into the rock seems to be the most two likely causes.