UT: Ticaboo Mesa Good Day Jim

On the weekend of May 2-3, lacking any partners we could team up with at the last minute, my wife and I decided to return to Ticaboo Mesa and attempt Good Day Jim (GDJ). Two weeks before, we had completed Hard Day Harvey (HDH) with two other partners so it made some sense to return to somewhat familiar terrain. The reports we had indicated that GDJ would be somewhat easier. Of the two forks you can start out in, we chose the “keeper pothole” fork for two reasons: 1. We wanted the challenge of the keeper and 2. We figured if for some reason we couldn’t overcome the keeper, we could easily retreat up canyon and move over to the other fork.
What we found: Before arriving at the keeper pothole, there was some open wash walking with minor drops, then we arrived at the first main drop into the canyon. Our primary beta was Luke’s but we also had two other sources with us. At this first drop, we descended just on the left side of the main watercourse by slinging a boulder a shorts ways back up and hand-lining it down the short drop. We later retrieved the sling on the way back out.
After some easy and brief narrow sections, we arrived at the first rap described by Luke and descended, but left our rope in place while we went down a little further to inspect the keeper. It was perhaps about half way sand/mud filled so it’s depth was about 7 feet and the bottom was a fairly firm mud. It appeared easy enough to overcome so we pulled our rope and found another anchor just above the keeper. We set up a rappel line that extended well past the keeper – all the way down the slab. I descended part way to where I felt like I could make a good, solid pack toss, tied myself off and attaching a shorter 40’ rope to myself & the packs, and tossed both our packs easily down the slab past the keeper.
Once in the keeper, we could have just done a partner assist to get out, but with sticky, gooey mud on our feet, I figured it would be a little tricky, so since I had brought a couple of extra pieces of equipment for something like this, I decided this was a good time to use it. I attached a Tibloc & etrier to the rope running to our packs and tried to ascend out while my wife waited above, but there was nothing on the lip/edge of the pothole to grab, so I asked my wife to come on down and give me a boost so I could scramble a little higher and pull myself out. Then she followed, easily using the etrier and we finished descending the slab using the rappel line we had set up.
The remainder of the canyon offered many more potholes of various sizes and shapes – all of which were dry except one near the very end, just before you join HDH and just before the 6 ft. drop onto the ledge that leads down to HDH. That one had very soft, gooey mud that one of my feet sunk completely into – a nice baptism for my new Bestard canyoneering boots. Some of the raps into the potholes were a little difficult. The so-called “squeeze section” was very brief and not particularly challenging.
GDJ really differs from HDH in two ways: 1. GDJ is much easier physically overall because it lacks the extensive narrows in HDH that require so much stemming & squeezing and 2. The main feature in GDJ is potholes, not tight narrows. HDH has a way of luring you in. The first 1.5 – 2 hours is easy. You think you’ll be out in another 2 hours, but then the cross-jointed fins are encountered and the trouble begins. In GDJ, none of the other potholes ever presented any serious escape problem. If GDJ was in wet condition, the pothole escapes could be much more difficult than what we found and it might deserve the “R” rating Shane gave it. Also, it should be noted that the week following our descent, there has been quite a bit of rain across Utah and checking on radar, I saw showers in this area on several occasions. Never caught anything heavy though.
To escape GDJ, we utilized the GDJ exit on the west side of the canyon. After GDJ and HDH come together, it’s about a 20 minute walk down the open canyon to the big drop off with the cottonwoods below. From there, we followed the same trail on the right side that follows the bench above the canyon bottom. I measured a 10 minute walk to where you begin the exit. It took us about 30 minutes to gain the main elevation on the exit to where things begin to moderate and level out some. Overall, it took us 2:10 to make it back to our vehicle. Temps were close to 80° so that slowed us some. If using the GDJ exit, as you get near the top of the main elevation gain, there’s a platform area with a 20 ft cliffband and a crack in that cliff is home to a beehive. If you pay attention, you can hear them buzzing around. That’s the first time we’ve ever found something like that in this kind of country. An interesting & brief diversion to the slog out of there.