The day after descending, and maybe more importantly hiking out of, Misery Canyon, Richard and I decided to go down Birch Hollow. It has been high on my list as a “step up” canyon in difficulty. It turns out it wasn’t but was still a great time.
We used Bluugnome’s entrance rap as it sounded better than pulling out a pull cord for a longer rap. The second had horseflies gallore enjoying the moisture of some spring action. I lucked out because they seemed to want Richard more than me. Then the Navajo started to slot beautifully and drop. The raps were all pretty and straightforward. Richard learned that his rappel height limit before he gets nervous is around 100′. I learned the importance of not crossing pull and rap lines. Luckily the rope didn’t stick too hard. That would be a much longer ascent than any I’ve done before. Then the final few raps! So pretty.
Compared to others, the exit up Orderville isn’t too bad. Yeah it has two good ups, and is generally uphill forever, but most isn’t too bad. We didn’t have two cars and thus walked all the way back to the Birch trailhead along the road. Much longer than expected but hopefully worth not going up Wild Wind Hollow.
The canyon is in great condition. All anchors are useable for a while. We did not leave any webbing at the “swing over to the crack” downclimb (way creepy for my exposure tollerances but fun!) There were a few small puddles that were all avoidable, the biggest being at the bottom of the 100′ er. Lots of mud though. I felt bad for my poor rope. I highly recommend this canyon!
And finally, a movie.
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