My friend is getting married this week, but before doing so, he wanted to go on a canyoneering trip with the guys. We decided on doing Heaps as an overnight trip so we could take time and enjoy the canyon at a leisurely pace. We arrived at the Lava Point campgrounds Friday night where it rained all night, not letting up until 4 or 5 in the morning. This had us slightly concerned, but we had been watching the weather almost hourly the whole week previous so we knew it was going to clear up. In the morning we packed up camp and drove down to the west rim trail head and got ready to head out. We met a group of three that were heading down boundary canyon and we wished them a fun and safe passage.
The canyon was completely full everywhere, and I noticed that, compared to June 2014, there was significantly more sand in the 2nd and third narrows. For reference, last year at one pothole, The water was about 2 feet below the lip and I couldn’t touch the bottom. My friend dove down to the bottom and boosted me up to the lip. This year, there was so much sand that I could stand next to the lip and it came up to my chest. It was great to see the canyon in a different condition, and realize how drastically things can change. The last sequence took about 2 hours to complete with 4 people. (Not great, but an improvement from last year at least) This was our second time through Heaps, both times as overnighters, and we can’t wait to go back!
A short video from the trip.
Setting off on Saturday morning. By the time we got to the canyon, the skies were clear
The Subway off in the distance
Making our way across the knife edge
Making our way down the slope
Hauling our packs out of a pothole
Mike on rappel just after the crossroads. (Sunday morning)
Narrows after the Crossroads
Scale figure
In the hallway
Cool colors
Making our way up and over an obstacle
Rob on rappel just before the Iron room
Looking back up the rappel
Iron Room
Spencer emptying the water out of his pack
Spencer admiring the beautiful scenery
My favorite part of Heaps. Love the colors
Mike climbing over a log.
Mossy boulder
Spencer admiring the scenery….again
Corridor before the final up climb
Tourists
Mike on the final rappel: part 1
Mike on the final rappel: part 2
The crew. Happy to be done, wanting to go back
Thanks for reading
-Matt
RossK
Great shots. Some of the best I’ve seen of Heaps.
amazing that for such a tough canyon so many people seem to have done it (shows how canyoneering has grown, I wonder how many intermediate canyoneers there are now in the country), and for such a long one so many have had time to take such good photos and videos.
Ram
Very nice.
Where did you camp?
Matthew_R
We camped at the crossroads.
Kuenn
Really pretty and different focal perspectives! Nice shot of the recent discussed jump across (@1:47). Thanks for sharing your adventure.
qedcook
The two times I did Heaps this year, my cohorts went down into the pothole and back out. I simply stemmed across, no jump needed.
EvergreenDean
Great pics, great report. I will be visiting the canyon later this month so nice to see recent conditions. Thanks!
bhalvers2002
Great pics and trip report. Looks like a lot of fun in full conditions.
If I’m not mistaken, you have a video from June 2014 on youtube? Looking at last year’s conditions the water level was certainly lower. Was that considered low water conditions? Can you compare contrast (number of pothole escapes, difficulty, time required for each trip, etc). I understand this is 2nd time so some advantages with experience.
Matthew_R
Thank you!
The second trip was definitely a lot easier. Last year there were about 4-5 pothole escapes for us, mostly using partner assists. The water was also a lot colder last year probably because the recent rains brought in a lot of water this time around. I wouldn’t say that last years trip was low water conditions, just low enough to require a little assistance on the exits. I can imagine the canyon getting significantly harder with even lower conditions. I would guess that last year would be considered medium difficulty. As far as times go, last year travel time was about 16 hours, while this year it probably took a couple of hours less due to the water levels. If we had pushed ourselves we could have shaved a couple hours off that time. Also, the final sequence went a lot quicker this time after planning it out better.
-Matt