Our week in the Escalante canyon area began with a morning drive down Hole In The Rock Road just outside the town of Escalante. We met up with two Canyoneering Masters – Wyoming Dave and Ram and also Mark from Idaho at the Chimney Rock Trailhead down the HITTR early Monday morning to do some Coyote Gulch canyons that have been featured in M. Kelseys’s 2nd edition of his Technical Slot Canyon Guide. We started the hike with a quick drive up HITRR to the RedWell trailhead and from there hiked out across Coyote Gulch. With Dave and his GPS, we found our way to the top of the West fork. We finished the West fork by late morning and finished the East Fork later that afternoon. Both forks have an interesting variation of moderate challenges. There are wide open areas interspersed with slots that require stemming, rappelling and climbing out of potholes. There are plenty of entrance/exit areas. All of the drops were ghosted with body/sandbags anchors (leave no trace?) that Dave and Ram expertly provided. These are good canyons to practice skills in. Thank you Dave and Ram for the opportunity to canyoneer with.
I posted a TR with pictures at
adkramoo
It was great to meet your family and friends. Hope to share a canyon and a camp with you again in the near future. Doug is right about this being a fine place to practice a bit of stemming that isn’t committing and some potholes where you can have people out of the canyon nearby, if one wanted a safety net. R
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Doug French” wrote:
Our week in the Escalante canyon area began with a morning drive down > Hole In The Rock Road just outside the town of Escalante. We met up > with two Canyoneering Masters – Wyoming Dave and Ram and also Mark > from Idaho at the Chimney Rock Trailhead down the HITTR early Monday > morning to do some Coyote Gulch canyons that have been featured in M. > Kelseys’s 2nd edition of his Technical Slot Canyon Guide. We started > the hike with a quick drive up HITRR to the RedWell trailhead and > from there hiked out across Coyote Gulch. With Dave and his GPS, we > found our way to the top of the West fork. We finished the West fork > by late morning and finished the East Fork later that afternoon. > Both forks have an interesting variation of moderate challenges. > There are wide open areas interspersed with slots that require > stemming, rappelling and climbing out of potholes. There are plenty > of entrance/exit areas. All of the drops were ghosted with > body/sandbags anchors (leave no trace?) that Dave and Ram expertly > provided. These are good canyons to practice skills in. Thank you > Dave and Ram for the opportunity to canyoneer with.
> I posted a TR with pictures at
http://www.bogley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14552
davewyo1
We wanted to do MK’s Little Scorpion Twin Forks because although he gave beta, it is scanty at best. As with the West Branch of Scorpion East, his information was accurate as far as it goes. MK’s opinion that the West Branch of LSTF is the better canyon was also correct. The East Branch did not have any action in it’s upper section and I took a waypoint of where I would enter the canyon in the future to get the best “play for pay” ratio. Waypoint ST1 on this map; http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/canyons/photos/view/d9cd?b=1&m=f&o=0 shows where the interesting slot begins in the East Branch of LSTF. We had a fun day and a great group. The canyon was fairly mild, with a few spicy downclimbs and temporary sandbag anchors. I think our total time was around 7 hours for both forks. Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/davewyo1/Escalante# Dave
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Doug French” wrote:
Our week in the Escalante canyon area began with a morning drive down > Hole In The Rock Road just outside the town of Escalante. We met up > with two Canyoneering Masters – Wyoming Dave and Ram and also Mark > from Idaho at the Chimney Rock Trailhead down the HITTR early Monday > morning to do some Coyote Gulch canyons that have been featured in M. > Kelseys’s 2nd edition of his Technical Slot Canyon Guide. We started > the hike with a quick drive up HITRR to the RedWell trailhead and > from there hiked out across Coyote Gulch. With Dave and his GPS, we > found our way to the top of the West fork. We finished the West fork > by late morning and finished the East Fork later that afternoon. > Both forks have an interesting variation of moderate challenges. > There are wide open areas interspersed with slots that require > stemming, rappelling and climbing out of potholes. There are plenty > of entrance/exit areas. All of the drops were ghosted with > body/sandbags anchors (leave no trace?) that Dave and Ram expertly > provided. These are good canyons to practice skills in. Thank you > Dave and Ram for the opportunity to canyoneer with.
> I posted a TR with pictures at
http://www.bogley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14552