This was the post-Cataract Canyon trip I was hoping we would get to do. Fiery Furnace is a fin maze of Entrada Sandstone only 1500ft by 3000ft in Arches National Park, yet we would manage to spend 8hrs traversing only 3mi, with large portions of our day being only a few hundred feet from locations we had been hours before. The only way to realistically navigate it is with an extremely high resolution aerial photo and a keen sense of direction. Endemic species, pocket gardens, grottos, arches, slots, ancient Juniper, cryptobiotic soil, and no cairns- this place had them all in the right concentration.
Due to the large amount of rescues and incredibly fragile ecosystem (frankly the park should probably close the area altogether), only fifty people are allowed into the Fiery Furnace each day. Only a very small percentage of those (only us on our day), venture far enough to require climbing and ropes. Our goal was to find the "secret" Lomatium/Krill canyoneering route (if
beta becomes publicly available the Park has threatened to close it). My
research paid off. We found it and it is a great one.
While we were sure to get into the park before the gates were manned at 8am (avoiding the lines), we did not actually depart the Fiery Furnace trailhead until about 9:30am. The morning started frigid which was a convenient excuse to take our time carefully packing at the trailhead. We (I) managed to pack everything we needed into one bag, with Sara occasionally carrying a rope bag as a fanny pack.
While we were sure to get into the park before the gates were manned at 8am (avoiding the lines), we did not actually depart the Fiery Furnace trailhead until about 9:30am. The morning started frigid which was a convenient excuse to take our time carefully packing at the trailhead. We (I) managed to pack everything we needed into one bag, with Sara occasionally carrying a rope bag as a fanny pack.
We found Surprise Arch (frontispiece) not too deep into the Furnace and then stumbled our way through slots and around corners. Within a half an hour we left the people and voices behind us and the entire rest of the day we had the tricky nooks and crannies to ourselves. The navigation was easy. The climbing and occasional exposure was spicier than I guessed, slowing us considerably as I belayed/handlined Sara up and across the many obstacles. Two prominent climbs led us to top out onto one of the more prominent fins, with incredible views of the intricate maze below. For being only 1500ft away from our car we felt a long way away from everything!
Once on top we had to find a route down. Appearances were deceiving and we had to spiral our way down a slab, traverse over a too tight slot and then through a gateway to the head of a slickrock bowl at the top of Lomatium Canyon. After a break in the sun we suited up for the first rappel into the shadows. A second short rappel followed, then a convenient log to cross a shallow pool.
A couple corners and a sandy walk for a change brought us to a pouroff into darkness. Nearby we found Cassidy Arch perched on the edge. Sara went down this rappel, the tallest at 130ft, first. Thankfully we could just barely avoid the pool of water at the base, though the rope got annoyingly dirty once we pulled it.
More sandy, scenic slot and yet another corner brought us to the final rappel in Lomatium, obvious from the plethora of footprints below. Though a short rappel it was a quite scenic one with a grotto and pool below and greenery nearby.
A brief moment of skipping along a slickrock floor, and a couple turns later we again had a mighty rockpile to surmount for the second half of the journey, the Krill Route. Sara seemed to lose all confidence partway up making the task even more heinous. Once on top we had to traverse across a narrow (but quite deep!) slot, climb some slickrock, cross a saddle, and traverse more tight slots. Progress was painfully slow and the rope came out of the bag many times.
A easy downclimb down a corner led to a bird perch and some of the few bolts seen in the Fiery Furnace. This was a spectacular rappel into a narrow slot that belled out into a freehanging rappel into a streaked chamber, a definite highlight. More slots, rappels and downclimbs, an abrupt u-turn and one more rappel put us back into footprints.
The day was nearly gone and we had just completed what was considered to be the standard route but I had a feeling we could still squeeze a bit more out by going down another slot passage. Extra credit! Straightforward slots brought us to slabby downclimbs into a sandy-floored, vertical-walled walking passage. More corners and one final rappel for good measure, this one through a small arch into a mini-grotto (and more tourist footprints). From here the way out was obvious- follow the well-trampled washes and then the larger trail back to the car. We caught the last of the light over the Furnace, joined the evening park exodus, and then joined our friends back at camp on the Island in the Sky. I felt very fortunate to explore such a unique and intricate place.
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